Jennifer Lopez is willing to tell “the truth about my personal life.”
López's new documentary, The greatest love story ever told It is about the making of the singer's latest album (This is me now) and corresponding movie (This is me… now: a love story), both of which draw heavily on her romance with Ben Affleck and her many high-profile relationships in between.
“I've been married four times. I'm sure people watching from the outside said, 'What's the damn problem with this damn girl?'” Lopez says as he opens the documentary. “What I portrayed to the world was: 'Oh, this didn't work out, and that's okay, and I'm good, and they're good, and they were great, and I was great' and all of that was kind of nonsense.”
Naturally, Affleck is an important part of the documentary, much to his reluctance at times, but his presence is key in helping Lopez show a vulnerable side that fans have never seen before.
These are some of the most important moments from his new documentary.
Affleck feels uncomfortable being Lopez's 'muse', but when they got back together, he had to 'make concessions'
The documentary is named after a book of love letters that Affleck wrote for Lopez. On their first Christmas together, Affleck gave Lopez a book with “every letter and email” they wrote to each other. Its titled The greatest love story ever told. Includes material from 2001 and 2021 “and counting.”
Lopez explains, “There's the personal story of Ben and I that's never been told. I don't think he's very comfortable with me doing all this. But he loves me, he knows I'm an artist, and he'll support me.” him with me in every way he can because he knows he can't stop me from making the music I made and writing the lyrics I wrote.”
Although Affleck “doesn't want” to stop her, Lopez says, “that doesn't mean he's comfortable being the muse.”
López let the songwriters read the personal letters as inspiration for their album. This is me nowwhich was a surprise to Affleck.
“Jen was really inspired by this experience, which is how artists do their work,” Affleck shares. “As a writer and a director, I certainly do the same things. But the things that are private, I always felt sacred and special because, in part, they're private. So this was kind of an adjustment for me.”
When they rekindled their romance after two decades of separation, Affleck initially told Lopez to keep his personal life private.
“The catalyst for [our breakup] It was this massive scrutiny of our private lives,” he explains. “At first I had a very firm sense of boundaries around the press. While I don't think Jen objected the way I did, I did object a lot. When we got back together, I said, 'Listen, one of the things I don't want is a social media relationship.' “Then I realized it wasn't fair to ask.”
Affleck compared that desire to someone who wants to date the captain of a ship, but doesn't like the water. “We're just two people with different approaches trying to learn how to compromise,” he says.
López speaks out about past abuses
One of the most talked about scenes in This is me… now: a love story is “The Glass House,” which shows the singer in an abusive relationship while singing “Rebound.” In the documentary, López explains that this has its roots in her own truth.
“There were people in my life who said 'I love you' and then didn't do things that were consistent with the word 'love,'” he reveals.
“You have to hit rock bottom when you find yourself in situations so uncomfortable and so painful that you finally say: I don't want this anymore. A therapist said to me, 'What if this was your daughter? What would you do? ' And it was very clear. I would tell her to get out of here and never look back. But for me, everything was very confusing and complicated,” explains López. “It was like looking through a fog.”
Director Dave Meyers previously told Yahoo Entertainment that filming “Rebound” was one of the most difficult days on set, given the subject matter. It is clear that that day he also took its toll on López.
“Being abused and abused like that is no fun. I mean, I was never in a relationship where I was hit, thank God, but I was definitely abused and a couple of other nasty things,” she says. “Rude. Disrespectful.”
In his 2014 memoirs, López wrote she was “mentally, emotionally and verbally” abused, but did not name names.
López downplayed the fear of how the media might interpret “Rebote”
Actor Anthony Ramos would not film the “glass house” scene due to his friendship with Marc Anthony.
“[Anthony] He was going to do the 'Rebound' number with me,” López says in the documentary. “And he said, 'Oh, I'm friends with Marc.'
Lopez quickly married Anthony after she and Affleck first split in 2004. They were together for more than seven years and share 16-year-old twins, Max and Emme.
López is then shown talking on the phone trying to persuade the in the heights star to do the project.
“[Marc’s] The father of my children, obviously. I'll never do anything that I really like to identify with, but it's very meta,” López tells Ramos. “It's about the 20-year journey between that last album and [This Is Me…Then] and this album, and a lot of things happened, and there were a lot of relationships that I was in. “What you're playing is representative of many relationships, not one specific relationship.”
Later, Lopez tells his friend and collaborator Shawn “Beezy” Barton: “If we just made our art thinking about what the media will say… what the fuck are we doing?”
Affleck and López share happy moments
The documentary is a deep, personal and often serious dive into López's life. However, it is peppered with some light-hearted moments that give insight into Affleck and Lopez's marriage. At one point, the Oscar-winning director is reading the script for Lopez's film in which a scene describes Lopez as a 28-year-old woman.
“I love that you want to play a younger character, even in an autobiographical movie,” Affleck says.
“This is not my autobiography! This is meta! This is me using part of my story,” Lopez responds.
“It's your story, but younger,” Affleck laughs, before caressing his wife.
López's childhood pain fueled relationship problems and insecurity
“Jen felt emotionally abandoned as a child,” Affleck says. While it's hard to imagine that Lopez, someone whose “professional life” is “tremendously successful and who, on Instagram, appears to be living the happiest life in the world,” would struggle, she does.
“In Jennifer's case, I don't think there are enough fans or movies or records or anything like that to calm that part of you that still feels that longing and pain,” he tells the camera. “Ultimately, that's the work you have to do on your own.”
Lopez believes her relationship with her parents prepared her for some of her romantic failures.
“I felt very ignored by my dad because he always worked nights and then slept all day and I didn't feel like I had enough of a connection with him. My mom was a narcissistic, center of attention, life-of-the-party type person,” she says. . “The combination of the two things put me on the path of being with those types of people. What I started to realize is that I feel comfortable with this, but I don't like it. I want something different, I want something better.”
Insecurity also seeps into Lopez's professional life, as she feels like she's “not good enough.”
“You know that feeling when you're letting everyone down all the time and you never really do anything right?” she says through tears, explaining that she struggles with the feeling of “not being good enough” in “the movie, as a partner, as a mother, like all the things and all you want to do is be the best at all those things.”
López says her “biggest fear” is failing at “being a mother.”
Bennifer initially broke up 3 days before the 2004 wedding.
“We had a big wedding planned, 14 ushers and bridesmaids, and three days before, we just crumbled under the pressure,” Lopez reveals. “During all those years, it was very difficult because not only did I feel like I lost the love of my life, but I felt like I lost the best friend I ever had. And I couldn't speak for so many years and that was the hardest part.”
Affleck seems a little surprised by the devastation that occurred after they called off their engagement.
“When I first read the script, it seemed like the incident that would cause all this pain in the future would be our breakup. I thought, 'Wow.' No one did anything wrong, it was mutual… we have to forget it, forgive each other.” , He tells. “You forgive me?”
It's not until the end of the film that viewers get Lopez's answer to that question.
“Yes, I think I have completely forgiven you,” she replies. “I think I need to forgive myself [for] some things.”
The greatest love story ever told It airs on Prime Video on February 27.
