Jennifer Lopez is gearing up to release her This Is Me… Now album and companion film, in which she documents her rekindled romance with husband Ben Affleck. But in a new interview, the superstar admits not everyone on her team supported her decision to tell their love story—and that she, too, had moments of doubt.
“As artists, we have to follow our heart and this is me following my heart and doing something that maybe everybody didn’t think was the best idea, but I had to do it,” Lopez told Variety.
The upcoming release of This Is Me… Now, in February, comes over two decades after the release of 2002’s This Is Me… Then, Lopez’s third studio album, which was inspired by Affleck and includes the love song “Dear Ben.” While J.Lo and Affleck got engaged in 2002, they never walked down the aisle, and instead decided to separate. They have since explained that the media scrutiny surrounding their wedding plans and relationship simply became too much for them to handle.
Though both stars went on to marry other people and raise families, they split from their spouses, rekindled their love in 2021, and married in 2022.
In her new interview, Lopez said she and Affleck “both have PTSD” from their first romance “but we’re older now. We’re wiser. We also know what’s important, what’s really important in life, and it’s not so much what other people think. It’s about being true to who you are.”
Rosa Sanchez is the senior news editor at Harper’s Bazaar, working on news as it relates to entertainment, fashion, and culture. Previously, she was a news editor at ABC News and, prior to that, a managing editor of celebrity news at American Media. She has also written features for Rolling Stone, Teen Vogue, Forbes, and The Hollywood Reporter, among other outlets.