Inside Jennifer Lopez’s battle to avoid wasting her marriage and profession

Her attempt – aged 54 – to reinvent herself as a so-called ‘triple threat’ (a singer, dancer and actor) some three decades on from her initial rise to fame is taking everything she has.

And even if her marriage is falling apart behind the scenes, it seems Jennifer Lopez refuses to quit.

The strain is evident.

Lopez and husband Ben Affleck are living separately in LA, though both have been seen wearing their wedding bands.

Affleck is thought to have moved out to a rental property in Brentwood at the start of this month, while J.Lo has stayed at their $60 million ‘dream home’ in Bel Air with their children.

Three weeks ago, she walked the red carpet at the Met Gala – for which she was a co-chair – alone.

Some sources have said Affleck is set on exiting their two-year marriage having ‘come to his senses’ that his decision to rekindle their old romance and wed her in Vegas in July 2022 was simply born out of a ‘fever dream’.

Others say that the pair are working through their issues together and remain hopeful that their rollercoaster love story isn’t over.

Certainly, they have been putting on a united front for their children.

Last week, the pair attended a school play starring Affleck’s child Fin, 15, from his previous marriage to Jennifer Garner. Fin and J.Lo’s child Emme, 13, are said to be close.

‘If it is only a question of putting the work in then you had better believe that [Lopez] will turn it around,’ says one of J.Lo’s LA-based friends.

‘She has thrown her heart and soul into her love story with Ben and will not give it up without a fight. From what I hear there is still a lot of love there, so there must be hope.’

Officially, neither party will comment on ‘speculation’ about their marriage.

When asked directly about it at a press conference last week she frostily replied to the reporter: ‘You know better than that.’

But while her private life may be in crisis, I understand that she is ‘focused and committed’ professionally, and still firmly believes that her efforts to secure a legacy as one of America’s great icons of entertainment will end in success.

Allies point out that though her new sci-fi film, Atlas – which she stars in and has a producing credit – was widely panned by critics, it nonetheless ranks in Netflix’s top ten most watched movies in 93 countries, taking the No.1 position in many.

The New York Post described the film as a ‘flop’ with a ‘dismal’ script.

There has also been a lot of noise surrounding her upcoming ‘This Is Me… Now’ tour’s poor ticket sales.

But while it is certainly true that shows in Nashville, New Orleans, Raleigh, Atlanta, Houston, Cleveland and Tampa have all had to be cancelled due to low demand, sources close to Lopez say she’s far from the only big artist to have struggled of late.

Both Pink and Justin Timberlake have recently cancelled concert dates due to the difficulties of selling to a generation hooked on streaming.

Her ‘This Is Me…Now’ album and accompanying film by the same name have also come under criticism. The New York Times described the rather bizarre film as ‘exhausting, never-ending, hazardous’.

Lopez self-financed the project to the tune of $20 million and said that people thought that she was mad to make it. But it is understood that she sold it to Prime Video for a profit – and it notably ranked at No. 1 among the streamer’s films in its debut week.

It was followed by the release of a ‘making of’ documentary, titled ‘The Greatest Love Story Never Told’. That film – detailing her 20-year ‘love story’ with Affleck – was financed by his production company, Artists Equity.

In the documentary, Affleck talked of enjoying the celebrity spotlight less than his wife does, but said he realised it wouldn’t be ‘fair’ to Lopez to remove her from it.

That film was also sold at a profit to Prime Video.

The ‘This Is Me…Now’ album itself has been the worst-selling of J.Lo’s career. But sources say physical album sales are ‘apples to oranges’ compared with where they were ten years ago, when she last released an album.

It was also pointed out that the record debuted at No.1 on Billboard’s chart for physical album sales.

As for what the future holds, I’m told that, despite reports that plans for a J.Lo residency in Las Vegas are now in ‘jeopardy’, negotiations are very much ‘ongoing’ – though no deal has yet been signed.

It was reported earlier this week that MGM Grand and Live Nation had offered $1 million-per-night for 90 shows in 2025, but that executives have since grown ‘nervous’ due to her recent spate of tour-date cancellation.

There is speculation that the deal might now be less lucrative for J.Lo – who previously held a Sin City residency between 2016 and 2018, grossing almost $102 million – but her team seem unconcerned.

As one friend says: ‘[She has had] a phenomenal career and is still a global force.’