Jennifer Lopez’s company sued for $40m by Hustlers’ real life stripper who ‘inspired Ramona

Jennifer Lopez’s production company is reportedly being sued for $40 million (£30.4 million) by the real life woman thought to have inspired the lead character in Hustlers.

The Golden Globe-nominated movie sees Jennifer, 50, star as Ramona, a stripper who runs a side hustle scamming and drugging wealthy Wall Street bankers.

It’s widely believed the story was inspired by Samantha Barbash, who plead guilty to conspiracy, assault and grand larceny in 2017 in exchange for five years’ probation.

According to TMZ, Barbash has filed a lawsuit against Jennifer’s Nuyorican Productions, STX Entertainment, Gloria Sanchez Productions and Pole Sisters LLC, for $20 million (£15 million) in compensatory damages and $20 million in punitives.

In the lawsuit, Barbash reportedly claims that producers approached her to obtain consent to use her story as inspiration but she turned them down.

Barbash argues they went ahead and made the movie anyway with Jennifer starring in the lead character based on her real life as a stripper in New York.

The former dancer claims Hustlers portrays her as ‘using and manufacturing illegal substances in her home where she lived with her child’, which she feels is false and offensive.