Jennifer Lopez’s mom, Guadalupe Rodríguez, knew that her daughter and Ben Affleck were meant to be.
Rodríguez accompanied J.Lo for an appearance Wednesday on the "TODAY" show and talked about the singer’s rekindled relationship with Affleck — which, according to her mom, was a long time coming.
“I knew that you would always get back together because I prayed for 20 years,” Rodríguez said on "TODAY."
Lopez playfully nodded and said, “OK,” as if she had heard that one before. “Jennifer said, ‘Let’s keep going,’” host Hoda Kotb said after Rodríguez’s interjection, laughing.
Affleck and Lopez married in 2022, nearly 20 years after they first got engaged in 2003. They parted ways in 2004, going on to start families with other people, before reconnecting in 2021.
Prior to her mom’s confession, Lopez elaborated on her relationship, calling Affleck the “love of her life.”
She says her upcoming album, “This Is Me ... Now,” speaks to their decadeslong love story, capturing the “moment in time when (they) first got together.”
“I went on an incredible journey through my life for past 20 years, and I think I’ve grown a lot. 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,” she said.
As to whether love is better the second time around? Lopez grappled with the question.
“I think when you have life experience behind you, you realize what’s really important. I love what I do. I have always said that, but since I had kids, that changed for me. Now, having a family in this way and being married, you start rejiggering everything. What is really important? How much do I want to work?” she said. “You start realizing what I want to do with my life.”
Lopez said her kids, 15-year-old twins Max and Emme, “love” Affleck.
“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. 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 said.