Jennifer Lopez Was Embarrassed by Her Own Romantic Words About Ben Affleck

When Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck first began dating in the early 2000s, they captured endless media attention. Lopez spoke about her new relationship with a number of different outlets. When she heard some of what she said about Affleck read back to her, she cringed. 

Jennifer Lopez was embarrassed to hear something she said about Ben Affleck

In a 2003 Access Hollywood interview, journalist Pat O’Brien asked Lopez about something she had once said about feeling most at home with Affleck.

“Curled under Ben’s arm is where you want to be, ‘those are my favorite places,’” O’Brien said. “That’s great.”

Lopez couldn’t help but blush when she heard the words read back to her.

“You’re embarrassing me,” she said. “Why did I say that? That was girl talk.”

Still, Lopez didn’t deny the sentiment. While she felt a bit embarrassed by it, she ultimately did like to be at home with Affleck.

“I do, that’s my favorite place, you know,” she said. “But at the end of the day, I really enjoy the safety, security, serenity of family and home. That’s what I love and I’m glad I found somebody who appreciates it just as much. And we are able to enjoy together.”

Jennifer Lopez said she knew Ben Affleck was the one when they met

Affleck and Lopez’s whirlwind relationship began on the set of their film, Gigli. Lopez was in her second marriage when she met Affleck, but she felt an immediate connection to her co-star. Because of her marriage, the couple said they began as friends before realizing they were falling in love with each other.

“You can’t pinpoint it,” Lopez said. “It was like we became friends first, that is the honest-to-god truth.”

Years later, while reflecting on her relationship, Lopez said she knew relatively early that Affleck was the right person for her. She said her perception of him had changed, though.

“I felt like … ‘Okay, this is it,’” she told People in 2016. “[But] sometimes I feel like what you think people are and how you see them when you love them is different than when they reveal later.”

He shared his favorite trait of hers

In 2021, after years apart and significant relationships with other people, Affleck and Lopez got back together. He said that the traits that made him fall in love with her in 2002 were still present in her.

“There is something innately, magically kind and good and full of love at the heart of who Jennifer is,” he told Vogue. “That’s exactly the person I remember from 20 years ago. Maybe she sees all the changes she’s made, whereas when I see her, mostly I just see someone who has retained, against the odds, the thing about her that always made her the most incredible to me: a heart that seems boundless with love. She is my idea of the kind of person I want to be.”