Jennifer Lopez, 50, is opening up about her divorce from Marc Anthony, 51. “When we divorced it was the lowest time in my life. I felt I had failed miserably,” Jennifer admitted to Oprah Winfrey at “Oprah’s 2020 Vision: Your Life in Focus” event in Los Angeles on Feb. 29. “I had to re-examine my whole life…and regroup at that time,” she continued, noting that her priority was on the couple’s adorable twins Max and Emme Muñiz, now 12. “I had waited to have kids [until I was] 38 and I had never wanted to not be with the person I had kids with and I felt that I was not going to give my kids what they needed and I just didn’t know what to do,” the superstar added.
“I did therapy, I prayed — a lot — I learned to meditate,” she shared, revealing how she coped with going through the split. “I read a lot of Louise Hay‘s books, I’ve met Louise Hay. Whatever I could. I was around the people in my life that were older and more experienced that could help me….the experience and the wisdom that they have is so priceless to me,” she added.
Jennifer, who was raised as a Roman Catholic by her Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe and David Lopez, also admitted that the split was tough due to how she was raised. “[It’s what I was] taught culturally: that you have to be together, and you can’t raise your kids without a man and a woman, a mother and a father,” she said. “And I do think [kids] need their mother and their father. But your happiness has to be a part of that.” While Marc and Jennifer were briefly linked in the late ’90s — even collaborating on her 1999 song “No Me Ames” — the duo didn’t reconnect romantically until the spring of 2004, fresh off her split from Ben Affleck. The couple then welcomed their twins in Feb. 2008, but ultimately filed for divorce in April 2012.
After Marc, Jennifer dated Casper Smart, 32, before falling in love and becoming engaged to Alex Rodriguez, 44. “I had to love myself and I had to be okay on my own before I could be in a healthy relationship,” she reflected. “You come to the realization that, I actually have to take care of myself so I can take care of everybody else better.” She also noted that prior to meeting Alex, she was in a place where she felt like she was confident enough being single.
“I feel now, I’m good no matter what — whether I’m with somebody or not, I’m happy as Jennifer,” she shared with the attendees at The Forum. “That fear of being alone, ‘if I’m not with somebody, I’m gonna be lonely, I’m gonna be miserable’ — it’s like, ‘no, your life is amazing, you’re doing what you dreamed of, and you have these beautiful kids.”
Oprah’s full interview with Jennifer Lopez will air on Wednesday, March 4 (8 PM ET/ 7 PM CT) as part of WW’s Wellness Wednesday Series on Oprah’s Facebook Channel, and the WW Now Facebook Channel, with highlights on Instagram, @ww.now.