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Back in 2004, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck called off their engagement. Nearly two decades later, the pair reunited and found love with one another once again. While sitting down with Rolling Stone, Lopez revealed the intense scrutiny the couple faced all those years ago was a major factor in their split.
“It was brutal,” she told the outlet. “It’s one of those things that you bury very deeply so you can move on and get about your business.”
"It’s funny because Ben and I were together, and we were so in love. It was one of the happiest times of my life," she recalled. "But also, there was this other thing happening where we were being criticized, and it really destroyed our relationship from the inside out, because we were just too young to understand at that time what were really the most important things in life.”
One of the things they learned in the years they were apart is to do their best to keep their relationship private. She told the outlet they’ve “both grown" since their split. "We’re the same, and we’re different. And that’s what’s nice," she explained.
Though they called if off once before, Lopez doesn't see that happening again. “I don’t think we would have got back together if we thought that was where it was headed,” she said. “We feel like what we found again is so much more important, and how we protect that and how we live our lives — what to share, what not to share — is the balance that we have now, the benefit of experience and the wisdom that we gained over the years.”
Lopez echoed these sentiments while chatting with People recently, as well. She said they both know how lucky they are to have found each other again after all this time. "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," she said.
Though they spent many years apart, starting families of their own, before coming together again last year, Lopez is happy with their path. "I'm so proud of him, I'm so proud of the man he's become that I've watched from afar," she said. "Being honest with each other, being loving, that's just the basis of everything. 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."
"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 gushed.
Now Lopez knows she can share an important lesson with her kids about love and relationships. "What I can teach my children is that real love exists," she shared. "Some things can be forever, but it doesn't mean they just have a straight line."
Lopez and Affleck are looking forward to a long, happy future together. "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."