Jennifer Lopez has opened up for the first time about her turbulent 2024.
The past 12 months have been filled with some professional knocks for the veteran entertainer, including low sales for her album This Is Me… Now and the cancellation of her world tour.
This was all followed by the news that she and her husband Ben Affleck were headed for divorce after two years of marriage.
Speaking to comedian Nikki Glaser in a new piece published in Interview magazine, J-Lo reflected on the past year and shared her take on this tumultuous period in her life.
“With This Is Me … Now and [Unstoppable, her upcoming sports drama], I felt like, ‘whoa, I got here. I’m good. I did all the work and look at where I am’, and then it was like my whole fucking world exploded,” she recalled.
On her new attitude towards relationships, Jen said: “You have to be healthy. You have to be complete, if you want something that’s more complete. You have to be good on your own.
“I thought I learned that, but I didn’t. And then, this summer, I had to be like, ‘I need to go off and be on my own. I want to prove to myself that I can do that’.”
Acknowledging this was something she found “fucking hard”, she continued: “It feels lonely, unfamiliar, scary. It feels sad. It feels desperate.
“But when you sit in those feelings and go, ‘These things are not going to kill me’, it’s like actually, I am capable of joy and happiness all by myself. Being in a relationship doesn’t define me. I can’t be looking for happiness in other people.
“I have to have happiness within myself. I used to say I’m a happy person, but was still looking for something for somebody else to fill, and it’s just like, ‘No, I’m actually good’.”
Nikki then questioned if these life lessons had given Jen a “new bar” for her next relationship, the Waiting For Tonight singer responded: “Here’s the thing: There’s no new bar because I’m not looking for anybody. How’s that?”
“For people who are romantics and love being in relationships and want to grow old with somebody, we think, ‘I have to have that to be whole and happy’. And you don’t,” she added.
Asked if she regretted any of the “pain” she’s been through in the past year, Jen then insisted: “Not one second. That doesn’t mean it didn’t almost take me out for good. It almost did. But now, on the other side of it, I think to myself, ‘Fuck, that is exactly what I needed’.”
“And by the way, that doesn’t mean I have everything figured out,” she concluded. “Now I’m excited, when you say you’re just going to be on your own.
“Yes, I’m not looking for anybody, because everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I fucking do when it’s just me flying on my own.”
Jennifer first began dating her now-estranged husband in the early 2000s, resulting in an engagement, but they eventually called off the wedding plans, only to end up reuniting almost 20 years later.
The former Gigli co-stars then finally tied the knot in Las Vegas in July 2022, in a small ceremony, which was attended by a more lavish event held at a venue in Georgia the following month.
Following his first break-up with the singer, Ben tied the knot with fellow actor Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children; 17-year-old Violet, 14-year-old Seraphina and 11-year-old Samuel. The two divorced in 2018 after 13 years of marriage.
J-Lo also shares 15-year-old twins Max and Emme with her third husband Marc Anthony. The two singers were married in 2004, and divorced in 2014.
She was previously married to Ojani Noa from February 1997 to January 1998, and her former backup dancer Cris Judd between September 2001 and January 2003.