Jennifer Lopez gushes over Ben Affleck as she opens up about her “happy ending”

Ellen Fitzpatrick

Our hearts.

Jennifer Lopez has opened up about finding her “soulmate” Ben Affleck in a candid interview after the two rekindled their romance after 18 years.

The couple first dated in the early 200s after meeting on the set of the rom-com Gigli before calling off their 2003 wedding and going their separate ways.

It was in 2021 that the couple made headlines again as they sparked up their romance once more and this time wasted no time walking down the aisle and officially tieing the knot in August.

Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1 for the 20th anniversary of her album This Is Me…Then, Jennifer wasn’t shy when it came to delving into her and Ben’s rekindled relationship.

Jennifer said: “I think what happened is, as we worked together, we became such good friends. We realised that we were crazy about each other.

“I found myself kind of thinking about him after the movie was over. And having to take care of my own business, because I was coming out of a relationship at that time.

“But it’s like you just knew it. It’s just like, “This is the person I want to be with.” And that happened over a period of months. It wasn’t an instant thing because we weren’t allowed to do that. Yeah, it kind of grew over time.”

The couple split after the media scrutiny at the time became too much to deal with and was having a serious impact on their relationship, with Jennifer admitting she felt it was “unfair” and completely “destroyed” them both.

After a “painful” break up, which she described as the “biggest heartbreak of my life”, Ben went on to marry Jennifer Garner in 2005 who he had three children, Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Sam, 11. Jennifer went on to marry Marc Anthony who she shares twins Emme and Max, 14.

Finally getting their “happy ending” 20 years on, the couple have wasted no time as they get a second shot at what could have been.

Jennifer said: “But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending. It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending. “That would never happen. We’re not going to write that because nobody would believe it” ending.

“It’s funny because when me and Ben got back together, he was like, “You never performed the songs. You never did I’m glad. You never did this. You never did that.” I was like, “You’re right. It was painful.” It was a part of me then that I had to put away to move on and survive. It was a survival tactic, for sure.

“I think now that we’re older, we realise, it’s much more clear, because even in ‘Then’ when we felt that way, now we know. Now, we know. And there is no questions and there is no kind of like, “Well, let’s see how this goes.” Like, “Nope, it’s me and you. That’s it. All the way, till the end. That’s it. It’s going to be us”.

“But when we came back together and the universe and God and, as it would have it… Once we got whole enough and complete enough and loved ourselves enough and could stand on our own two feet really completely, as the universe would have it, we were brought into each other’s lives again.

“And it was a crack in the clouds and that song came through and it was like, “Boom, that’s it.” And we were both very sure.

“He’s my biggest fan, which is awesome, and supporter. When he came back into my life again, the same thing happened where I felt so inspired and so overtaken with emotion that it was just pouring out of me.”