Jennifer Lopez Explains What ‘Destroyed’ Her 2000s Relationship with Ben Affleck

Jennifer Lopez is taking the plunge on the cover of Rolling Stone’s March 2022 issue, rocking a revealing Balmain suit that shows off all her curves!

The interview inside is every bit as eye-opening.

Lopez has been doing press to promote her new movie “Marry Me,” but since rekindling her romance with Ben Affleck, everyone has had their eye on the renewed relationship.

In the cover story, the “Dinero” singer reflects on what’s different about dating Ben this time around versus when they first dated in the early 2000s. The pair originally met on the set of their movie, “Gigli” and dated from 2002-2004. They even got engaged before calling it quits.

Despite being so in love back then, the intense criticism in the spotlight was too much for the young couple. The “Hustlers” star shared, “Here was this other thing happening where we were being criticized, and it really destroyed our relationship from the inside out, because we were just too young to understand at that time what were really the most important things in life."

Lopez recalled that difficult time in her life, sharing “It was brutal. It was brutal. It's one of those things that you bury very deeply so you can move on and get about your business. It's funny because Ben and I were together, and we were so in love. It was one of the happiest times of my life."

This may be why this time around the couple is more guarded with their relationship despite appearing on red carpets together, such as when J.Lo joined Ben at the Venice Film Festival when he was promoting his film “The Last Duel.”

Lopez did have this to say about their relationship: “I won't talk about it a lot. We've both grown. We're the same, and we're different. And that's what's nice. Having a second chance at real love… yeah. Like I said, we learned a lot. We know what's real, what's not real. So, it's just — the game has changed. Again, I'm trying not to say too much."

It’s obvious the couple is very much in love. In the last comment about her relationship, Lopez shared that when they rekindled the romance, it was with the approach that they wouldn’t split up again.

"I don't think we would have got back together if we thought that was where it was headed," she said. "We feel like what we found again is so much more important, and how we protect that and how we live our lives — what to share, what not to share — is the balance that we have now, the benefit of experience and the wisdom that we gained over the years."

In her interview, Jennifer also talks more about “Marry Me,” her new music, and her career in Hollywood. As for what motivates her success, she explained, “I’m an underdog. I always feel like I was scrapping from the bottom. Always. That’s part of being Puerto Rican and from the Bronx and a woman.”

She said, “I don’t even know half the movies when they come out at the end of the year. I have the top agents in the world, but [those projects] don’t come to me.”

Lopez continues to create opportunities for herself and putting her “career in my own hands,” like heading her own production company Nuyorican Productions.