Jennifer Lopez missed out on Britney Spears and Madonna's iconic 2003 VMAs kiss because she was working on a movie.
"I was working on a movie, Shall We Dance, at the same time, and they just wouldn't let me out of the movie," Lopez told Andy Cohen during Monday's episode of Watch What Happens Live.
The Office Romance star, now 56, divulged that she was set to perform alongside the iconic singers in a sultry medley performance of Like a Virgin – a role that ultimately went to Christina Aguilera.
Rehearsals at Madonna's House
"We rehearsed and everything," Lopez told Cohen, noting that she "went to Madonna's house" to prepare for the performance.
"It was me, her and Britney," Lopez recalled. "She was playing her guitar, and we were singing."
Though it was the kiss between Madonna, now 67, Spears, now 44, and Aguilera, now 45, that made the performance unforgettable, Lopez said she didn't rehearse an onstage smooch.
Lopez was meant to take the stage with the superstar duo and even rehearsed the performance at Madonna's house in the lead up to the ceremony.
Lopez was later replaced by Christina Aguilera, saying the studio just "wouldn't let me out of the movie".
"But [Madonna] said that that's what she wanted to do," Lopez divulged. "It was a thing, like, 'We're going to get married, I'm going to be the groom, you guys are going to sing.' I was the one who was going to come out first and sing Like a Virgin."
The Jenny From the Block hit maker confessed that she couldn't "really remember what it was, but it was something like that."
The eventual line-up performed as mash-up of Madonna's hits Hollywood and Like a Virgin.
Though staff on the set of Shall We Dance allowed her "on the weekend to go meet with" Madonna, Lopez said, they ultimately wouldn't let her "out of the movie to do the actual show."
Reps for Madonna and Spears did not immediately respond to Page Six's request for comment on Tuesday.
Lopez was filming Shall We Dance? with Richard Gere at the time.
The finished product saw Spears, Madonna and Aguilera take the stage in wedding-themed attire for performances of Like a Virgin and Hollywood, culminating in a three-way kiss that left audiences breathless.
Finally, Missy Elliott joined the trio with her hit Work It.
In January 2022, Madonna said during an Instagram Live that she wanted to re-enact the kiss with Spears while on tour, saying, "Hell yeah! Stadium, baby! Me and Britney, what about that?"
Several months later, in June 2022, Spears locked lips with Madonna while celebrating her marriage to Sam Asghari.
This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission.
