How Marc Anthony's famous 'friendship' proved challenging for JLo - details revealed in documentary

With the release of her latest album, This Is Me… Now, Jennifer Lopez wears her heart on her sleeve. Particularly with the follow-up documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told as she gives fans a never-seen-before insight into her life over the past 20 years, and eventual reunion with Ben Affleck.

But it seems that the filming of This Is Me… Now didn't run totally smoothly, as actor Anthony Ramos dropped out of a scene due to his friendship with J.Lo's ex-husband Marc Anthony.

© ROBYN BECK

The In The Heights star was originally meant to play a toxic suitor in the film's "Rebound" dance number, in which the "Jenny From The Block" star and her partner are in a crumbling glass house, attached by rope that keeps pulling them together. The moment is meant to represent J.Lo's inability to quit toxic relationships.

The documentary shows that J.Lo was on the phone with the Hamilton star, who seemingly expressed his discomfort at being involved in the number as audience members might read it as a reference to the singer's marriage to Marc.

"I didn't know that you and Marc were good friends, I didn't know that. But that's nice," she said to Anthony. "He's the father of my kids, obviously. I'm never going to do anything that's going to really pinpoint him out, but it is very meta." 

© John Lamparski

She continued: "It's kind of about the 20-year journey between that last album and this album, and a lot of things happened. There were a lot of relationships that I was in. The thing you're playing is representative of many relationships, not one specific relationship."

It seemed that J.Lo couldn't persuade Anthony to get involved, so dancer Gilbert Saldivar took on the role instead.

J.Lo and Marc were married from 2004, divorcing in 2014 after they first separated in 2011. Together they share twins Emme and Max, born in 2008.

The singer has previously spoken about her relationship with Marc, as she told W in 2016 she "knew very quickly that [their marriage] wasn’t the right thing", adding: "it was not easy to find forgiveness. It wasn’t the dream that I had hoped for, and it would have been easier to fan the flames of resentment, disappointment and anger."

While they may not have always had the easiest relationship, the "Jenny From The Block" singer acknowledged she had to "work to make things right" with the father of her children.