Jennifer Lopez is already bouncing back from heartbreak amid her divorce from Ben Affleck. It’s been nearly two months since she filed for divorce.
However, the self-proclaimed hopeless romantic is not looking to rebound with another Hollywood hunk any time soon; instead, the multi-hyphenate entertainer is taking a beat to settle into the single life.
The “Gigli” co-stars who dated and were engaged in the early 2000s reconnected in 2021. Their second chance at love came 17 years after calling it quits. They tied the knot during a midnight trip to Las Vegas in 2022, holding a larger ceremony for family and friends at Affleck’s Georgia estate later that summer.
Their picture perfect union inspired Lopez’s 2024 album “This Is Me…Now” and the Amazon documentary “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.” The streamer described it as a “daring project” that explored “her twenty-year journey to self-love.”
A new Interview magazine conversation with the actress reveals that the journey is hardly over months after Lopez and the Academy Award winner separated. Lopez filed for divorce in August.
“With ‘This Is Me … Now’ and the project that you mentioned earlier [‘Unstoppable’], I felt like, whoa, I got here. I’m good. I did all the work and look at where I am, and then it was like my whole f**king world exploded,” she told Nikki Glaser.
The earliest speculations about the marriage being troubled cropped up online in 2023 when the “Batman” actor was routinely photographed appearing disgruntled and uninterested in his wife during public outings.
Ben & JLo over in less than 2yrs of marriage. pic.twitter.com/KVUWfOyNgF
— 𝘴᭙ꫀꫀ𝓽 ᥴꪖ𝘳ꪑꫀꪶ (@SweetCarmel77) May 17, 2024
The “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” singer hit back at the comments suggesting Affleck had checked out of the honeymoon phases well before his Mrs.
By the summer, however, rumors peaked as the couple placed their Los Angeles home on the market and Lopez retreated to the Hamptons without her longtime love. She recalled that time feeling “sad,” “desperate,” and “lonely.”
“There’s times when I thought I figured it out, and then life goes, ‘Let’s send you another thing and see if you fall for it. Let’s see if you really have learned that lesson.’ And I hadn’t. I understand that now in a much deeper way, which doesn’t mean that I won’t make mistakes in the future, but again, when your whole house blows up, you’re standing there in the rubble going, ‘How do I not ever let that happen again?’” she told Glaser.
The Oscar-nominated star has a list of past lovers, including three past marriages to Ojani Noa, backup dancer Cris Judd, and musician Marc Anthony, with whom she shares teenage twins Max and Emma. Before getting back with Affleck, she was engaged to retired MLB player Alex Rodriguez. She now insists that she won’t be running into the arms of a new beau.
J Lo married 3 times and was engaged 34 times and you are still crying over someone you dated back in primary school pic.twitter.com/9RbMw0IbGp
— The Instigator (@Am_Blujay) March 13, 2019
“Being in a relationship doesn’t define me. I can’t be looking for happiness in other people. I have to have happiness within myself. I used to say I’m a happy person, but was still looking for something for somebody else to fill, and it’s just like, “No, I’m actually good,’” she added.
Further stating, “There’s no new bar because I’m not looking for anybody. … For people who are romantics and love being in relationships and want to grow old with somebody, we think, ‘I have to have that to be whole and happy.’ And you don’t.” But not everyone is onboard with her new outlook.
Online, a critic in the comments section of the Daily Mail story about the interview wrote, “She’ll be married again soon. It’s an addiction.” While another suggested, “Maybe try being alone for longer than a summer, JLo.” A third individual took aim at Lopez’s track record, stating, “This woman can’t keep a man to save her life.”
Recent speculative reports have alluded to Lopez being unable to forgive Affleck while others have spurred concern for the actor amid growing concerns about his recent transformation.
