Jennifer Lopez Reportedly Went to Great Lengths to Spark Dating Rumors With This Former Co-Star

It’s no secret that offscreen romances between co-stars bring more viewers to the theaters. After all, many of us would be lying if we said we didn’t watch Anyone But You trying to sneak out Sydney Sweney and Glen Powell’s connection after the dating rumors.

So, knowing that the trend is very much real, Jennifer Lopez reportedly went to great lengths to suggest that she and her The Boy Next Door co-star, 9-1-1 star Ryan Guzman, were an item back in 2015. According to a new interview with Guzman’s ex-girlfriend, model Melanie Iglesias, Lopez went as far as to ask Guzman to “pretend that he was single to promote the movie.”

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Remembering that time in the No Chaser podcast, Iglesias said their pretend dating sometimes took things a little too far. “The publicists, both of them, called me [saying] they were at afterparties together holding hands and stuff to promote this,” Iglesias remembered, per Page Six.

In addition to some parties, the pair also attended major events, like the 2015 Golden Globe Awards, together.

And, much like Lopez predicted, dating rumors quickly started swirling. In one appearance from the “Can’t Get Enough” singer at The Ellen DeGeneres Show, for example, the host questioned if they were dating and asked if he had a girlfriend. Sticking to the narrative, Lopez played coy. “I think he might? I’m not sure,” she said. “I know he did.… I’m not in his business like that.”

Reflecting on that interview, Iglesias was clearly frustrated. “We friggin’ met. What do you mean you don’t know if he had a girlfriend? We met,” she said.

Iglesias then went on to remember their first time meeting. “I always felt she was someone to aspire towards,” Iglesias said. “She was someone who anything she wanted to accomplish she did.”

Their meeting, however, was quite underwhelming. “She met me, and she looked me up and down, and she gave me the hardest, firmest handshake in the world,’ she remembered. “I was like, ‘Ow! I’ll have my hand back, Jesus.’”

“That’s sad because you’re someone I love, like, it shouldn’t be like that,” she said. Never meet your heroes, right?

Unsurprisingly, Iglesias and Guzman broke up shortly after the movie’s release. Hopefully, the movie’s success made up for it.

Before you go, click here to see all the celebrity couples who met on set.

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