It’s been nine months since Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck finalized their divorce after just two years of marriage. Now, Lopez is opening up in a new interview about how this devastating divorce has changed her forever as a person.
Lopez Discusses ‘Tough’ Divorce
Lopez, 56, is currently promoting her new movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, which hits theaters on October 10. She filmed the movie in the spring of last year. Unbeknownst to her fans at the time, Lopez and Affleck had already separated by then. Lopez ultimately filed for divorce from Affleck in August of 2024. In her filing, she listed their date of separation as being in April of that year.
While being interviewed on CBS Sunday Morning over the weekend, Lopez was asked how she dealt with filming Kiss of the Spider Woman while simultaneously going through such a difficult time in her personal life.
“Barely,” Lopez replied with a laugh. “It was tough. It was a tough time.”
Making this even more complicated was the fact that Affleck, 53, served as an executive producer on Kiss of the Spider Woman. Despite this, Lopez still viewed working on this film as being a welcome distraction from her tumultuous personal life.
It was hard not to think about stuff, but it was like the best and the worst of times, in a way.
“Every moment on set, every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy,” she gushed. “And then it was like, back home, it was not great.”
“And it was just like, ‘How do I reconcile this?'” Lopez continued. “But you get through it.”
Check out a trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman in the video below.
Lopez’s Divorce ‘Changed’ Her
Lopez went on to say that looking back over a year later, she can now see the positives of her divorce from Affleck.
“Honestly, I have to say, it was the best thing that ever happened to me, because it changed me,” she explained. “It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow, become more self-aware. I’m a different person now than I was last year.”
These days, Lopez says that she’s in a “very good” place and is “able to enjoy things more.” In fact, she feels that she enjoyed “probably the best summer I’ve ever had” this year
“I had so much fun,” she added. “I’m able to enjoy things more and be great.”
Lopez also expressed gratitude to Affleck for his contributions to Kiss of the Spider Woman.
“The movie wouldn’t have been made if it wasn’t for him and Artist Equity,” she said of Affleck and his production company. “I will always give him credit for that.”
“I told him this was the role I was born to play and I wanted to do it and he was like, ‘Okay,'” Lopez concluded. “And he helped make it happen.”
Lopez And Affleck’s History
Though they were only married for two years, Lopez and Affleck’s love story goes back decades.
Lopez and Affleck met in December of 2001 on the set of their infamous movie Gigli. They became engaged the next year, only to shock fans by calling off their planned wedding in 2003 just days before it was set to take place.
Lopez and Affleck each went on to marry and divorce different people. Affleck married Jennifer Garner, an actress best known for starring in the hit TV show Alias, in 2005. They had three children together before they divorced in 2018.
Meanwhile, Lopez married the singer Marc Anthony, staying with him from 2004 until they divorced in 2014. He’s the father of her 17 year-old twins.
Lopez and Affleck reunited and quickly rekindled their romance in April of 2021. They went on to marry in July of 2022.
Sadly, it didn’t take long for their marriage to go off the rails. Lopez filed for divorce in August of 2024, citing their date of separation as April 26 of that year, as we previously stated. Their divorce was finalized in January of 2025.
Divorce is never fun, particularly when a couple’s history is as lengthy as Lopez and Affleck’s. While it’s sad that Lopez had to go through this heartbreak, we’re glad to see that she’s bounced back and can now see the positives of this experience.
Be sure to check out Kiss of the Spider Woman when it hits theaters on October 10!