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Jennifer Lopez and Sean “Diddy” Combs dated for a tumultuous two years. While she said their relationship was initially exciting, it became more trouble than it was worth. Lopez said that she reached a point where she realized she didn’t want to put up with his behavior any longer. She knew she didn’t want to raise children with someone like him.

Jennifer Lopez said she realized she didn’t want to start a family with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

In 1999, Lopez and Diddy began dating. They had an on-and-off again relationship for the next two years before calling it quits for goods in 2001. Two years after the breakup, Lopez admitted that Diddy’s infidelity had worn her down.

“It was the first time I was with someone who wasn’t faithful,” she told Vibe Magazine in 2003, per Entertainment Weekly. “I was in this relationship with Puff where I was totally crying, crazy and going nuts, it really took my whole life in a tailspin.”

Jennifer Lopez and Sean 'Diddy' Combs walk together and hold hands. They both wear white.
Jennifer Lopez and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs | Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images

While she said she never caught him cheating, she felt certain he wasn’t being faithful. She knew she had to end the relationship because she couldn’t imagine a future under those circumstances. Lopez didn’t want to have to raise a family while worrying about his behavior.

”I had to think, do I want to be home with kids in 10 years wondering where somebody is at three in the morning?”

She said the end of that relationship influenced her next one

After her split from Diddy, Lopez jumped into a relationship with dancer Cris Judd. The couple married in 2001 before divorcing in 2003. She admitted that her relationship with Diddy made Judd seem more appealing.

“Coming out of a torrid relationship, I meet this sweet person who’s so refreshing,” she said. “But marriage is not just about love.”

She said her decision to end her marriage to Judd was not an easy one.

“I loved Cris, still love him, he’s one of the best people,” she said. “This wasn’t an easy thing to walk away from, but we didn’t have what it takes to make a marriage work … Cris knows the last thing I ever wanted in this f***ing world was to hurt him.”

Jennifer Lopez said Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs understood her career

When Lopez was still with Diddy, she said the joy of their relationship was that they understood each other’s careers well.

“One of the great things about being with who I’m with right now is that he and I do understand each other’s business,” she told W Magazine. “We’ve both separately built something from nothing. So he is my equal in that sense. It’s hard for me, or any woman in this business, to find somebody who understands what makes me tick.”

Sean "Diddy" Combs wears a suit and sits with his arm around Jennifer Lopez, who wears a magenta dress.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Jennifer Lopez | KMazur/WireImage
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Still, she said the endless media attention on the relationship was not easy to navigate.

“It’s become an invasion,” she said. “At one point, it was so nice that people were interested in us. Now we can’t go out of the house. We have to think things through before we go out together.”