Jennifer Lopez says she and Ben Affleck still have “PTSD” from their first romance.
Ahead of the release of her new album and accompanying film, This is me… now, Lopez, 54, revealed to Diversity that he has some concerns about putting his love life back in the spotlight.
“As artists, we have to follow our heart, and this is me following my heart and doing something that maybe not everyone thought was the best idea, but I had to do it,” she told the outlet.
She added, “We both have PTSD,” about the media frenzy she and Affleck, 51, faced when they first came out. (The two rekindled their relationship in April 2021, after splitting in 2004).
“But we are older now. We are wiser,” Lopez continued. “We also know what’s important, what’s really important in life, and it’s not so important what other people think. It’s important to be true to who you are.”
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Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in the early 2000s. DOUG KANTER/AFP via Getty Jennifer Lopez says she and Ben Affleck are ‘real partners’: She wants to ‘see me shine as hard as I can’
A lot has changed for the couple in 18 years. “We’re older now, we’re smarter, we have more experience, we’re in different places in our lives, we have kids now, and we have to be very aware of those things,” Lopez told PEOPLE in February’s 2022 Cover Story.
The superstar spouses, who are parents to five children, also benefit from the life lessons learned along the way.
“It’s a wonderful outcome that this happened in this way at this time in our lives where we can really appreciate and celebrate and respect each other,” said the pop powerhouse and Marry me actress. “We always have, but we appreciate it even more because we know that life can take you in different directions.”
Reflecting on the hype and media circus that surrounded their relationship before they split in 2004, Lopez told PEOPLE, “I think we’re strong enough now to know what’s real and what’s not, whereas when we were younger maybe some of those outside voices were a little more difficult for us to reconcile and survive.”
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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Los Angeles on December 5, 2023.
Kevin Winter/Getty
Ben Affleck Says Jennifer Lopez Knows He’s ‘Guarded’ About Public Attention: ‘She’s Watching Me’
This is me… now will serve as a follow-up to Lopez’s 2002 album This is me… Then. Both the new album and the accompanying film of the same name are due out on February 16, 2024.
The project will also mark the singer’s first studio album “If You Had My Love” after 10 years, after AKA. in 2014.
According to Diversity, the film will be released by Amazon MGM Studios. The short film was directed by Dave Meyers and co-written by Lopez, Affleck and Matt Walton. It will also serve as a “musical and visual reimagining of her publicly scrutinized love life,” according to a press release.
“You have to see it and you have to experience it to understand it,” Lopez said Diversity movie. That’s why I call it a ‘musical experience’. Because there is music, you can see it, you can hear it and then you will be able to live it.”
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Source: HIS Education