Her attempt – at the age of 54 – to reinvent herself as a so-called ‘triple threat’ (singer, dancer and actor), some thirty years after her initial fame, is taking everything she has.
And even as her marriage falls apart behind the scenes, it seems Jennifer Lopez refuses to quit.
The tension is clearly visible.
Lopez and husband Ben Affleck live separately in LA, although they both wear their wedding rings.
Affleck reportedly moved into a rental home in Brentwood early this month, while J.Lo stayed in their $60 million “dream home” in Bel Air with their children.
Three weeks ago, she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala – where she co-chaired – only.
Her attempt to reinvent herself as a so-called ‘triple threat’ (singer, dancer and actor), some thirty years after her initial fame, is taking everything she has.
And even as her marriage falls apart behind the scenes, it seems Jennifer Lopez refuses to quit. The tension is clearly visible. Lopez and husband Ben Affleck live separately in LA.
Some sources say Affleck plans to end their two-year marriage after “coming to his senses” that his decision to rekindle their old romance and marry her in Vegas in July 2022 simply stemmed from a “fever dream” .
Others say the couple is working through their issues together and remains hopeful that their rollercoaster love story isn’t over yet.
Certainly, they have put up a united front for their children.
Last week, the couple attended a school play with Affleck’s child Fin, 15, from his previous marriage to Jennifer Garner. Fin and J.Lo’s child Emme, 13, are said to be very close.
“If it’s just a matter of putting the work in, you better believe it [Lopez] will turn it around,” says one of J.Lo’s LA-based friends.
‘She has put her heart and soul into her love story with Ben and will not give that up without a fight. From what I hear, there’s still a lot of love out there, so there has to be hope.”
Officially, neither party would comment on ‘speculations’ about their marriage.
When asked directly about it at a press conference last week, she gave the reporter an icy response: “You know better than that.”
But while her private life may be in crisis, I understand that professionally she is “focused and committed,” and still firmly believes that her efforts to secure a legacy as one of America’s greatest icons of entertainment, will end in success.
Allies point out that while her new sci-fi film Atlas – in which she stars and has a production credit – was widely panned by critics, it is nevertheless one of Netflix’s top ten most-watched films in 93 countries, taking the No. 1 position. in many.
The New York Post described the film as a ‘flop’ with a ‘bleak’ script.
There has also been a lot of fuss about poor ticket sales for her upcoming ‘This Is Me… Now’ tour.
But while it’s certainly true that shows in Nashville, New Orleans, Raleigh, Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland and Tampa all had to be canceled due to low demand, sources close to Lopez say she’s far from the only major artist struggling with it. leave.
Both Pink and Justin Timberlake recently canceled concert dates due to the difficulties of selling to a streaming-addicted generation.
Her album ‘This Is Me…Now’ and the film of the same name also received criticism. The New York Times described the rather bizarre film as ‘exhausting, never-ending, dangerous’.
Three weeks ago, she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala alone. But “she has put her heart and soul into her love story with Ben and won’t give that up without a fight,” sources say.
“If it’s just a matter of putting the work in, you better believe it [Lopez] will turn it around,” says one of J.Lo’s LA-based friends.
Lopez self-financed the project to the tune of $20 million and said people thought she was crazy for making it. But it’s clear she sold it to Prime Video for a profit — and it notably ranked No. 1 among the streamer’s movies during its debut week.
It was followed by the release of a ‘making of’ documentary entitled ‘The Greatest Love Story Never Told’. That film – which chronicles her 20-year “love story” with Affleck – was financed by his production company Artists Equity.
In the documentary, Affleck said he enjoys the celebrity spotlight less than his wife, but said he realized it wouldn’t be “fair” to Lopez to remove her from it.
That film was also sold to Prime Video for a profit.
The album ‘This Is Me…Now’ itself is the worst-selling album of J.Lo’s career. But sources say physical album sales are “apples to oranges” compared to where they were a decade ago, when she last released an album.
It was also pointed out that the record debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard physical album sales chart.
Looking ahead, I’m told that despite reports that J.Lo’s Las Vegas residency plans are now ‘in jeopardy’, negotiations are still very much ‘ongoing’ – even if no deal is in place yet drawn.
Earlier this week, it was reported that MGM Grand and Live Nation had offered $1 million per night for 90 shows through 2025, but executives have since become “nervous” over her recent spate of tour date cancellations.
There’s speculation that the deal could now be less lucrative for J.Lo — who previously held a Sin City residency between 2016 and 2018 and grossed nearly $102 million — but her team doesn’t seem concerned.
As a friend says: ‘[She has had] a phenomenal career and is still a global force.’