Jennifer Lopez doesn’t believe she’s ever ‘truly been loved.’ Here’s a reminder of everyone she’s talking about

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

(CNN) — Jennifer Lopez knows a thing or two about love and relationships.

The singer-dancer-actress recently appeared on Howard Stern’s show and talk turned to her love life. Lopez said it’s difficult being in a romantic relationship when you are famous.

Stern asked: “Do you think you’ve truly been loved?” She paused and responded “no” before switching to “yes,” as she considered if she had “really experienced loving someone.”

“What I learned is it’s not that I’m not lovable,” she said. “It’s that they’re not capable.”

Who’s not capable? Here’s a reminder of the high-profile relationships Lopez has been in over the years.

Ojani Noa

Lopez was married to the Cuban waiter from 1997 to 1998, which is around the time her career took off, thanks to her starring role in the hit film “Selena” about the beloved murdered Tejano singer.

Noa went on to become a model and actor. He also attempted to publish a tell-all about their relationship which Lopez successfully sued to have blocked.

Sean “Diddy” Combs

Lopez had an on-again and off-again relationship with the music mogul from 1999 to 2001 and they were the focus of a great deal of media attention in that time.

She stood beside him after the couple, Combs’ bodyguard Anthony “Wolf” Jones and the rapper Shyne Barrow, a Combs protégé, were involved in a disagreement at Club New York in Manhattan that ended with gunfire.

Three people were injured, and while the men and Lopez were initially arrested, charges against her were soon dropped. Combs and Jones were later acquitted in the incident.

Lopez and Combs split in 2001, and two years later she told Vibe magazine infidelity played a role in their breakup.

”It was the first time I was with someone who wasn’t faithful,” she said. “I was in this relationship with Puff” — that’s the nickname Combs went by at the time — “where I was totally crying, crazy and going nuts, it really took my whole life in a tailspin.”

Cris Judd

She married her former backup dancer in 2001 and in 2013 he shared the story of how his life changed after he was cast to dance in her “Love Don’t Cost A Thing” video in 2000.

“So when Jennifer walks in, I shake her hand and we kinda look at each other – and in my head, I’m like, ‘Oh my God, I’m going to marry this woman,’” he said during an episode of “Oprah: Where Are They Now?” as per Huffington Post.

The couple tried to keep their relationship under wraps, Judd said.

“I guess the first introduction to me being with her was when we were at the Oscars. It was just bedlam,” he said. “I’ve never seen so many people concentrated in one place, especially cameras. I knew she was there to do a job, and so I was just that guy who was just by her side.”

The couple finalized their divorce in 2003 — at which time Lopez was already involved with her “Gigli” co-star, Ben Affleck.

Marc Anthony

Lopez was engaged to Affleck (we will circle back to that and him later) from 2002 to 2004 and months after they split, she shocked fans when she married Marc Anthony, the Latino singer and actor.

Lopez and Anthony collaborated on music together and also co-starred in the 2006 film “El Cantante” which was based on the life of the late salsa singer Héctor Lavoe.

In 2008 they welcomed fraternal twins, Emme and Max.

Lopez talked to British Vogue in 2024 about motherhood.

“You always want to put your best foot forward for your kids, you want to lift them up — that doesn’t stop you from being a human being who struggles,” she said at the time.

She and Anthony announced their split in 2011, he filed for divorce the following year and and it was finalized in 2014.

Casper Smart

The dancer-actor-choreographer was one of Lopez’s longest relationships that didn’t make it to the altar.

While they were on-again and off-again, they dated from 2011 to 2016 and Smart had good things to say about her.

“She’s sweet, funny, nice, easygoing and gracious,” Smart said of Lopez. “You can’t ask for anything more. She’s beautiful.”

Their breakup was reportedly amicable.

Alex Rodriguez

Many thought Lopez had met her match in the legendary baseball player.

She and the former New York Yankees shortstop started dating in 2017 and seemed like a match made in social media heaven with their posts of supporting each other in everything from red carpets to yoga class.

The pair got engaged in 2019. But in March 2021, there was some confusion as reports swirled that they had split, only to have them say days later in a statement that they were still a couple after all.

A month later they confirmed that their engagement was off.

“We have realized we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so. We will continue to work together and support each other on our shared businesses and projects,” they said in a joint statement. “We wish the best for each other and one another’s children. Out of respect for them, the only other comment we have to say is thank you to everyone who has sent kind words and support.”

Ben Affleck

Lopez spun the block with this actor-director.

Shortly after she and Rodriguez broke things off, Affleck was photographed visiting her Los Angeles home.

First time around, of course, the couple had dated and gotten engaged in 2002 before having a high-profile split in September 2003.

“Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date. When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realized that something was awry,” they said in a statement. “We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised. We felt what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us, our families and our friends.”

Sources told CNN at the time that the couple was “taking a break.”

She was with Rodriguez in 2020 when Affleck raved about Lopez to CNN while promoting his film, “The Way Back.”

He said he had no regrets about making “Gigli” because “I made a great friendship with Jennifer Lopez, who I think is a fabulous person and I’m so excited for her continued success.”

“I don’t think she always got the respect that she deserved, in part, because she was a powerful woman,” he said. “And also because she was a Latina and she was really groundbreaking and nobody wanted to acknowledge that. They just wanted to kind of hate, so it’s nice to see her having that success.”

Affleck and Lopez went public with the fact they were back together in July 2021.

Months later he expressed his gratitude for second chances in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, calling his rekindled romance with Lopez “beautiful.”

“My life now reflects not just the person that I want to be, but the person that I really feel like I am — which is not perfect, but somebody who tries very hard and cares very much about being honest and authentic and accountable,” he told the publication. “It’s hard to say who benefits more, without going into gossipy detail.”

The pair became engaged once again in April 2022, after Affleck surprised Lopez with a proposal while she was in the bathtub.

They eloped in July of that year by traveling to Las Vegas with their children and the following month held a lavish wedding on Affleck’s sprawling estate outside of Savannah, Georgia, complete with famous friends like Matt Damon and director Kevin Smith in attendance alongside their families.

She filed for divorce from Affleck last year, on the anniversary of their second wedding.

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