Jennifer Lopez has opened up about if she’s ever been loved before, after going through four public divorces.
The 56-year-old singer and actress joined Howard Stern on his show on Wednesday (15 October), and was asked the devastating question.
The interview comes after JLo and actor and producer, Ben Affleck struck up their romance a second time, before they sadly divorced shortly after. Lopez and Affleck finalised their divorce in January of this year, following Lopez's filing for divorce in August 2024.
Reports alleged they split over a year before the filing, in April 2023. The celebrity coupling had been involved in a will-they-won't-they relationship for years, after being previously been engaged in 2002.
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Fans were initially excited when they rekindled their relationship in 2021 after nearly 20 years separated before marrying in July 2022.
But it wasn’t meant to be.
Since then, Affleck has been seen with his second ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, who he shares three children with, while JLo has been working on projects.
“Do you think you’ve truly been loved?” Stern, 71, had asked Lopez when she sat down with him.
His question shone a light on her marriages, which all ended in divorce. Lopez was married to Ojani Noa from 1997 to 1998, then to Cris Judd from 2001 to 2003, Marc Anthony from 2004 to 2014 and finally Affleck from 2022 to 2024.
She told Stern, ‘No’, before adding: “What I learned, it’s not that I’m not lovable -it’s that they’re not capable. … They don’t have it in them.”
The singer explained: “And they gave me what they had. They gave me all of it, every time. All the rings, all the things I could ever want. The houses, the rings, the marriage. All of it. But….”
She said she 'didn’t love myself’ at times.
However, her final divorce had sent her on a journey to self-discovery.
“When I got divorced this last time, it was the best thing that ever happened to me. Because it really made me journey into - I mean, I had a religious coach, I had a therapist, a couple’s therapist, an individual therapist, I had a coach to understand addiction. I had everything. I was like, ‘I’m gonna f*****’ figure this s*** out if it kills me.’ “
But in the end, she came to realise that the ‘core of the thing is you - it’s nobody else.’
The result meant that she understands the inner workings of her brain, her upbringing, and her relationships.
She told Stern: “Now I’m able to sit here in a much more self-assured, self-aware way of the things that have happened to me, whether my mother, my father, in my own life, how I learned to love, how I felt neglected — all the things that are in your head as a person — and know who I am and just really appreciate that person.
“[I] feel really comfortable and good in being myself, all the good parts and all the kind of complicated things.”
Topics: Ben Affleck, Celebrity, Jennifer Lopez
Britt Jones