Katherine Ryan reveals Jennifer Lopez film inspired her to bring daughter Violet, 12, on stage amid drunken brawl

Jennifer Lopez’s film had an unexpected influence on the viral video (Picture: Rex/Instagram)

Katherine Ryan has revealed how a Jennifer Lopez film inspired the decision to bring her daughter on stage during a gig to calm down a heated argument among the audience.

However, the comedian admitted that she had no idea Violet, 12, would take the mic and start speaking to those involved in the brawl, having thought that the youngster could sing to try and distract from the altercation.

Katherine, 38, recently shared footage from the comedy set in Leicester, which showed her eldest child stating: ‘OK, OK. No one’s threatening anyone, just calm down. It’s Saturday, I get it, have fun but please don’t threaten anyone, like, please,’ prompting cheers.

On the latest episode of her podcast Katherine Ryan: Telling Everybody Everything, the entertainer recalled how things kicked off in the audience near the end of the show when a woman said that a man was acting in a threatening manner and calling for security to help.

She explained that the stewards at the event weren’t trained as security, and therefore couldn’t legally intervene.

Explaining that Violet doesn’t always come on tour with her but is now on half term from school, nor does she watch the whole performance as ‘it’s not appropriate for her’, Katherine said that she poked her head out from the side of the stage, asking: ‘What’s going on?’

‘Then I thought to myself – and I’ll tell you where I got this idea – from the film Enough, starring JLo. Trigger warning – this film is about domestic abuse,’ the comic said.

‘JLo is dating a man who’s very charismatic, your typical narcissistic psychopath, but he becomes controlling and abusive in the film, and there’s one evening where her small children are asleep and I think she’s nearby the son or holding the son and the dad gets quite aggressive with her.’

Katherine explained that in the film, Jennifer’s character wakes up her son and tells him to look at his father, which makes him refrain from doing anything violent.

‘This particular dad in the film won’t do anything violent in front of his children, because that’s his standard of excellence as a father I guess. He can be violent towards the mum but not in front of the children,’ she said, before adding sarcastically: ‘What a great guy.’

The film, which starred Billy Campbell as the husband, was released in 2002 (Picture: Theo Wargo/WireImage)

Reflecting on the plot of the film, Katherine thought to herself: ‘If something is going to kick off, let’s bring Violet out, because surely no one’s going to fight in front of a child,’ adding that as this point ‘as far as I could tell there were no punches thrown at this time’.

‘I said to her, “Why don’t you sing something into the microphone,” because again, who’s going to fight when the voice of an angel, a little child, is singing,’ she said.

However, Katherine said that being nearly a teenager, Violet refused to sing, instead saying: ‘No, I’m going to sort this instead,’ which was not what Katherine was ‘expecting her to do’.’

‘Violet grabs the microphone, actually takes it out of the stand, and starts addressing these people directly. “What’s going on? Who’s threatening? No one’s threatening anyone tonight. I know it’s Saturday.”’ she recollected.

Katherine recently appeared on Mel Giedroyc’s show Unforgivable with her son Fred (Picture: UKTV/Ellis O’Brien)

‘“I know it’s Saturday, I get it,” she says. “But you need to calm down. Everyone just calm down. Do you know where you are? You’re not in a nightclub. You’re in a theatre. Calm down. There’s someone performing.”

‘I just couldn’t believe – I should be able to believe it because Violet bosses me around in the house and she’s very confident and self-assured and she’s very much a big sister, a little leader in her own right.’

The performer said that while Violet’s intervention ‘briefly worked’, she understands that ‘things continued’ after they left the stage and the lights had been turned on.

More: Jennifer Lopez

Since 2019, Katherine has been in a civil partnership with her partner Bobby Kootstra, with whom she shares her son Fred, born in June 2021.

Violet is her daughter from a previous relationship.

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