Jennifer Lopez Called Her Divorce From Ben Affleck the ‘Best Thing’ That Ever Happened to Her
Though the end of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s marriage captured widespread public attention in 2024, neither has spoken at great length about their split. Lopez recently made rare comments about her divorce. She said that while it was painful and challenging, it was also ultimately a good thing for her.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck ended their marriage in 2024
Years after ending their engagement in the early 2000s, Lopez and Affleck rekindled their romance in 2021. They married in 2022, but fans quickly began to wonder if there was trouble in paradise. Lopez eventually filed for divorce in August 2024, following a summer of speculation about the state of her marriage.
Though things didn’t work out between them romantically, the pair were reportedly on good terms after divorcing.
“Getting things all squared away has done wonders for the state of their relationship,” a source told InTouch Weekly. “They’re both saying they are impressed in the end by how sensible and fair it all came out and that’s left them both feeling about as happy as you could get after a divorce.”
They both also appear to be close with one another’s children.
Jennifer Lopez said ending her marriage to Ben Affleck was a good thing for her
As Lopez navigated the end of her marriage, she was filming Kiss of the Spider Woman. She said working amid the upheaval in her personal life was not always easy.
“It was tough. It was a really tough time,” she told CBS Sunday Morning. “It was hard not to think about stuff. It was the best and the worst of times, in a way. Every moment on set, every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy, and then it was like, back home, it was not great. It was just like, how do I reconcile this? But you get through it.”
Ultimately, she thinks divorce has been good for her. She feels like a fundamentally different person now.
“Honestly, I have to say it was the best thing that ever happened to me,” she said. “Because it changed me… it didn’t change me, it helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow. Become more self-aware. I’m a different person now than I was last year, I think.”
She believes that enduring difficult times has helped her enjoy life.
“The joy is in living and these moments and really embracing life and everything that it brings to you for the lessons it brings and then for all the triumphs it brings,” she said. “And the hard times are the lessons, and you have to understand that. And once you do, everything becomes a little bit lighter and you can really, really fly. If that hadn’t have happened, I wouldn’t understand that.”
She’s looking forward to the release of a new project
Lopez worked on Kiss of the Spider Woman during a difficult time in her life, but she’s looking forward to its release. She shared what excited her about the role.
“What drew me to this story? First of all, the story’s about love, right?” she told Out Magazine. “It’s the one thing in life that is really worth dying for in a way, and that’s really the poetry of the movie to me.”
She said she’s always wanted to star in a musical, and she knew this was the perfect project.
“It was really a dream come true,” she said. “I’ve dreamt of doing a musical for so many years. For it to be one that is … [a] movie about love and acceptance and community, especially in this time, to me it couldn’t have been a better thing to happen.”
Kiss of the Spider Woman hits theaters on Oct. 10.
