Jennifer Lopez has candidly admitted that she “needed to change” following her divorce from Ben Affleck. The 56-year-old singer and actress revealed that the split prompted a period of deep self-reflection, leading her to realize that she had to take responsibility for her own life.
A Wake-Up Call
Speaking on the Smartness podcast, Lopez shared: “I really got to know myself, and the person I am today is so different than the person I was even two years ago. There have been different times when I felt like — whether people outside knew it or not — my life blew up in my own face.”
She added: “It was because of the choices I made but also because of the fact that I had things that needed to change about myself that I didn’t understand or recognize that was attracting certain things and attracting a certain type of experience into my life.”
The End of a Two-Year Marriage
Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck, 53, in 2024, finalizing the split in January 2025 after just two years of marriage. Reflecting on the aftermath, she said: “After my last divorce, I just sat there and I was like, I canceled my tour and I sat there and I was just like, ‘You need to f****** figure yourself out. What is going on with you? Forget about everybody else. There’s nobody to blame here except yourself, in a certain way.’”
Healing and Moving Forward
The singer has since moved into a new home with horses, stables, and space for her two children. She described the past few years as a “tumult” followed by a healing process. “The past 20 years, it’s been one thing, the past five years has been a tumult, and then the last two years has been kind of the healing process from that tumult, where I really got to know myself,” she explained.
A Look Back at Past Relationships
Before her reconciliation and marriage to Affleck, Lopez was married to actor Ojani Noa (1997–1998), dancer Cris Judd (2001–2002), and singer-actor Marc Anthony (2004–2014). She now feels grateful for her journey: “The person I am today is so different than the person I was even two years ago, it’s crazy. And now I can really look at my life, appreciate it for what it is and what I’ve created for myself and be really happy.”
Lopez made these remarks while promoting her Netflix romcom Office Romance.
