In 1st Post-Divorce Tell-All, J.Lo Says She's Free; Quotes 'Finding Nemo'
In a new Interview magazine cover story, Jennifer Lopez got all kinds of existential in a lengthy conversation—her first, post-divorce from Ben Affleck—with Nikki Glazer. The multi-hyphenate and comedian covered a lot of ground, from J.Lo's scrapped tour to the Finding Nemo quote she repeats to herself in crisis (“Just keep swimming”). But of course, the pair inevitably addressed the sighing, Dunkin cup-holding elephant in the room.
"With 'This Is Me… Now'...I felt like, whoa, I got here. I'm good," Lopez said. "I did all the work and look at where I am and then it was like my whole fucking world exploded."
Glazer responded by telling Lopez that she "felt for her" before wondering whether or not she was lamenting anything in particular (read: sinking millions of her own money into a film and a companion album about her love story with Affleck, as well as a documentary chronicling the creation of both).
"The pain you just went through, you do not regret?" Glazer asked of Lopez, referring to the breakup.
"Not one second," Lopez replied, not missing a beat. "That doesn’t mean it didn’t almost take me out for good. It almost did. But now, on the other side of it, I think to myself, “Fuck, that is exactly what I needed. Thank you, god. I’m sorry it took me so long. I’m sorry that you had to do this to me so many times. I should have learned it two or three times ago. I get it. You had to hit me really hard over the head with a fucking sledgehammer. You dropped the house on me. Don’t have to do it again.”
Lopez then explained to Glazer that while she's hardly figured everything out, for the first time since she's been an adult woman, she's excited just to be on her own for the foreseeable future.
"Yes, I’m not looking for anybody, because everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I fucking do when it’s just me flying on my own..." she said. "What if I’m just free?"
The conversation then shifted to everything Lopez has learned from love—namely, that she doesn't have to be perfect to be deserving of it and that it's a mutual effort where both parties can explain where each one is "falling short" in order to move forward.
"Now, it sounds to me like you have a new bar for the next person that comes along," Glazer said, to which Lopez retorted: "Here’s the thing: There’s no new bar because I’m not looking for anybody. How’s that?"
Well, in that case, Good for her!