“It’s beautiful the way it feels very different than it was years ago.”
Jennifer Lopez has opened up about her rekindled romance with Ben Affleck, saying she feels “so lucky and happy and proud to be with him”.
In a new interview with People, the On the Floor singer spoke about her happiness with where she’s at in her career, as a parent and in her second go at a relationship with the actor.
The pair famously dated from 2002-2004 before calling off their engagement. Last spring, they reconnected after almost two decades and a series of relationships, engagements, marriages and kids with other people.
Though they had “a little bit of fear” given how their relationship ended the first time around, Jen said she’s “never been better” and that they’re “all in a very beautiful moment”.
“I feel so lucky and happy and proud to be with him,” she told the publication. “It’s a beautiful love story that we got a second chance.”
Reflecting on how the couple approached getting back together at this stage in their lives, the 52-year-old said that they “were naïve” in putting their relationship “out there” the first time around and it therefore “got a little trampled”.
She said that this time, “We both were like, ‘Wow, we’re so happy and we don’t want any of that to come into play again.’ We’re older now, we’re smarter, we have more experience, we’re at different places in our lives, we have kids now, and we have to be very conscious of those things. We’re so protective because it is such a beautiful time for all of us.”
Jen elaborated that their age and experience helps the two of them appreciate and “hold sacred” what they have together.
“I just feel very happy and lucky to be in a relationship that’s happy and loving, and I want to do everything I can to protect that and keep it safe. It deserves that, it really does…
“It’s beautiful the way it feels very different than it was years ago… There’s more of an appreciation and a celebration for it, which is nice.
“When you find somebody and you really, really love them and you get a second chance at that? That is a really rare, precious, beautiful thing and we don’t take it for granted.”
During their years apart, both Jen and Ben (or Bennifer, as they were known) became parents with other partners. Jen shares 13-year-old twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Ben shares Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, 9, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Though JLo acknowledges that bringing kids into a new relationship is a delicate issue, she told the publication she believes “love always conquers everything”.
“When you’re in a good, healthy relationship, everybody benefits from that. Everybody,” she said, adding that she’s “so proud” of the journey 49-year-old Ben has been on.
“I’m so proud of the man he’s become that I’ve watched from afar,” she continued. “I feel like he’s at a place in his life where — just like how I feel about myself — it’s been a journey of learning yourself and figuring yourself out, getting to a place where you feel really good on your own and who you are so you can be in a happy, healthy relationship.”
This, she reckons, will allow them to set a good example for their kids.
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“To see the person, the human being, the man that he is today, the father that he is today, the partner that he is — he is so everything I always knew he was and wanted to be,” she shared.
“What I can teach my children is that real love exists. Some things can be forever, but it doesn’t mean they just have a straight line.”
Overall, Jen said, she’s looking forward to the pair continuing their journey of life together on the same path.
“I just want my future to be full of love and happiness, with my children and my partner,” she said. “I think everybody just wants to be happy, with somebody to go on the journey with and grow old with, and I feel good about that right now.”
