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Jennifer Lopez is done skirting around addressing her divorce from Ben Affleck. In a steamy new profile with Interview Magazine, the singer and actress has opened up about heartbreak, the lessons she’s learnt from love and finally feeling “free” out of her relationship.
The This Is Me…Now star filed for divorce from the Academy Award winner on their second wedding anniversary after rekindling their noughties romance in 2021. (The actor and director is yet to make a statement on their split, but has reportedly been embroiled with American socialite Kick Kennedy.)
Revealing details of their separation for the first time, Lopez admitted that her “whole f****** world exploded” following the release of her most recent studio album and accompanying movie musical. Lopez was at the receiving end of online vitriol after her documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told was critically and commercially panned. The 55-year-old also cancelled a scheduled worldwide stadium tour in May, citing she was “taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends”.
Lopez alluded to the fallout from that period of her life in her first social media post since her divorce was made public, sharing a series of photos with the caption “Oh, it was a summer”. Going into further detail about the past couple of months with comedian Nikki Glaser, she shared that she initially thought she’d accepted she was “good on her own” but that ultimately wasn’t the case.
“This summer, I had to be like, ‘I need to go off and be on my own. I want to prove to myself that I can do that’,” she shared. Lopez added that she can say for the first time in her life that she is not looking for a partner. But the road to this revelation wasn’t easy. “It’s f****** hard,” Lopez admitted about her acceptance of singledom after a breakup. “It feels lonely, unfamiliar, scary,” Lopez said candidly before adding she also experiences sadness and desperation.
As for what she learnt in the process? “Being in a relationship doesn’t define me. I can’t be looking for happiness in other people.” Lopez acknowledged that she doesn’t regret her marriage, even after all the “pain” it caused her. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t almost take me out for good. It almost did,” she shared. “But now, on the other side of it, I think to myself, “F****, that is exactly what I needed. Thank you, god. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
The mother of two also confessed that her upbringing led to what she valued in a partner, noting that “being ignored” as a child made her feel like she wasn’t a priority—something she felt manifested during her relationship. “I’m comfortable with this person ignoring me. I’m comfortable with this person treating me this way,” she divulged.
Lopez and Affleck definitively called it quits in early 2024, nearly 20 years to the day since they ended their engagement in 2004. The on-again, off-again couple rekindleding their relationship was posed as Hollywood’s greatest reunion, though it wasn’t meant to be.
The ex-couple initially tied the knot in Las Vegas before celebrating with a lavish ceremony in Georgia.
As per paperwork filled in a court of law, the divorce petition did not include any mention of a prenuptial agreement. The reason for the parting was officially listed as “irreconcilable differences”.
