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Jennifer Lopez and Sean “Diddy” Combs dated between 1999 and 2001. Their relationship fired up a media frenzy, which Lopez said was challenging for them. Still, she believed their relationship worked well. She shared why she thought — at least for a time — that Diddy was a solid partner for her.

Jennifer Lopez said her relationship with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs worked because of their careers

Before Lopez dated Diddy, she was married to her first husband, Ojani Noa. Noa had problems with the success of Lopez’s career. She was glad, after that, to date someone who understood her ambitions. 

“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,” Lopez told W Magazine in 2000. “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 and Jennifer Lopez stand together. He wears a black suit jacket and sunglasses. She wears a black dress.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Jennifer Lopez | Stephane Cardinale/Sygma via Getty Images

She said she needed this level of understanding because she liked to be able to be vulnerable with her romantic partners.

“You know, people who know me have always said that the only place I’m vulnerable is in my love life,” she said. “I’ve always operated from my heart.”

Her manager denied that his reputation was bad for her

Early in her relationship with Diddy, the couple was involved in a nightclub shooting. While Lopez wasn’t charged with anything, some wondered if he might damage her reputation. Lopez’s manager, Benny Medina, denied this.

”What hurts a career is bad work,” he said. “Think about it: When Frank Sinatra was messing with Ava Gardner, the problem was that he was making bad records. Puffy is a very important person in Jennifer’s life. She’s always been loyal, and so’s he.”

Jennifer Lopez and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ relationship did not end well

The trouble with the relationship between Lopez and Diddy was that she did not believe he was loyal to her

”It was the first time I was with someone who wasn’t faithful,” she told Vibe Magazine after their breakup (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
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While she said she never caught him in the act, she felt confident that he was cheating.

“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 and got back together a number of times before splitting for good. Lopez described the final days of their relationship as exhausting.

“It wasn’t a great time in my life,” she told Vanity Fair in 2011. “It was scary. And we broke up many times before that, and got back together and broke up again, and nobody knew about it. It was very tempestuous. Towards the end it was emotionally exhausting. It was good that I was young.”