Jennifer Lopez takes blame for Ben Affleck divorce on ‘Smartless’ podcast

Jennifer Lopez is taking the blame for her divorce from Ben Affleck.

During a recent conversation with Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes and Will Arnett on their “Smartless” podcast, the 56-year-old actress and singer reflected on her marriage to Affleck and how their divorce led her to make changes in the way she lives her life.

“There’s been different times where I felt like, whether people outside knew it or not, where I feel like my life blew up in my own face, and it was because of the choices I made,” she said. “But also because of the fact that I had things that needed to change about myself that I didn’t understand or recognize that was attracting certain things and attracting a certain type of experience into my life.”

She went on to say that recognizing you need to make changes in your life is a choice, and that she made that choice after her divorce from Affleck, saying, “I canceled my tour and I sat there, and I was just like, you need to f—ing figure yourself out.”

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“What is going on with you? Forget about everybody else,” she recalled thinking. “There’s nobody to blame here except yourself in a certain way. Not that people don’t behave in a way that’s not great, but what are you doing? What do you have going on? And that was that was a turning point for me. And that was a couple of years ago now.”

Affleck and Lopez tied the knot in July 2022 in a small ceremony in Las Vegas, before throwing a bigger celebration a month later at Affleck’s estate in Georgia.

After nearly two years of marriage, the couple separated in April 2024, with Lopez filing for divorce a few months later, in August.

The couple originally dated from 2002 to 2004 after meeting on the set of the 2003 movie, “Gigli.” The two were engaged for over a year before calling it quits initially, and reconnected early in 2021, getting engaged nearly 20 years after he first popped the question.

Lopez previously reflected on how her divorce changed her outlook on life, calling it “the best thing that ever happened to me” during an interview with “CBS Sunday Morning” in September 2025.

“Because it changed me,” she explained. “It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow, become more self-aware. I’m a different person now than I was last year… I realized that the joy is in living and these moments and really embracing life and everything that it brings to you, for the lessons that it brings.”

She went on to say that once those lessons are learned, “everything just becomes a little bit lighter, and you can really, really fly.” When asked if she now feels like she’s flying, Lopez said yes, adding, “I still feel like I want to fly higher.” 

While promoting her latest Netflix movie, “Office Romance,” Lopez reflected on all her past relationships, during an interview with Elle UK, telling them she has a “PhD in narcissists” and could “give a Ted Talk on human behavior, emotional intelligence and dysfunctional relationships.”

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In addition to Affleck, Lopez was previously married to Ojani Noa from 1997 to 1998, Cris Judd from 2001 to 2002 and Marc Anthony from 2004 to 2014. She was also in high-profile relationships with Sean “Diddy” Combs, Casper Smart and Alex Rodriguez.

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