Jennifer Lopez Sheds Light On What Really Happened After Calling Off 2003 Wedding To Ben Affleck

Jennifer Lopez is revealing what really happened after she and Ben Affleck called off their wedding days before it was set to take place in 2003. 

“We didn’t break up right at that moment. It happened over the series of the next few months,” Jen said in a new Apple Music interview with Zane Lowe, released on Wednesday.

“What it did was it casted doubt in me ― and both of us ― about what our relationship was and where it was going,” the singer added.

“And I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life … But it didn’t feel like we were going to make it. And so, it scared me.”

Jennifer said the experience was “very hard” because it involved “letting go of somebody that you truly love because you just can’t figure it out”. 

“You just don’t have the capacity and the ability at that moment, emotionally, to figure it out. We just weren’t mature enough in that way,” the Marry Me star said. 

Jennifer explained that despite their ages ― Ben was in his late 20s, while she was in her early 30s ― they couldn’t figure out how to make their relationship work. 

“We just weren’t there yet. And so, we go, ‘Oh, this is what people do, they break up when things get hard, and we’re going to go our separate ways,’” she explained. “And we went, and we both tried and found other people and had beautiful children, and had other families, and even had other relationships after that.”

Nearly two decades later, Jennifer said that the two were finally in the right place to find each other. 

“It wasn’t until both of us had done, I know for me, a lot of work and got into a place where I was like, ‘You know what? I’m totally good on my own,’” she said.

“I’m chill, I love my life, I have this amazing career that I’ve built for myself, I have these amazing children, I have great friends ― that’s when he showed back up,” the two-time Grammy nominee continued. “And funnily enough, he said he had had the same type of experience.” 

Jennifer and Ben first met in 2002 and later got engaged the same year. Their wedding was set to take place in September 2003, before the two released a joint statement that they were postponing their nuptials. 

“Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date,” the two said at the time, according to People magazine.

“When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realised that something was awry,” they added.

“We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised. We felt what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us, our families, and our friends.” 

Representatives for Jennifer later announced that the couple had called off their engagement in January 2004. 

Jen was already married and divorced to Ojani Noa and Cris Judd before getting engaged to Ben. After she and Ben called off their wedding, she went on to marry Marc Anthony. The two had twins Max and Emme, who are now 15, before later announcing their separation in 2011.

She was also briefly engaged to baseball player Alex Rodriguez, before the two called it quits in April 2021. 

Ben went on to marry actor Jennifer Garner in 2005, before the two said they were separating in 2015. They share three children: Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 11.

Two decades after their initial meeting, the pair later reconnected and got engaged for a second time in 2022. They tied the knot twice in two separate ceremonies the same year.