Photo:Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
ThoughBen AffleckandJennifer Lopeztied the knot less than two years ago, the couple’s love story dates back decades before theirgorgeous Georgia weddingin August 2022.
More than twenty years later, Lopez’s follow-up film and album,This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, focuses on her lived experience at the intersection of hope and romance.
To celebrate the movie’s Feb. 16 premiere on Prime Video, look back at the many ways J.Lo has let her love for the Oscar winner inspire her hits.
01of 13Ample InspirationJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Stefania D’Alessandro/GettyAt an L.A. screening of Lopez’sself-funded productionThis Is Me…Now, the pop icon wasovercome with emotionas she thanked Affleck for supporting her and her art.“There is the person who inspired this for me, who has inspired me my whole life. He just, he inspired an album 20 years ago and I know he hates that I’m doing this right now,” Lopez gushed.
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Ample Inspiration
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Stefania D’Alessandro/Getty
At an L.A. screening of Lopez’sself-funded productionThis Is Me…Now, the pop icon wasovercome with emotionas she thanked Affleck for supporting her and her art.
“There is the person who inspired this for me, who has inspired me my whole life. He just, he inspired an album 20 years ago and I know he hates that I’m doing this right now,” Lopez gushed.
02of 13’Thank You for Believing in Me’Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic"He’s just like, ‘Please shut up.’ No! And I say no. I say, I love you and thank you for believing in me and helping me believe in myself," she continuedat the screening, which took place a few days before the official premiere. “And helping me to grow every single day. Thank you for the family that we’ve created and our children and everything that you do for me.”
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‘Thank You for Believing in Me’
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
“He’s just like, ‘Please shut up.’ No! And I say no. I say, I love you and thank you for believing in me and helping me believe in myself,” she continuedat the screening, which took place a few days before the official premiere. “And helping me to grow every single day. Thank you for the family that we’ve created and our children and everything that you do for me.”
03of 13Sharing a Life TogetherJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.ROBYN BECK/AFP via GettyLopez’s heartfelt speech concluded, “You will never know what it is to be able to share this lifetime and have you be my love. Thank you.”
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Sharing a Life Together
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty
ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty
Lopez’s heartfelt speech concluded, “You will never know what it is to be able to share this lifetime and have you be my love. Thank you.”
04of 13The Urge to CreateJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Steve Granitz/FilmMagicThe multi-hyphenate talent toldEntertainment Tonightthat she wasquick to record more musicafter she and the actor reunited.“When Ben and I got back together, it was just like, ‘I want tomake music again, I want to get back in the studio,'” Lopez told the outlet in February 2024. “I was very, very inspired.”
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The Urge to Create
The multi-hyphenate talent toldEntertainment Tonightthat she wasquick to record more musicafter she and the actor reunited.
“When Ben and I got back together, it was just like, ‘I want tomake music again, I want to get back in the studio,'” Lopez told the outlet in February 2024. “I was very, very inspired.”
05of 13Source of SupportJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Amy Sussman/GettyAt apre-premiere press conferencewith director Dave Meyers, Lopez also revealed that her filmmaker husband helped quash any self-doubt while creatingThis Is Me…Now.“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this.’ He was like, ‘You do, you write, you direct, you produce, you choreograph, you do all the things. Start stepping into that, start owning a little bit of who you are,’” she recalled Affleck telling her.
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Source of Support
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Amy Sussman/Getty
At apre-premiere press conferencewith director Dave Meyers, Lopez also revealed that her filmmaker husband helped quash any self-doubt while creatingThis Is Me…Now.
“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this.’ He was like, ‘You do, you write, you direct, you produce, you choreograph, you do all the things. Start stepping into that, start owning a little bit of who you are,’” she recalled Affleck telling her.
06of 13Healing from HeartbreakJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.gettyMeyers also attested to Affleck’s influence on the visual project during the press conference. The director recalled how Lopez told him up about “the pain that she went through when she broke up with Ben the first time.“The singer’s vulnerable discussion with Meyers specifically inspired a scene from their project in which Lopez plays a construction worker at a heart factory.“There was a lot of honesty that was shared in that first meeting, and so the heart factory became sort of a Titanic-level meltdown, which was a metaphor for what she was giving me as far as her truth,” Meyers said.
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Healing from Heartbreak
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.getty
Meyers also attested to Affleck’s influence on the visual project during the press conference. The director recalled how Lopez told him up about “the pain that she went through when she broke up with Ben the first time.”
The singer’s vulnerable discussion with Meyers specifically inspired a scene from their project in which Lopez plays a construction worker at a heart factory.
“There was a lot of honesty that was shared in that first meeting, and so the heart factory became sort of a Titanic-level meltdown, which was a metaphor for what she was giving me as far as her truth,” Meyers said.
07of 13Turning a New PageJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Charley Gallay/Getty Images for NetflixOver a year before the movie’s release, Lopez shared the context surroundingThis Is Me…Thenin aNovember 2022 interviewwith Apple Music 1’sZane Lowe: “We captured me at this moment in time when I was reunited with the love of my life and we decided we were going to be together forever,” she said.Lopez continued, “The whole message of [This Is Me…Then] is, ‘This love exists. This is a real love.’ Now I think what the message of [This Is Me…Now] is: If you have, like me at times, lost hope, almost given up, don’t. True love does exist and some things do last forever and that’s real.”
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Turning a New Page
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Netflix
Over a year before the movie’s release, Lopez shared the context surroundingThis Is Me…Thenin aNovember 2022 interviewwith Apple Music 1’sZane Lowe: “We captured me at this moment in time when I was reunited with the love of my life and we decided we were going to be together forever,” she said.
Lopez continued, “The whole message of [This Is Me…Then] is, ‘This love exists. This is a real love.’ Now I think what the message of [This Is Me…Now] is: If you have, like me at times, lost hope, almost given up, don’t. True love does exist and some things do last forever and that’s real.”
08of 13Precious MomentsJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.GettyEarlier in her discussion with Lowe, the singer also discussed her process of creating the 2002 record and Affleck’s involvement in it all. TheGood Will Huntingactor, who was featured in Lopez’s music video for “Jenny from the Block,” even helped her come up with the title of the record.“It’s all right there on the record and I didn’t even realize what was happening, what I was doing. It was just every day, going from the set to the recording studio, doing the thing, being in love, him coming into the studio,” she recalled during the November 2022 discussion. “It was such a special moment in time to have captured.”
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Precious Moments
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Getty
Earlier in her discussion with Lowe, the singer also discussed her process of creating the 2002 record and Affleck’s involvement in it all. TheGood Will Huntingactor, who was featured in Lopez’s music video for “Jenny from the Block,” even helped her come up with the title of the record.
“It’s all right there on the record and I didn’t even realize what was happening, what I was doing. It was just every day, going from the set to the recording studio, doing the thing, being in love, him coming into the studio,” she recalled during the November 2022 discussion. “It was such a special moment in time to have captured.”
09of 13Looking BackJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Kevin Winter/GettyDuring her Apple Music interview, Lopez admitted that as much as she raved about their love, she inadvertently spoke about their breakup and the trying years that would follow.“It’s all there, when I listen to the lyrics now I didn’t even realize I was writing some of our story that would happen, which was sick. Like ‘Still’ and some of the records on there which were more obviously about Ben, but even records that you were like ‘Well, that’s kind of a breakup record’ I didn’t even realize that it was kind of prophetic in a weird way.”
09of 13
Looking Back
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Kevin Winter/Getty
During her Apple Music interview, Lopez admitted that as much as she raved about their love, she inadvertently spoke about their breakup and the trying years that would follow.
“It’s all there, when I listen to the lyrics now I didn’t even realize I was writing some of our story that would happen, which was sick. Like ‘Still’ and some of the records on there which were more obviously about Ben, but even records that you were like ‘Well, that’s kind of a breakup record’ I didn’t even realize that it was kind of prophetic in a weird way.”
10of 13Dark Before DawnJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Mel Bouzad/GettyAfter initially getting engaged in 2002, the pair postponed their 2003 wedding just days before they were set to walk down the aisle “due to the excessive media attention” that their nuptials had gained. In 2004, the couple officially called it quits.“Dude, I wouldn’t even perform these records. It was so painful after we broke up,” Lopez told Lowe of their split. “Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right. But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending. It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending.”
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Dark Before Dawn
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Mel Bouzad/Getty
Mel Bouzad/Getty
After initially getting engaged in 2002, the pair postponed their 2003 wedding just days before they were set to walk down the aisle “due to the excessive media attention” that their nuptials had gained. In 2004, the couple officially called it quits.
“Dude, I wouldn’t even perform these records. It was so painful after we broke up,” Lopez told Lowe of their split. “Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right. But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending. It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending.”
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High Praise
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
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More to Say and Sing
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
“Dear Ben pt. II” continues an ode to Affleck she started on her 2002 recordThis Is Me… Then. Another new song,“Midnight Trip to Vegas”, nods to the couple’sfirst marriage ceremony in July 2022.
13of 13All Together NowJennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Stefanie Keenan/GettyLopezteasedanother new track in herJLo newsletternamed “Hummingbird,” which was also the theme for her 2022 holiday season decor. She noted that it represented her and Affleck’s “blended families” which “doubled the fun, doubled the love, doubled the presents and triple the chaos!!”
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All Together Now
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Stefanie Keenan/Getty
Lopezteasedanother new track in herJLo newsletternamed “Hummingbird,” which was also the theme for her 2022 holiday season decor. She noted that it represented her and Affleck’s “blended families” which “doubled the fun, doubled the love, doubled the presents and triple the chaos!!”
source: people.com
