It’s fair to say that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s romance would be enough to warm the heart of even the most cynical person, after the pair took nearly 20 years to walk down the aisle.
The couple first met on the set of their movie Gigli in 2002, but did not start dating until the following year.
Before long, Bennifer was one of the biggest power couples of the early years, and the two even planned a lavish wedding at Ben’s sprawling Georgia mansion after getting engaged before their eventual split in 2004.
At this point, Jennifer seemed to be moving forward pretty quickly, marrying singer Marc Anthony just five months after their split.
They welcomed their twins, Emma and Maximilian, in 2008, but separated in 2011.
Meanwhile, Ben married Jennifer Garner a year after he and Jen ended their relationship, and together they share three children: Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10.
Ben and Jennifer Garner announced their separation in 2015 and their divorce was finalized three years later.
Jennifer confirmed the rekindled romance in July 2021, and in April she proudly announced that she and Ben were engaged.
The way JLo announced her engagement with “Dear Ben” playing in the background! i can’t 🥰
In July of this year, the couple surprised everyone by eloping to Las Vegas for an impromptu and intimate ceremony at the Little White Wedding Chapel.
Their 2022 celebration poignantly reflected their original 2000s wedding plans, with an event held at Ben’s $8.9million Georgia mansion and attended by a host of their famous friends – including Matt Damon and Reese Witherspoon.
And Jennifer certainly isn’t taking any of that for granted — the singer opened up about her fairy tale ending in a new interview with Zane Lowe for Apple Music.
In the incredibly candid chat, Jennifer admitted she had been spiraling for “18 years” following her split from Ben in 2004, which she called the “biggest heartbreak” of her life.
Jen went so far as to say she felt like she was “going to die” after her relationship broke up and recalled struggling to perform the “painful” songs that reminded her of their romance.
“Once we called off that marriage 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartache of my life,” she told Zane. “Honestly, I felt like I was going to die. It sent me into a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right.”
“But now, 20 years later, it’s ending well,” Jennifer continued. “This is the end that would never come to Hollywood. It would never happen. We’re not gonna write this cause no one would believe it end.”
Jennifer also reflected on her 2002 album It’s me… Sowhich she originally recorded to capture her and Ben’s love.
Ben was among those who noticed that she had quietly put the leads aside after their breakup, and he confronted her about it 17 years later.
“It’s funny because when me and Ben got back together, he was like, ‘You never performed the songs. You never did, ‘I’m happy.’ You never did that. You never did that,” Jen explained. “I was like, ‘You’re right. It was painful.’ It’s a part of me that I had to put aside to move on and survive.”
And the star paid homage to that original album by announcing a new album slated for release next year: It’s me now.
The record will chronicle the last two decades of her life – including her reunion with Ben – and she is keen to share with fans that “love does exist”.
“Now I think the message of the album is very strong, if you were wondering, if you have, like me sometimes, lost hope, almost given up, don’t do it. Because true love exists and some things last forever and it’s real,” Jen shared.
Jennifer has always been incredibly open about the demise of her romantic relationship with Ben the first time around, and earlier this year she told Rolling Stone that despite their relationship marking “one of the happiest times” of her life, they ended up being “destroyed” by public scrutiny.
“It’s one of those things that you bury really deep so you can move on and go about your business,” she said at the time. “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.”
“But also, there was this other thing that was going on where we were being criticized, and that really destroyed our relationship from the inside, because we were just too young to understand at that time what things really were. the most important things in life,” Jen added.
And their individual growth over the past nearly two decades is exactly why their relationship is thriving this time around.
“We both grew up. We are the same and we are different. And that’s what’s good, ”she explained. “Getting a second chance at real love… We’ve learned a lot. We know what’s real and what’s not. So it’s just that the game has changed.
