Jennifer Lopez has detailed her past abusive relationships that saw her hit rock bottom in her emotional new documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
The singer, 54, who is married to Ben Affleck, 51, said: ‘There were people in my life who said, “I love you” and then didn’t do things that were remotely consistent with the word love.’
“You have to get to the bottom where you’re in situations that are so uncomfortable and so painful that you finally say, ‘I don’t want this anymore.'”
The star – who did not identify who had abused her in the past – said she felt like she was “looking through the fog” as she tried to get out of the “rough” situation.
The turning point came when a therapist asked her how she would handle a situation where her daughter was being abused – with the star saying: ‘It was so obvious. I would tell her to get out of here and never look back, but for me it was so clouded and complicated.
Jennifer Lopez has detailed her past abusive relationships that saw her hit rock bottom in her emotional new documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told
She said: ‘It’s not fun to be thrown around and abused. I mean, I’ve never been in a relationship where I was beaten up, thank goodness, but I’ve definitely been abused and a few other unsavory things. Rough. Disrespectful’
‘It’s not fun to be thrown around and abused like that. I mean, I’ve never been in a relationship where I was beaten up, thank goodness, but I’ve definitely been abused and a few other unsavory things. Rough. Disrespectful.’
Jennifer shares twins Max and Emme, 16, with ex-husband Marc Anthony. She was previously married to Ojani Noa and Cris Judd.
The star has had high-profile romances with Diddy, Alex Rodriguez and Casper Smart in the past.
J-Lo also revealed that Affleck was “reluctant” to appear in her documentary when she recently attended a screening at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, per People.
The star said it was “really scary” filming the candid documentary, saying: “The other scary part was I brought my husband into it, who was kind of an unwilling participant, a silent participant and all that.” ‘
“I just said to him during one of the parts of the movie, ‘Is this weird?’ He says, “Yes.” I said, “You’re crazy.” I told him he was crazy, not me. But I know I’m crazy. I get that part.
‘But I really feel that as an artist you have to be vulnerable. Even when you’re playing a role, you have to get to the real parts of yourself to share what it’s like to be human. And that’s a scary thing to do.’
“I think people would think that I’m so used to being in front of a camera and that I’m quite comfortable with that, and that’s true. I feel comfortable with it. But when you… you don’t have a script where you read and play a character, or you don’t sing a song that you’ve written that goes out into the world, but you just live your life and really share your deepest thoughts, because that is what you need to discover to tell this story and do what you’re trying to do. That was very scary for me.
J-Lo also revealed that Affleck was “reluctant” to appear in her documentary (pictured together in February 2024).
The star – who has not identified who abused her in the past – said she felt like she was “looking through the fog” as she tried to get out of the “rough” situation.
‘It wasn’t my idea to photograph every moment of this. To be honest, as we started making the film it became more and more bizarre and my husband, who was actually sitting in the front seat, was the one who said, ‘We should capture this.’ and he brought in this great team and that’s how it happened.”
Jennifer emotionally recalled breaking up her marriage to Ben Affleck in 2004 when they first started dating.
The new documentary charts the singer during the making of her latest album This Is Me… Now and her twenty-year journey to ‘self-love’.
Jennifer and Ben were famously engaged in the early 2000s before splitting, only to reunite in July 2022 and later get married.
Their first romance of two years was highly publicized and the intense scrutiny of their relationship was difficult for the couple to handle.
Jennifer said: ‘Ben and I broke up three days before our wedding and we buckled under the pressure. You think you’re doing fine, so you shrug your shoulders.
The On The Floor hitmaker also opened up about the pain she felt when the relationship ended.
She said: ‘I was heartbroken when I lost the love of my life, my best friend, and I couldn’t talk for so many years and that was the hardest part.
The star shares twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony (photo 2009)
“I used to think everyone was broken, now I think it was me.”
The couple’s love story began in 2002 when they dated during the filming of the movie Jersey Girl. They got engaged the following year but split in 2004.
Still, it was meant for the couple, known collectively as Bennifer, who found their way back together in July 2021 and got married just a year later.