It was a long road for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck to reconcile after breaking off their engagement in January 2004.
In a Variety exclusive about Lopez's upcoming album and companion film This Is Me... Now, the actress-singer said the couple still experiences "PTSD" about their previous breakup, nearly 20 years before their marriage in 2022. “We both have PTSD,” Lopez told Variety about the scrutiny and rumor mill that the couple faced in the early 2000s.
She continued, "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.”
As for the "musical experience" of Lopez's ninth studio album, which will be released on February 16, 2024, the Dave Meyers-directed short film will include scenes of Affleck, along with songs and performances referencing the couple's romance.
“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 album will also serve as a sequel to Lopez's third studio album, This Is Me... Then, which was dedicated to Affleck around the time of their first engagement. Apart from the debut of Lopez's upcoming Prime Video film, she's spoken high praises of her husband, recently telling Vogue that Affleck makes her feel "more beautiful than I have ever felt with someone else."
