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Jennifer Lopez gave a humorous look back at her romantic life while paying tribute to ex-husband Ben Affleck on the opening night of her Las Vegas residency.
At his first Up All-Night Concert at the Coliseum at Caesars Palace on Tuesday, Dec. 30, the 56-year-old “Let’s Get Loud” singer reflected on how his life has changed in the decade since his last Las Vegas residency at Planet Hollywood’s Zappos Theater.
“It’s such an honor to hear from you again. You know it’s been 10 years, almost 10 years since I was last here. Almost 10 years to this day. That was in January. It’s been a while,” she told the crowd.
“In all that time, I’ve only been married twice,” she said, drawing laughter.
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“That’s not true. It only happened once. It felt like it happened twice,” he said, drawing laughter from the audience.
“I’m just kidding, I’m kidding, I’m just kidding. It’s over and we’re… okay,” she said, kicking the air as the drummer banged a cymbal for comic effect.
“Everything is fine. The good news is I’m learning and growing and I’m in a happy period. I’m in a happy period,” she said.
Lopez dated Argo star Affleck, 53, from 2002 to 2004 after meeting on the set of Gigli. The couple reunited in 2021 and eloped at Little White Wedding Chapel in July 2022. Lopez filed for divorce in August 2024, the second anniversary of their large wedding reception at Lopez’s mansion in Georgia.
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In September, Lopez opened up about the breakup on CBS News Sunday Morning, calling the wisdom she gained from the experience “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
“Because it changed me. It helped me grow in the way I needed to grow,” she added.
Since their split, Affleck and Lopez have remained on friendly terms. The two reunited at the October premiere of Kiss of the Spider-Woman, a movie Affleck produced, and posed together on the red carpet.
Affleck was also spotted shopping with his 13-year-old son Samuel (his son with ex-wife Jennifer Garner) in Los Angeles on December 21st.
Affleck has 20-year-old Violet and 16-year-old Seraphina with Garner, while Lopez has 17-year-old twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony.
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On the first night of her residency, Lopez also addressed her breakup with “My Baby You” singer Anthony, 57.
“I love dancing. And if you take anything away from this show tonight, I hope it’s this. This is a little story that I have. That was after my third divorce, by the way, that’s when I really started getting better at dancing,” said Lopez, who was previously married to Ojani Noah and Cris Judd.
“Seriously, it was a tough time. It was a tough time. And it was one of those times where I was about to give up on everything. I was a first-time single mom with two little 3-year-old twins. And I had a very wise female mentor at the time named Louise Hay,” she continued, citing the late author.
“And she said to me, ‘Jennifer, you’re a dancer, right?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am.’ she says: “What do you do if you’re learning a dance and you make a mistake?” I said, “I’ll keep going until I get the steps right.” And she said, “That’s right, Jennifer.” Always keep dancing. ” And I too hope that no matter what happens in life, you dance, dance, and dance again and again. ”
