Jennifer Lopez is setting the record straight regarding her feelings about her boyfriend Ben Affleck's recent comments about his past marriage to his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.
On a Dec. 14 episode of SiriusXM's The Howard Stern Show, the actor spoke about his feelings about their relationship prior to their 2015 split and his alcohol addiction and journey to sobriety, saying, "I was trapped. You know, I was like, I can't leave because of my kids, but I'm not happy. What do I do? And what I did was like, drink a bottle of Scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Affleck was heavily criticized on social media and by some of the media over his remarks. Following the backlash, reports claimed J.Lo herself was offended by them. In comments made to People and posted on Saturday, Dec. 18, the singer and actress said, "This story is simply not true" and "it is not how I feel."
Lopez, who rekindled her '00s relationship with Affleck this past spring, added, "I couldn't have more respect for Ben as a father, a co-parent, and a person."
A day after the Howard Stern interview, Affleck, who shares three children with Garner, addressed the criticism over his remarks on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Dec. 15.
"The irony is, I was really happy with [the interview]," he said. "I thought, 'Wow, I should do more honest, exploratory, you know, self-evaluating things.' And I started seeing all this stuff come up on Twitter and I was like, 'Look, what is this?' And I sort of researched through it and then saw that one of these websites...just made me out to be like the worst most insensitive, stupid, awful guy."
He continued, naming past media stories about himself, memes and TV gags, "I know people do this. I get it. Me, I'm happy to be 'Sad Batman.' I'm happy to be the Dunkin' Donuts [man]. I understand. You have to get married to Jimmy Kimmel sometime."
"Really, like, it's about my kids," Affleck said. "I gotta just draw a line. It's clear, that's not true. I don't believe that. It's the exact opposite of who I am, what I believe, and I would never want my kids to think I would ever say a bad word about their mom."