Throughout their decades-long on-and-off relationship and their two years of marriage, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck made several headlines for a variety of reasons.
From the public frenzy over the early years of their romance to their reunion, wedding and divorce over the course of the 2020s, they were the talk of Hollywood.
One of the highs of their romance came, however, with the release of the 2024 album This is Me…Now from Jennifer, 55, and the musical film that accompanied it, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story.
On the first anniversary of the record and the film, the singer took to social media to share some outtakes from the project, a fictionalized account of the past two decades of her life presented as a surrealist fantasy, culminating in her marriage to Ben, 52.
"I'm still…TIMN," she simply captioned the post, and received several gushing comments from fans over the musical film and the accompanying album. A behind-the-scenes documentary titled The Greatest Love Story Never Told also captured the making of the film.
The project was a labor of love for the "On the Floor" singer, a sequel to her 2002 album This is Me…Then, which was made during the height of Bennifer and includes hits like "Jenny from the Block" and "All I Have."
The entire three-part package was a major gamble for Jennifer, who spent $20 million of her own resources to finance it all. The musical film featured cameos from Jane Fonda, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jenifer Lewis, Sofia Vergara, Post Malone, Trevor Noah and many more, plus Ben.
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The film itself received generally positive reviews, earning a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes and praise for its ambition and production design, although received criticism on social media for being a "commercial" for the album and its heavy handed messaging.
© Getty ImagesThe album also received generally positive reviews, with a 61 out of 100 on Metacritic, but was a commercial bomb. It sold 14,000 copies in its first week and debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200, her first studio album to miss the top 20. In comparison, her last studio album, 2014's A.K.A., debuted at number 8.
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JLo spoke with Variety about her costly decision and the emotions that influenced it, deeming herself a hopeless romantic both in life and on film. "I've been on this journey, and I've been trying to figure it out."
© Live Nation"Now I feel like because Ben and I have rediscovered each other — and now that we're married — I have something to offer. This is the defining piece of work that's going to close that chapter so I can move on to the next part of my life."
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Despite Ben's fiercely private nature, she revealed that he was supportive of her journey with the project, initial misgivings aside. "He said, 'You made a movie. For you. You made a great movie. You did it'," she recalled of his reaction to showing him the film for the first time.
© Getty Images"Honestly, I don't care what happens now. That is the biggest kind of compliment that I could get."
