Jennifer Lopez took some time to reset following her divorce from Ben Affleck.
“I took a year off,” Lopez, 56, said during an appearance on Good Morning America on Wednesday, March 11, explaining that she had to “stop everything” after her split from Affleck, 53.
The “On the Floor” singer continued, “I canceled tours. I decided to just be home and sit in what had happened without running away from it through work, through another person through anything. Just sit.”
Lopez said she “needed to be home” with her twins, Max and Emme, 18, whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony, “and that was the priority at that time.”
The Atlas star also used the time off to reflect on things.
“I was just at a point where I was like, ‘What is going on with you?’” she explained. “I couldn’t blame anybody else because I don’t think that’s where the lesson is. And so, I really needed to figure myself out.”
Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck in August 2024 after separating from the Good Will Hunting actor earlier that year. The divorce was finalized in January 2025.
More than a year later, Lopez said she’s now “in [her] happy era.”
“I feel like for the first time in my life, I’m free. I’m on my own. It feels really good. I didn’t really know what that felt like since I was in my early 20s, and even before that I always had a boyfriend. There was always someone in my life and so many other things that I felt were out of my control,” she explained. “I’ve gotten to the point where I really trust myself and appreciate myself a little bit more.”
Prior to her marriage to Affleck, Lopez was married to Ojani Noa from 1997 to 1998, Cris Judd from 2001 to 2003 and Anthony, 57, from 2004 to 2014. She was also engaged to Alex Rodriguez from 2019 to 2021.
Lopez said she’s not quite ready yet to dip her toes back into the dating pool.
“God forbid,” she quipped. “I don’t want to ruin anything. It’s so nice right now. I’m so happy. It’s the best. I just feel really good right now, and that was a scary thing for me when I was younger. I didn’t know if I could do that. I was always really afraid to be alone.”
Earlier this month, Lopez opened up about her split from Anthony while onstage during her Up All Night residency at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.
“It was actually a really tough time. I was really about to give up on it all. I was a single mom with two 3-year-old twins,” she said. “I called up one of my mentors. Her name was [motivational speaker and author] Louise Hay, [and] she passed away. She said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ She said, ‘When you’re learning a dance and you get the steps wrong, what do you do?’ I said, ‘I just keep going till I get the steps right.’ She said, ‘That’s right, Jennifer. Always keep dancing.’”
Lopez continued, “I wish the same for each and every one of you, that no matter what life throws at you, you dance and you dance and you dance, again and again and again.”
