Jennifer Lopez has revealed why it took so long to rekindle her romance with Ben Affleck.

The couple reignited their relationship in July 2021 after almost 20 years apart and got married in a Las Vegas wedding a year later, in July 2022.

The “On The Floor” singer, 54, said it took her time to figure herself out while she worked her way through three marriages and divorces, having two children and going on a journey to “grow and do other things”.

In an interview on The Kyle And Jackie O Show on Thursday (15 February) she said: “I fell in love with the love of my life [earlier in my life] and for whatever reasons, we needed to grow and do other things.

“We both went off and had children with other people and other relationships but, you know, in mind I kind of had it like, ‘Oh, that was kind of the one’, and so when we got back together I couldn’t believe it and I don’t think he could either.

“It’s not something we ever planned. We really had moved on with our lives but when we reconnected, it was almost instant and we just knew.”

During Lopez’s marriage with Marc Anthony, the pair had two children, 15-year-old twins. She said she spent her time trying to be “a great mum and a great example for them”.

“Then when I got divorced, it kind of kick-started another phase of me trying to figure out myself and relationships and things like that,” she continued.

“I was like, ‘I’m good on my own, I’m fine, I love my life’. And when you get to that place, I think that’s when the universe kind of opened up to me and was like, ‘OK now you’re ready’,” she said.

The couple originally met on the set of box office flop Gigli in 2001, while J Lo was still married to her second husband, dancer Chris Judd.

They got engaged in November 2002 after a whirlwind romance and starred in another movie together, Jersey Girl. However, they called off their wedding only four days before the event was scheduled to take place in September 2003 due to “media attention”.

As quick as it started, Bennifer was over in 2004.

Lopez went on to marry Marc Anthony in the same year before he filed for divorce in 2014. Affleck went on to marry Jennifer Garner and have three children, before the couple filed for divorce in 2017 after alleged infidelity and substance abuse issues.

Lopez will release her first studio album in over a decade, This Is Me… Now, in tandem with a movie by the same title which will chronicle the ups and downs of her love life over the years. Affleck will co-star in the musical film for which a trailer was released last month.

The teaser opens with a shot of the “On the Floor” singer, 54, riding on the back of Affleck’s motorcycle as they drive across a body of water.

“I know what they say about me, about hopeless romantics, that we’re weak. And I’m not weak,” Lopez says in a voiceover. “That, I’ve learned the hard way.”

This Is Me… Now, and the movie, This Is Me… Now: A Love Story, will be released on 16 February, with the latter available to stream on Prime Video.