There are very dramatic, possibly earth-shattering moments in every pop-culture watcher’s life where you (also very dramatically) remember where you are when they happened. In other words, I very much remember where I was while viewing the first brutal reviews of 2003’s Gigli. That movie pushed an existing press frenzy sky high, and soon after, co-stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck broke off their engagement. Nearly two decades later, the two followed up their surprise romantic reunion with a surprise Vegas wedding, and Lopez also stars in the upcoming, completely unrelated Shotgun Wedding (alongside Josh Duhamel), arriving Dec. 28.
That’s a lot to consider. For the moment, though, Lopez is promoting her ninth album, which is called This Is Me … Now. As expected, she’s feeling quite emotional, considering that a previous album, This Is Me, arrived in the wake of her 2003 breakup with Ben. And as she told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, that split sent her on a “spiral” that lasted nearly two decades. Via US Weekly:
“It was so painful after we broke up. Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right.”
As JLo explained, this new round with Ben “is even better than the first time.” So, she’s revisiting old feelings while cherishing new ones, and boy, it’s gotta be wild to come back together with “the love of my life” after gaining so much life experience on several levels. Not to mention that a certain someone acquired a Dunkin’ addiction over the decades. In all seriousness, however, Lopez also told Zane how she “wouldn’t even perform” songs about Ben from her 2002 album.
That’s all water under the bridge, however, and This Is Me… Now will arrive in 2023, marking JLo’s first studio album in eight years.