Not in her wildest dreams! Jennifer Lopez admitted that she was surprised to find herself back together with Ben Affleck more than 15 years after their initial breakup.
The Marry Me star visited the Ellen DeGeneres Show to chat about her new romantic comedy, but DeGeneres wondered more about the 52-year-old’s real-life romance.
“Never would I pry, [so] what was it like the first night getting back together?” DeGeneres, 64, quipped on the Wednesday, February 9, episode of the daytime talk show. “I can’t imagine. It must be like, ‘Oh my, God! We’re back together after 18 years!’ That’s like — right?”
Lopez tried to laugh off the question, but she admitted, “I don’t think anybody was more surprised than us.”
The “Waiting for Tonight” songstress and Affleck, now 49, had a whirlwind, high-profile relationship starting in 2002 but they called off their engagement in 2004. In May 2021, weeks after ending her engagement to retired baseball player Alex Rodriguez, Us Weekly confirmed the Bennifer reunion.
While speaking with DeGeneres, Lopez added, “You never could imagine something like that could happen. It’s a beautiful thing.”
She agreed that love is “absolutely” the most important thing in life. While the New York native wasn’t thrilled that a recent magazine cover proclaimed that she was “in love” instead of promoting Marry Me, her new movie, she noted, “It’s true” that she’s head over heels for the Boston boy.
However, the two agreed that they want their second chance at love to be more low-key. In September 2003, they called off their wedding just days before the ceremony, citing “excessive media attention.”
Lopez said earlier this month that if there’s anything she took away from their first go at a relationship, it’s that the near and dear things in her life are best kept private.
“I think what we learned from the last time is that love, when you are lucky enough to find it, is so sacred and special and you have to hold a little bit of that privately and that’s what we’ve learned,” the JLo Beauty founder said during an appearance on Today. “But we’re very happy, if that’s what you wondering about.”
Much has changed since their initial romance. Affleck has gotten sober and is dad to three kids, Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 9, who he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner. The parents were married in 2005, announced their split in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018.
The Wedding Planner star, meanwhile, is mom to twins Max and Emma, 13. She was married their father, Marc Anthony, from 2004 to 2011.
