“Now I’m excited, when you say you’re just going to be on your own. Yes, I’m not looking for anybody, because everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I f–king do when it’s just me flying on my own,” she said.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. AFP via Getty Images
“What if I’m just free?” Lopez added.
Talking more about the future of her love life, the “Hustlers” star said that “there’s no new bar because I’m not looking for anybody.”
Jennifer Lopez on the cover of Interview Magazine. Interview Magazine
Jennifer Lopez for Interview Magazine. Interview Magazine Jennifer Lopez for Interview Magazine. Interview Magazine
“For people who are romantics and love being in relationships and want to grow old with somebody, we think, ‘I have to have that to be whole and happy.’ And you don’t,” she explained.
“I know that everything that’s being written and said about me, and all the conjecture of who I am as a person, is not who I am,” she said. “I learned that a long time ago. And social media, because it came along after I had been in the public eye for a while, I don’t take it as seriously as everybody else.”
“I know I’m a good person. I know I’m a good mom. I know who my friends are. I know my friends know who I am, my mom, my dad, all that stuff,” Lopez continued. “If you hope to have a long career, you have to learn how to deal with that part of the business. Some people are going to love you and some are not going to understand you, and some people just want to hate you to hate you, and none of that really matters.”
“I did all the work and look at where I am, and then it was like my whole f—ing world exploded,” she added, referencing her split and the cancellation of her summer 2024 tour.
Lopez did admit, though, that the “new territory” is “a little scary” for her.
“It feels lonely, unfamiliar, scary. It feels sad. It feels desperate,” she shared. “But when you sit in those feelings and go, ‘These things are not going to kill me,’ it’s like actually, I am capable of joy and happiness all by myself.”
Jennifer Lopez out in LA on Aug. 17, 2024. GC Images
“Being in a relationship doesn’t define me. I can’t be looking for happiness in other people. I have to have happiness within myself. I used to say I’m a happy person, but was still looking for something for somebody else to fill, and it’s just like, ‘No, I’m actually good,'” she added.
Lopez also said that she didn’t learn that “you have to be good on your own” until her breakup with Affleck.
Ben Affleck and J.Lo at Soho House in LA in May 2024. Thecelebrityfinder/MEGA Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez at the “Marry Me” premiere in February 2022. AFP via Getty Images
“I thought I learned that, but I didn’t,” she said, adding, “And then, this summer, I had to be like, ‘I need to go off and be on my own. I want to prove to myself that I can do that.'”
The “Jenny from the Block” singer and the Oscar winner separated in April, though they’ve continued an amicable relationship for the sake of their five combined children .
Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez in Paris on July 25, 2022. GC Images
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