US actress Jennifer Lopez (R) and US actor Ben Affleck attend Amazon's "This is Me... Now: A Love Story" premiere at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California, February 13, 2024. (Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
Jennifer Lopez made sure to credit Ben Affleck recently for inspiring and supporting her career moves! The artist choked up with emotions while thanking her hubby for putting in work with her to see her new film ‘This Is Me…Now’ through to the end.
She made her remarks at the Los Angeles premiere of the Amazon Prime film on Tuesday (Feb. 13), per PEOPLE. The film is reportedly a musical of what inspired J-Lo’s sequel to her 2002 album ‘This Is Me…Then.’ Her album — same name as the movie — is forthcoming.
In her public thank you, Jennifer revealed Ben inspired her album 20 years ago. She also seemingly hinted at why Affleck usually looks disgruntled in public.
“And then there is the person who inspired this for me, who has inspired me my whole life. He just, he inspired an album 20 years ago and I know he hates that I’m doing this right now,” the 54-year-old said. “He’s just like, ‘Please shut up.’ No! And I say no. I say, I love you and thank you for believing in me and helping me believe in myself.”
She added:
“And helping me to grow every single day. Thank you for the family that we’ve created and our children and everything that you do for me.”
Concluding her praise, Jen told her husband that he’ll never know “what it is” to have him “be [her] love.”
During a press conference last week, Jennifer shared how Ben coached her through completing the project.
“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this.’ He was like, ‘You do, you write, you direct, you produce, you choreograph, you do all the things. Start stepping into that, start owning a little bit of who you are,” she said.
At the L.A. premiere the project’s director, Dave Meyers, also shared insight on watching Benifer work together.
“They work pretty similar to how I think they are as a couple,” the director told PEOPLE. “I made a funny joke that Jen is like Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker, and Ben’s like Obi-Wan. It was really beautiful to watch how she would listen to the things that he would say.”
Meyers added:
“We were there in their kitchen, in his office late at night, and it was just really nice to see that he cared and always was supportive.”
As mentioned though, Affleck prefers a lil’ bit of privacy though, and Meyers says he did struggle “at first” over “all their personal stuff out there.” However, the Hollywood vet appears to be fully on board now.
