Jennifer Lopez Reflects on What She Would Tell Herself During First Split with Ben Affleck

Amidst the anticipation surrounding her forthcoming album, This Is Me...Now, Jennifer Lopez candidly reflected on her journey, especially during her initial split from Ben Affleck, offering insights into her growth and resilience as well as what her romantic life has looked like. 

This is Me...Now: A Love Story launched on Prime Video this Friday to coincide with the record's release. Lopez is performing a sort of fictitious mea culpa about her previous romantic relationships as she gets ready to release her first studio album in ten years. Additionally, Live Nation revealed on Thursday that Lopez will start a 30+ city tour in Orlando, Florida, on June 26.

Lopez reflected on the album, "I think as an artist, if you can’t be honest and vulnerable, then you’re really not doing your job right. It requires that. And not just in music, but in acting and in expressing yourself. You have to kind of bare a part of your soul," as per Las Vegas Sun.

"I felt like I wanted to do something special," Lopez says of her $20 million self-funded passion project. (A future documentary completes the three-part show.) "I felt like the music deserved that." When "Bennifer" originally appeared on almost every tabloid cover in 2002, Lopez released This Is Me...Then, her first album included Affleck.

Lopez believed the follow-up deserved more from her because it took two decades to complete. "People know the story of me and Ben, that's not the story I want to tell," she continued. Moreover, according to the synopsis, This Is Me...Now: A Love Story is a 'narrative-driven cinematic odyssey, steeped in mythological storytelling and personal healing,' as per Yahoo!

Lopez said, "It's meta. It's not autobiographical, but it's definitely inspired by events of my life and of other people's kind of journeys that I've watched. But it's definitely the story of a hopeless romantic's journey through life and their search for love. That really kind of sums it up in a way, and there's definitely things from my life that are infused and inspired in the story."

In 2004, Lopez and Affleck called off their engagement for the first time. Both of them have been transparent about how their relationship ended because of the emergence of tabloid culture and media scrutiny. Even after twenty years, they remain popular targets for paparazzi, with every facial expression and picture being carefully examined on the internet.

Nonetheless, Lopez stated, "The thing I love more about who I am today as opposed to maybe 20 years ago is I can really continue evolving, and growing, and knowing that I'm not where I'm gonna be in two years, or five years or 10 years. It's going to be even better. It's really the exciting part."

Undoubtedly, it was difficult for Lopez and Affleck to split up for the first time. However, in the same vein, Lopez claimed that if she could go back in time and tell herself one thing in 2004, it would be this: "It's gonna be better than you think. So just hang on."