It’s been ten months since Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck finalized their divorce after just two years of marriage. Now, Lopez reveals the one film role that “haunts” her as she continues to come to terms with her fourth divorce.
Lopez’s Biggest Career Regret
While appearing on The Howard Stern Show, Lopez opened up about the one film role that got away. That part was the leading role in the 2002 romantic drama thriller Unfaithful. The lead was ultimately played by Diane Lane, who earned rave reviews. In fact, Lane was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her work in the Adrian Lyne-directed hit.
Lopez, who has never been nominated for an Oscar despite multiple close calls, admitted to Howard Stern that she has serious regrets about turning down this movie.
“Adrian Lyne offered me Unfaithful,” recalled Lopez, 56. When asked why she turned it down, Lopez replied, “The script wasn’t good, and then he made it great.”
“And Diane Lane got nominated for the Oscar,” Lopez added with a laugh.
Never one to beat around the bush, Stern asked, “Is that hard to live with?”
“It’s funny. It haunts me,” Lopez confessed. She added that it “haunts me a little bit, because it’s, like, the one that I turned down. It was just like, ‘Why did you turn down working with Adrian Lyne? What were you thinking?’ I don’t know what was going on in my mind at the time. Who knows what was going on with me at the time?”
Watch Lopez talk more about this in the video below.
Lane Fires Back
Though Lane ended up losing the Oscar that year to The Hours’ star Nicole Kidman, Unfaithful was still her career-defining role. After Lopez’s interview with Stern, Lane was quick to respond to her claim that she was offered Unfaithful first.
“Oh, I see. I didn’t hear that interview,” Lane, 60, told Entertainment Tonight.
When asked if she’d ever heard about this or spoken to Lopez about it, Lane replied, “No, no…But I’m glad to hear it. I mean, how great. It was somebody’s moment and it was my turn.”
Check out Lane’s full comments on this in the video below.
Lopez Scores Oscar Buzz
This comes as Lopez is garnering Oscar buzz in the Best Supporting Actress category for her work in the new movie musical Kiss of the Spider Woman.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment my whole life,” Lopez told Extra back in August. “The reason I even wanted to be in this business is because my mom would sit me in front of the TV and [West Side Story] would come on once a year. I was mesmerized and was like, ‘That’s what I want to do.’ This is the first time I actually got to do it.”
Check out a trailer for Kiss of the Spider Woman in the video below.
Lopez’s ‘Difficult’ Time
Lopez has admitted that she filmed this movie during a “difficult” time in her life.
“It was one of the most beautiful moviemaking experiences I’ve ever had, and also at a difficult time in my life,” Lopez told Out Magazine. “But it … just filled a part of me that was waiting to kind of come alive for so long.”
Indeed, Lopez filmed Kiss of the Spider Woman in the spring of 2024. Though the world didn’t know it at the time, Lopez had already separated from Ben Affleck, who executive produced Kiss of the Spider Woman. She filed for divorce in August of 2024 after just two years of marriage.
In her filing, however, Lopez listed their date of separation as being in April. This confirms that Lopez was already privately dealing with their split while making this movie. It wasn’t until January of 2025 that their divorce was finalized.
Earlier this month, Lopez and Affleck reunited on the red carpet at the New York City premiere for Kiss of the Spider Woman. Despite their divorce, they seemed to be getting along famously.
Check out their reunion below.
Oscar glory is clearly something that means a lot to Lopez. Perhaps over 20 years after turning down Unfaithful, she’ll finally get the Oscar nomination that she craves. If that happens, perhaps she’ll finally be free from being haunted by her decision to turn down Unfaithful!