Jennifer Lopez may sing "Let's Get Loud," but when it comes to her personal life and romance with Ben Affleck, she prefers to keep things quiet.
"You really just want to sing and dance and act," she said while discussing the public's perception of her world in an interview with The New York Times published Feb. 1. "This whole other thing comes along with it that you have to learn how to navigate—having that public life, this artistic life and then your private life. What you want is just a regular life, like anybody else. All of it is put under scrutiny."
Lopez, 52, and Affleck, 49, rekindled their romance in 2021, about 17 years after the stars called off their engagement. And while they've been photographed during PDA-packed date nights, romantic getaways and movie premieres, Lopez told the newspaper they had "learned our lesson the first time" when it comes to dealing with the media frenzy.
Which is? "To hold it sacred," she said about her and Affleck's relationship. "You have to do what feels good to you all the time. But at the same time, you learn from the past, you do things better the second time. There's a part of it that, yes, we're together. But there's a part of it that's not, you know, being so open the way we were when we were so young and in love many years ago."
But what about her relationship with former fiancé Alex Rodriguez? The Yankees alum and the two-time Grammy nominee shared several aspects of their four years together with their fans, from posting sweet tributes and family photos on Instagram to walking red carpets together and talking about their romance for a magazine cover story.
"When you're in things, you do what feels right," Lopez replied. "And I don't beat myself up over ‘I wish I had done this differently' or 'Did I do too much?' That's what was comfortable at the time. I did what I did. He did what he did. And it was fine. The relationship stuff had nothing to do with being public or not being public."
For what it's worth, Affleck did make a cameo during Lopez's interview. According to The New York Times, the actor pulled her into another room for about 10 minutes and, when they returned, the couple shared a kiss and said "I love you" before Affleck headed out saying, "All right my love, I'll see you later." Writer Nicole Sperling, who conducted the interview about a week before Christmas, also noted that there was an "Affleck Lopez Family" gingerbread house in Lopez's home. J.Lo shares twins with her ex-husband, singer Marc Anthony, and Affleck has three kids with his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner.
Indeed, it seems like Bennifer 2.0 is still going strong. In fact, a source close to Lopez told E! News in November the two are "stronger than ever and very much in love."
And no matter what the public may think of her current romance or past relationships, Lopez isn't going to let that stop her from living life on her terms and following her heart.
"You can't live life and think that things are just mistakes: I just messed up there, I messed up there. No, it's all lessons," she told The New York Times. "It's really what can you extrapolate from it that is going to help you grow and go to the next level of understanding yourself, finding yourself and being able to be at peace with your life, at peace with who you are."