Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's words about their 2004 break up have resurfaced

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have officially separated, with Lopez filing for divorce this week on their wedding anniversary, after exactly two years of marriage.

The A-list couple has been plagued by divorce speculation since early 2024. And amid the cancellation of Lopez's 'This Is Me... Live' tour, and their decision to put their $60 million Beverly Hills property on the market, it has long been reported that "Jen and Ben have been living separate lives".

Lopez and Affleck first dated in the early noughties, after meeting on the set of Gigli in 2002, breaking off their engagement in 2004, before rekindling their relationship 17 years later.

And following the news of their separation this week, the former couple's comments about their 2004 break up have resurfaced.

"I lost my sense of self, questioned if I belonged in this business, thought maybe I did suck at everything, and my relationship [with Affleck] self-destructed in front of the entire world," Lopez has previously explained of the 2004 split. "It was a two-year thing for me until I picked myself up again."

She has also previously opened up to W Magazine about the relationship, linking the break up with her younger self's insecurities.

"Men in their 20s are very confident and cocky, and women are super insecure. And then it flips - men get super insecure, and women get comfortable in their own skin, in a way that makes them more beautiful," she explained. "I never appreciated my body or my looks when I was in my 20s. Now I’m like, 'Look at me! Look at you!' Not in a conceited or arrogant way - I just appreciate myself in a way that I didn’t when I was that age."

Affleck has also opened up about the 2004 break up in the past, explaining in a TV interview back in 2008 that it was partially down to the spotlight adding overwhelming pressures.

"I think Jen and I made a mistake in that we fell in love, we were excited and maybe too accessible," he explained. "I don’t think either of us anticipated the degree to which it would take on a world of its own."

Neither Jennifer Lopez nor Ben Affleck have spoken publicly about the news of their 2024 separation.