Jennifer Lopez has opened up about the reasons behind her initial breakup with Ben Affleck.
The celebrity duo caused a media frenzy when they canceled their wedding just days before it was supposed to occur in 2003. They began dating in 2002, announced their engagement within the same year, but ultimately parted ways before tying the knot.
Following the split, Lopez married Marc Anthony, with whom she shares two children. She later entered a relationship with former baseball player Alex Rodriguez. Their engagement took place in 2019, but their wedding was postponed twice due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In April 2021, they announced their decision to end the relationship.
On the other hand, Affleck was married to actress Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018. The former couple shares three children together: daughters Violet and Seraphina, and son Samuel.
After the end of J.Lo and Ben’s initial engagement, fans speculated about the reasons behind their decision.
During an interview with DJ Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Jennifer shared insights about the events leading up to their first wedding.
Zane inquired: “For you to break up three days before the wedding… the pressure that was piled upon you caused the wedding to be called off.
“But I never really understood, there’s a difference between calling off a wedding… you broke up, you didn’t just call the wedding off, you called the whole thing off?”
Lopez clarified that their separation wasn’t instantaneous but rather unfolded over a few months.
She elaborated: “What it did was it cast doubt in me and both of us about what our relationship was and where it was going I think.
“I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life, but it didn’t feel like we were going to make it, so it scared me.
“It was very hard, it was a very sad moment of letting go of someone you really love because you just can’t figure it out, you just don’t have the capacity and ability emotionally to figure it out, we just weren’t mature enough in that way.
“… We weren’t ready to deal with and look at each other and go ‘what we have is real, we need to buckle down, do some work’ we just weren’t there yet.”
Jennifer and Ben found their way back to each other in 2021, almost twenty years later, and rekindled their romance. They married in Las Vegas in 2022, with a subsequent ceremony in Georgia.
The reunion was short-lived as Jennifer officially filed for divorce on their second wedding anniversary. Court documents indicated they had separated by April 2023.
Recently, Jennifer reflected on her divorce, describing it as a ‘tough’ period, while Ben expressed feeling ’embarrassed’ about the situation.