Jennifer Lopez says jokes about her iconic Versace dress were hard to deal with

• Jennifer Lopez recalled media attention on her body in her new Netflix documentary, "Halftime."
• She said she found it "hard" to be the "punch line" in the media.

In her new Netflix documentary, "Halftime," Jennifer Lopez said she found jokes about her body and her iconic Versace dress hard to deal with.

In the documentary, which premiered Tuesday, Lopez spoke about the media attention she received early in her career because of her figure, including the reaction to the green Versace gown she wore to the Grammy Awards in 2000.

The dress became so popular that Google created its Google Images search function to cater to people searching for pictures of the dress. The "Ain't It Funny" singer recalled some of the negative attention she received, too.

"When I started working, the beauty ideal was very thin: blond, tall, and not a lot of curves. I grew up around women with curves. So it was nothing ever I was ashamed of," Lopez said in the documentary.

The documentary then showed a series of clips from interviews, talk shows, and even an episode of "South Park," which contained jokes about her figure, particularly her buttocks.

Lopez added: "It was hard when you think people think you're a joke, like you're a punch line."

Earlier in the documentary, Lopez said she nearly quit show business early in her career because of negativity in the media.

"No matter what I achieved, their appetite to cover my personal life overshadowed everything that was happening in my career," she said. "I just had very low self-esteem. I really believed a lot of what they said, which is, I wasn't any good, that I wasn't a good singer, I wasn't a good actress, I wasn't a good dancer. I wasn't good at anything. I just didn't belong here. Why wouldn't I just go away?"

Lopez added: "I felt like I was in this really abusive, dysfunctional relationship."

Ben Affleck, Lopez's fiancé whom she also dated in the early 2000s, said in the documentary: "I said to her once, 'Doesn't this bother you?' and she said, 'I'm Latina. I'm a woman. I expected this. You just don't expect it. You expect to be treated fairly.'"

Lopez said she had to "figure out who I was" and believe in that to push through.

Later in the documentary, Lopez was met with praise and a hug from the Vogue editor Anna Wintour when she wore an updated version of her iconic Versace dress as part of the brand's spring 2020 fashion show in Milan.

"Halftime" is available on Netflix now.