‘Very Meta!’ All the Ways Jennifer Lopez’s ‘Marry Me’ Mimics Her Real Life: ‘I Know What It Feels Like’

Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

'Very Meta!' All the Ways Jennifer Lopez's 'Marry Me' Mimics Her Real Life: 'I Know What It Feels Like'

Art imitating life! Jennifer Lopez is no stranger to the rom-com, but her latest film, Marry Me, is a lot more personal than much of her previous work. The Grammy winner, 52, plays pop star Kat Valdez in the movie, released on Friday, February 11. Kat and her boyfriend, fellow musician Bastian (Maluma), decide to get married on stage during a concert, but just before the big day, Bastian gets caught cheating. Unwilling to suffer a major embarrassment on stage, Kat zeroes in on an audience member holding a sign that reads, "Marry me!" [jwplayer HumCA5SA-zhNYySv2] That concertgoer is Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), a divorced dad and schoolteacher — and more importantly, a civilian to the megastar lifestyle. Kat tries to pursue a relationship with Charlie to avoid further public humiliation, but the pair quickly must decide if their very different lives are compatible. "This movie was very meta for me,” the Enough actress said during an appearance on the Today show earlier this month. “This was the first time that I got to really take my own life, cause I’ve played a lot of different types of characters in all these different movies over the years, but this is the first time that it was as close to me.” The New York City native was referring to her real-life career as a world-famous musician and actress, but she also seemingly acknowledged the connections between Kat's personal life and her own high-profile relationships. "This movie is personal for me," Lopez said during a Marry Me concert event on Thursday, February 10. "This came out of my own experience — the journey to the love of your life. Sometimes it has its ups and downs, unexpected twists and turns. But what I've learned is that you have to find yourself before you can find that person who's gonna complete the picture." The "Jenny From the Block" songstress didn't mention anyone by name, but fans immediately noticed parallels to her split from ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez and her subsequent romance with Ben Affleck. Lopez and the former MLB star, 46, called it quits in April 2021 amid rumors that he cheated on her with Southern Charm star Madison LeCroy. (The Bravo personality, 31, denied that the pair hooked up.) By summer of that year, Lopez had moved on with Affleck, 49, whom she was first engaged to from 2002 to 2004. "I don’t think anybody was more surprised than us," she told Ellen DeGeneres earlier this month of the couple's reunion. "You never could imagine something like that could happen. It’s a beautiful thing.” Marry Me is in theaters now and available to stream via Peacock. Keep scrolling for more ways that the movie mimics Lopez's real life: [podcast_block]

Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

'Very Meta!' All the Ways Jennifer Lopez's 'Marry Me' Mimics Her Real Life: 'I Know What It Feels Like'

Art imitating life! Jennifer Lopez is no stranger to the rom-com, but her latest film, Marry Me, is a lot more personal than much of her previous work. The Grammy winner, 52, plays pop star Kat Valdez in the movie, released on Friday, February 11. Kat and her boyfriend, fellow musician Bastian (Maluma), decide to get married on stage during a concert, but just before the big day, Bastian gets caught cheating. Unwilling to suffer a major embarrassment on stage, Kat zeroes in on an audience member holding a sign that reads, "Marry me!" [jwplayer HumCA5SA-zhNYySv2] That concertgoer is Charlie Gilbert (Owen Wilson), a divorced dad and schoolteacher — and more importantly, a civilian to the megastar lifestyle. Kat tries to pursue a relationship with Charlie to avoid further public humiliation, but the pair quickly must decide if their very different lives are compatible. "This movie was very meta for me,” the Enough actress said during an appearance on the Today show earlier this month. “This was the first time that I got to really take my own life, cause I’ve played a lot of different types of characters in all these different movies over the years, but this is the first time that it was as close to me.” The New York City native was referring to her real-life career as a world-famous musician and actress, but she also seemingly acknowledged the connections between Kat's personal life and her own high-profile relationships. "This movie is personal for me," Lopez said during a Marry Me concert event on Thursday, February 10. "This came out of my own experience — the journey to the love of your life. Sometimes it has its ups and downs, unexpected twists and turns. But what I've learned is that you have to find yourself before you can find that person who's gonna complete the picture." The "Jenny From the Block" songstress didn't mention anyone by name, but fans immediately noticed parallels to her split from ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez and her subsequent romance with Ben Affleck. Lopez and the former MLB star, 46, called it quits in April 2021 amid rumors that he cheated on her with Southern Charm star Madison LeCroy. (The Bravo personality, 31, denied that the pair hooked up.) By summer of that year, Lopez had moved on with Affleck, 49, whom she was first engaged to from 2002 to 2004. "I don’t think anybody was more surprised than us," she told Ellen DeGeneres earlier this month of the couple's reunion. "You never could imagine something like that could happen. It’s a beautiful thing.” Marry Me is in theaters now and available to stream via Peacock. Keep scrolling for more ways that the movie mimics Lopez's real life: [podcast_block]

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The Pop Star Element

Like Lopez, Kat is an internationally famous musician who performs for audiences of thousands. “I really understood this life," the J. Lo Beauty founder told Vanity Fair in November 2021. "She’s been famous and in the business for a long time. She’s had some ups and downs in her personal life. Kat’s strong and confident. She’s a businesswoman. She’s a boss. But she’s also just a regular person who gets lonely, and who needs love, and wants to feel like she has a home.”

Marry Me also gave Lopez the chance to fulfill her lifelong dream of making a whole album to go along with a movie. She hasn't done a movie with music since 1997's Selena, and that film used the real Selena Quintanilla's songs for the soundtrack. For Marry Me, however, the Shades of Blue alum got to record as Kat and release the music as herself.

One of the movie's major plot points is Kat's excitement over receiving her first Grammy nomination after years of snubs. In real life, Lopez has only received two Grammy nods and has never won. She also missed out on an Oscar nomination in 2020 for her turn in Hustlers after months of speculation that she would receive one. 

Credit: John Salangsang/Shutterstock

Healing From Heartbreak in Public

The "Waiting for Tonight" songstress has weathered several public breakups, including her marriages to Ojani Noa (from 1997 to 1998), Cris Judd (from 2001 to 2003) and Marc Anthony (from 2004 to 2014). She also had a high-profile romance with Diddy from 1999 to 2001.

"It’s hard. ... You go home sometimes and you cry when it was a big heartbreak, or something happened and it was bad, and it’s hard to deal with," Lopez said on the Today show. "You have to put your best foot forward. You have to come out here. You have to do the smile. You have to do the thing. That’s part of your job, but there’s a person there, and it was nice to kind of let that side out because I never get to do that really.”

There are also a handful of specific connections to the Gigli star's romantic history. Like Lopez, Kat has been married three times. The character mentions that one of her marriages was very short, and that the ex in question had tried to sell a sex tape filmed during their relationship. 

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The Public Ridicule

In Marry Me, Kat faces mockery after her relationship with Bastian falls apart — another aspect of fame that Lopez has gotten used to in real life. "It was hard for her. She's so good at hiding how she feels," producer Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas told Newsweek earlier this month. "She added the line when somebody asked her, 'Don't you get hurt when people write this about you?' And she said, 'Yeah, you do.'"

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The Interest in Her Personal Life

Director Kat Coiro emphasized to Newsweek that Lopez is "not playing herself" in Marry Me, but she did use "her life experience" to craft the character of Kat. And like Kat, the "Get Right" singer knows very well what it feels like to have millions of fans know who you're dating. "When she talks about having her relationships being public and being scrutinized … Owen’s character cannot fathom this, but she’s a realist and says this is part of the deal," Coiro told Vanity Fair. "That was something we talked about a lot, just having lived her life under the microscope the way she has.”

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Duetting With Maluma

Lopez has never gotten married on stage, but she has dated fellow pop stars before, including ex-husband Anthony, 53. In 2007, the former spouses — who share 13-year-old twins Max and Emme — even embarked on a joint tour that grossed more than $13 million. For Marry Me, Lopez crashed one of Maluma's concerts at Madison Square Garden so they could incorporate the reaction of a real audience. "He was a great sport about it," the Maid in Manhattan star told Vanity Fair. "In the middle of his regular concert, with all of his fans, I just came out and we did ‘Marry Me.’ It was so much fun.”