Jennifer Lopez has detailed her past abusive relationships which 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 kind of in line with the word love.’
‘You have to hit rock bottom where you’re in situations so uncomfortable and so painful that you finally go, “I don’t want this anymore.”‘
The star – who did not identify who had been abusive to her in the past – said she felt like she was ‘looking through fog’ as she attempted to get out of the ‘rough’ situation.
The turning point came when a therapist asked her how she’d treat an abusive situation it were happening to her daughter – with the star saying: ‘It was so clear.
I’d tell her get the f**k out of here and never look back, but for me, it was so clouded and complicated.
She said: ‘Being thrown around and manhandled like that is not fun. I mean, I was never in a relationship where I got beat up, thank God, but I’ve definitely been manhandled and a couple of other unsavory things. Rough. Disrespectful’
‘Being thrown around and manhandled like that is not fun. I mean, I was never in a relationship where I got beat up, thank God, but I’ve definitely been manhandled and a couple of other unsavory things. Rough. Disrespectful.’
Jennifer shares twins Max and Emme, 16, with ex-husband Marc Anthony. She has previously been married to Ojani Noa and Cris Judd.
The star has been in high-profile past romances with Diddy, Alex Rodriguez and Casper Smart.
J-Lo also revealed that Affleck was ‘reluctant ‘ to appear in her documentary as she attended a recent screening at the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles, per People.
The star said it was ‘very scary’ to film the candid documentary, saying: ‘The other scary part was that I was bringing into it my husband, who was kind of the reluctant participant, silent participant and all.’ ‘
‘I just said to him during one of the parts of the movie, I was like, “Is this weird?” He’s like, “Yes.” I said, “You’re crazy.” I told him he was crazy, not me. But I know that I’m a crazy one. I get that part.
‘But I really feel like as an artist, you have to be vulnerable. You have to, even when you’re playing a role, have to get down to the real parts of yourself to share what it’s like to be human. And that is a scary thing to do.’
‘I think people would think I’m so used to being in front of a camera and I’m quite comfortable with it, and that is true. I am comfortable with it.
But when you are kind of sharing your… you don’t have a script that you’re reading and playing a character or you’re not singing a song that you’ve written and is going to go out to the world,
but you’re just living your life and really sharing your deepest thoughts, because that’s what you have to explore to tell this story and to do what you’re trying to do. That one for me was very scary.
J-Lo also revealed that Affleck was ‘reluctant ‘ to appear in her documentary (pictured together February 2024)
The star – who did not identify who had been abusive to her in the past – said she felt like she was ‘looking through fog’ as she attempted to get out of the ‘rough’ situation
‘It wasn’t my idea to photograph every single moment of doing this. To be honest, when we started making the film, it just kind of got more and more bizarre and my husband,
who had a front seat to the whole thing really, was the one who was like, ‘We should be capturing this,’ and he brought on this amazing team and that’s kind of how it happened.”
Jennifer emotionally recalled breaking off her marriage to Ben Affleck in 2004 when they first dated.
The new documentary charts the singer during the making of her latest album This Is Me… Now as well as her twenty-year journey to ‘self-love’.
Jennifer and Ben were famously engaged in the early 2000s before breaking up, only to reunite – and later marry – in July 2022.
Their initial two-year romance was highly publicised and the intense scrutiny on their relationship was difficult for the couple to handle.
Jennifer said: ‘Ben and I broke up three days before our wedding and we crumbled under the pressure. You think you’re doing ok so you shrug it off.
The On The Floor hitmaker also got candid about the pain she felt when the relationship came to an end.
She said: ‘I had a broken heart once 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 (pictured 2009)
‘I used to think it was everyone else who was broken, now I think it was just me.’
The couple’s love story started in 2002 when they dated while filming the movie Jersey Girl. They became engaged the following year but broke up in 2004.
Yet it was meant to be for the couple, known collectively as Bennifer, who found their way back to one another in July 2021, marrying just one year later.
