Jennifer Lopez shared candid comments about her divorce from Ben Affleck during her appearance on the Sept. 28 episode of CBS News Sunday Morning.
The Kiss of the Spider Woman star called her split from Affleck “the best thing that ever happened to me” during her interview with Lee Cowan.
“Because it changed me,” Lopez explained. “It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow.”
The 56-year-old actress and singer finalized her divorce from the 53-year-old actor in January. Affleck serves as an executive producer on Lopez’s new film, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that same month.
Lopez described the challenge of working on the project while dealing with personal turmoil.
“It was a really tough time. Every moment on set, every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy, and then it was like, back home, it was not great. And it was just like, ‘How do I work inside of this?'”
The couple’s relationship history
Affleck and Lopez first met in 2002 and began dating. They ended their engagement in 2004 and pursued other relationships.
Lopez married Marc Anthony from 2004 to 2014. They share twins Max and Emme.
Affleck was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018. They have three children: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
The pair rekindled their romance in 2021. They married in Las Vegas in July 2022, then celebrated with friends and family in Georgia a month later.
Lopez filed for divorce exactly two years after their Las Vegas ceremony, citing irreconcilable differences.
Focusing on her career
A source told PEOPLE in August that Lopez is doing well and concentrating on her work. This includes promoting Kiss of the Spider Woman, her passion project.
“This is the movie she filmed last year in New York when she and Ben were going through a difficult time,” the insider said. “She’s come a long way since. She’s very happy and just grateful for her life.”
Kiss of the Spider Woman marks Lopez’s first movie musical.
The film also stars Diego Luna and Tonatiuh. It’s based on the 1993 Broadway musical, which adapted the 1976 novel by Manuel Puig.
The story was previously adapted for a 1985 film starring William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sônia Braga.
At the Sundance Q&A, Lopez said she’d been “waiting for this moment my whole life.”
Honoring her mother
Lopez told CBS News Sunday Morning that the film honors her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez.
“I grew up on musicals. My mom loved musicals, and so I saw every musical you could think of,” Lopez said. “She was a fanatic, and a film fanatic as well, but really loved musicals, cause she loved singing and dancing around the living – and so did I.”
Kiss of the Spider Woman will be released in theaters on Oct. 10.
