Jennifer Lopez’s mother has revealed that she always knew her daughter and Ben Affleck would find their way back together.
The 53-year-old actor and singer appeared on the Today show on Wednesday 3 May alongside her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez. As Lopez chatted with co-host Hoda Kotb about her rekindled romance with Ben Affleck, her mother was having an off-camera conversation with Savannah Guthrie.
But when it came to the topic of her son-in-law, Lopez’s mother couldn’t help but chime in.
“I knew that you would always get back together because I prayed for 20 years,” Rodríguez said.
The “On The Floor” singer immediately rolled her eyes, as if this wasn’t the first time she’s heard this from her mother.
“Let’s keep going,” Lopez jokingly told Kotb.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck officially tied the knot in summer 2022, nearly 20 years after they called off their first engagement. The pair were initially engaged in 2002, before calling it off in 2004. They reunited in May 2021, over 17 years after they broke up.
Elsewhere during the interview, the Hustlers star gave details about her children’s relationship with Affleck. Lopez, who shares twins 15-year-old twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony, detailed how the Gone Girl actor has been a “father figure” to her kids.
“He’s a wonderful, wonderful father and father figure to them. He has his own three beautiful children and then there’s us and he’s fantastic,” she said, referring to the three children Affleck shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
“He really steps up to the challenge of what that is and what that means and they love him. They love him. They appreciate him and so do I,” she added.
Lopez – who referred to Affleck as the “love of her life” – also explained how her upcoming album, This Is Me…Now, is inspired by their decades-long love story.
“I went on an incredible journey through my life for the past 20 years, and I think I’ve grown a lot,” she said. “The album is really about capturing those moments in time. Falling in love and having that moment, then 20 years later trying to capture what this moment was, which was a very different thing.”
Lopez and Affleck were married during an intimate Las Vegas wedding ceremony last July. She confirmed the news in her “On The JLo” newsletter, writing: “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”
“Exactly what we wanted. Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a licence with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world,” the Marry Me star said.
The Las Vegas nuptials were followed by a lavish three-day wedding celebration in front of friends and family at Affleck’s $8m estate in Georgia. Lopez wore three wedding gowns for the special occasion. The nuptials were also attended by a list of star-studded guests, including Affleck’s longtime friend Matt Damon and filmmaker Kevin Smith, with podcast host Jay Shetty officiating the wedding.
Most recently, Affleck revealed the one thing that Jennifer Lopez would change about him if she was given the opportunity. During an appearance on the Drew Barrymore Show last April, Affleck said that, while his wife has never told him this, he believed that there’s one quality about him she would change if she could.
“She would probably want to cultivate brevity in the way I speak,” he admitted. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I go on and on and on. I talk in circles. She’s never said that to me, but that would be my guess.”
While speaking to host Drew Barrymore, the Batman star also made a confession about his wife and her everyday eating habits.
“Let me tell you something that’s gonna upset you. Jennifer just eats whatever she wants. Whatever she wants. She eats cookies, ice cream, everything,” he said. “The work ethic is real, the discipline is real, but also the superhuman thing is real. She’s the most gorgeous woman in the world. She looks spectacular.”
