Jennifer Lopez Shared Why Ben Affleck’s ‘National Scandal’ Wasn’t a Problem for Her
In 2003, the rumor mill blared that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship was in a rough place because of his infidelity. While filming a movie in Vancouver, Affleck visited a strip club. According to some reports, Affleck cheated on Lopez with one of the dancers. Lopez was well aware of this rumor, but she said it didn’t bother her.
Jennifer Lopez said Ben Affleck’s cheating scandal didn’t bother her
On the same day that a special about Lopez and Affleck’s engagement aired, some sources began to report on his alleged infidelity. People began to wonder if Lopez would still go through with the wedding. While she wouldn’t — the couple announced their breakup in 2004 — at the time, she said the rumor didn’t bother her. She had known he was going to the strip club.
“For me, it wasn’t an issue,” Lopez told W Magazine. “We talk every day. I know what he does, he knows what I do. We don’t have those kind of secrets.”
She said that all it did was make her more aware of the level of scrutiny on the couple. She believed that everything they did got blown out of proportion.
“What they put in the paper is not what happened, so it doesn’t matter,” she said. “But watching that get so blown out of proportion, I was like, Wow, so this is where we’re at: You can’t walk into a place and hang out with a couple of friends without it turning into a national scandal. It was ridiculous.”
The constant attention on them was part of the reason why Lopez and Affleck eventually ended their engagement.
Jennifer Lopez said Ben Affleck warned her about the story ahead of time
Affleck was aware the story was about to break, so he warned his fiancee about it. Still, she hadn’t anticipated the level of coverage it received.
“[The reports were] straight falsehoods, straight lies,” she said. “Because I knew he had gone! And I knew [the story was coming out] beforehand. He’s like, ‘Hey, the Enquirer is doing a story, and I called my lawyer today,’ and I was thinking, Oh, God. I knew it was going to be a big deal in the press, but I didn’t know it was going to be like that, the cover of eight magazines at once.”
She said that she and Affleck were both shocked by the coverage.
“It’s like, This can’t be that interesting. But I guess it was,” she said. “We sat there and read the articles together and said, ‘This is just insane.’ It sounds ridiculous, if you read it. It sounds so stupid! It’s like, If you’re single and 21, you wouldn’t do things like that. It’s just crazy!”
She broke up with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs because of his infidelity
Lopez’s previous relationship with Sean “Diddy” Combs ended because of his infidelity.
”It was the first time I was with someone who wasn’t faithful,” she told Vibe Magazine (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.”
She said she never caught him, but she could tell something was wrong.
“I never caught him but I just knew,” she said. “He’d say he was going to a club for a couple of hours and then never come back that night.”
They broke up in 2001.
