Jennifer Lopez said that while her romantic partners have been very different people, she has made similar mistakes with all of them. Lopez, who is reportedly headed toward a divorce from Ben Affleck, said she frequently makes mistakes in her relationships. While she doesn’t completely blame herself when relationships fail, she said she runs into the same problem almost every time. She shared how she learned to fix it.
Jennifer Lopez said she often made mistakes with her romantic partners
While still married to Marc Anthony, Lopez opened up about her past relationships in a conversation with Vanity Fair. She admitted that in her previous relationships with people like Affleck and Sean “Diddy” Combs, she still wasn’t in touch enough with herself.
“I wasn’t in touch with who I was, what I wanted, what I deserved, what I needed,” she said. “For me, it was all about the other person and that’s where I made my mistakes. It wasn’t even their fault, it was my fault. I needed to get to a point where I could say I know what I want, I know what I need, I can’t let you do this, I can’t let this happen, I can’t let that happen.”
After this discovery, Lopez said she learned to put herself first. She no longer wanted to put up with relationships that didn’t suit her.
“Even when I was feeling bad about myself, I always tried to remember that I’m worth more than this, that I’m better than this, that I’m doing something that’s not right for me,” she said. “You deserve better, all the things you have to tell yourself to get through a tough time.”
Jennifer Lopez said she learned to prioritize her needs over the needs of her partners.
Lopez realized she needed to work on her relationship with herself. For her, this was more important than any romantic relationship.
“When it comes to love and relationships, what I’ve learned now is that the most important relationship is with myself,” she said. “It took me a long time to get to that point, but I finally feel like I understand it.”
She didn’t want to be in a relationship until she felt more in touch with who she was and what she wanted.
“It wasn’t anyone else’s fault, but I couldn’t be okay in any relationship until I was more in touch with who I was, what I needed and what I wanted,” she said. “And getting to that point for me has been the real journey, the real task, where I realized that the primary relationship I needed to have and the true love I needed to have had to be with myself.”
How many times has Jennifer Lopez been married?
Shortly after making these comments to Vanity Fair, Lopez announced that she was ending her marriage to Anthony. It was her third husband and her longest marriage.
In 1997, Lopez married actor and producer Ojai Noa. Less than a year later, they divorced.
In 2001, Lopez married dancer Cris Judd, after meeting him on the set of her music video for “Love Don’t Cost a Thing.” It was another short-lived marriage for Lopez. The couple separated in 2002 and finalized their divorce in 2003. During this time, she became engaged to Affleck.
After splitting from Anthony, Lopez was engaged to Alex Rodriguez, but they never married. Shortly after ending their engagement, Lopez began dating Affleck again. The couple tied the knot in 2022.
