Ain't it funny how the universe works? That's what Jennifer Lopez is asking herself after finding her way back to Ben Affleck.
Twenty years after the release of This Is Me... Then, an album inspired by her early aughts romance with the Oscar winner, J.Lo reflected on how the couple's reconciliation and subsequent marriage influenced her upcoming record, This Is Me... Now. Calling it a "perfect" full circle moment, the pop star told Apple Music One's Zane Lowe that her love for Affleck is now "much more clearer" than before.
"Now, we know and there's no questions," she explained on Nov. 28. "It's me and you, all the way, 'til the end."
In fact, Lopez and Affleck—who reconnected in 2021, nearly two decades after their 2004 split—were so sure of their relationship this time around that the Argo star had the words "Not. Going. Anywhere." engraved on the singer's engagement ring when he proposed earlier this year.
"That's how he would sign his emails when we started talking again," she explained of the phrase. "Like, 'Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere.'"
Inspired by their journey, the "On the Floor" artist noted that one of her new songs was named after the inscription on the green diamond sparkler.
"You can get a second chance if you do the work and you don't give up," she said, adding that she feels "blessed" that she and Ben were able to rekindle their romance. "As an artist, the only reason I'm here is to share what I know, what I've learned and what I go through."
And the Hustlers star acknowledges that she's been through a lot since. Looking back at her first breakup with Affleck, the Grammy winner recalled the fallout being so "painful" that she "wouldn't even perform" any of the songs from This Is Me... Then.
"It was the biggest heartbreak of my life and I honestly though I was gonna die," she shared. "It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn't get it right. But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending."
Lopez and Affleck tied the knot on July 16 in a Las Vegas ceremony, exchanging vows again one month later at a larger celebration in Georgia. For the second occasion, the newlyweds were surrounded by friends and family, including by Lopez's 14-year-old twins Max and Emme, who she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Affleck's three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: daughters Violet, 16 and Seraphina, 13, and son Samuel, 10.
During her chat with Lowe, Lopez remarked that though she and Ben lead "separate paths" before reconnecting, they did each "beautiful things and we had these amazing children."
"Once got whole enough, complete enough, loved ourselves enough and could stand on our own two feet really completely, as the universe had it, we were bought into each other's lives again," she noted. "It was like a crack in the clouds and the sun came through."