Jennifer Lopez has spoken about her journey from heartbreak to ‘real love’ with Ben Affleck, saying their whirlwind romance is the “most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending”.
Speaking to Zane Lowe on Apple Music, Lopez, 53, said that her split with Affleckback in 2004 was the “biggest heartbreak” of her life.
The pair were due to tie the knot in September 2003 after getting engaged in November of the previous year, but in January 2004, the stars decided to go their separate ways.
Then last year, after separating from their respective partners, the actor-director, 50, and singer confirmed they were back together, finally marrying in July.
Their second nuptials took place in the grounds of Affleck’s $8.9m (£7.5m) mansion, in the US state of Georgia, with aerial photos obtained by MailOnline showing the couple walking down a white carpet and embracing each other at a snowy white altar.
Talking about the original plans to get hitched, the star told Lowe: “Once we called off that wedding 20 years ago, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life.
“I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it right.
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Image: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez pose together back in 2003
“But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending. It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending. ‘That would never happen. We’re not going to write that because nobody would believe it’ ending.”
Shortly after their split, Lopez recalled that she could not perform the songs created on her 2002 album This I Me… Then. Having recorded the album to capture their love, she said it was “so painful” to try and perform the tracks.
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She continued: “It’s funny because when me and Ben got back together, he was like, ‘You never performed the songs. You never did I’m Glad. You never did this. You never did that’.
“I was like ‘You’re right. It was painful’. It was a part of me then that I had to put away to move on and survive.”
Fast forward 20 years since the release of This Is Me… Then, Lopez announced a new record which is due to be released next year, This Is Me… Now.
Image: Pic: On The JLo
She said the new album, which is her first since 2014, will “chronicle the emotional, spiritual and psychological journey that she has taken over the past two decades” and touch on her life since reuniting with Affleck.
“The whole message of the album then, is this love exists. This is a real love,” Lopez explained.
“Now I think that the message of the album is very much, if you were wondering, if you have, like me at times, lost hope, almost given up, don’t. Because true love does exist and some things do last forever and that’s real.”
The full interview with Zane Lowe is available on Apple Music.
Paul Gallagher, the older brother of Oasis stars Noel and Liam, has been charged with multiple offences including rape.
The Metropolitan Police said Gallagher, 59, of East Finchley, north London, has been charged with rape, coercive and controlling behaviour, three counts of sexual assault, three counts of intentional strangulation, two counts of making a threat to kill and assault occasioning actual bodily harm.
The offences are reported to have taken place between 2022 and 2024. The charges follow an investigation which began last year, the force added in a statement.
A woman is being supported by specially-trained officers, the statement continued.
Paul Gallagher, who is about one year older than Noel and seven years older than Liam, has never been involved in Oasis.
He is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on 27 August.
Gregg Wallace has spoken about his sacking from MasterChef after inappropriate behaviour while working for the BBC – but insisted he is “not a groper, a sex pest or a flasher”.
Wallace, 60, has apologised after a report, commissioned by the cooking show’s production company Banijay UK, found 45 out of 83 allegations were substantiated.
In an interview with The Sun, he said: “I know I have said things that offended people… I understand that now – and to anyone I have hurt, I am so sorry.
“I don’t expect anyone to have any sympathy with me but I don’t think I am a wrong ‘un.”
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Torode, who insisted he had “absolutely no recollection” of the alleged incident, has not had his contract for the show renewed.
Wallace has now defended Torode, saying: “I’ve known John for 30 years and he is not a racist.
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“There is no way that man is a racist. No way. And my sympathies go out to John because I don’t want anybody to go through what I’ve been through.”
Image: Gregg Wallace has defended his former MasterChef co-host John Torode (left). File pic: PA
At one point, Wallace became tearful during the interview when describing the impact of the investigation on his family.
“I have seen myself written about in the same sentence as Jimmy Savile and Huw Edwards, paedophiles and sex offenders. That is just so, so horrific.”
In respect to the specific allegation of unwanted touching, Wallace denied groping a woman and said that, while he was attempting to flirt with her, he did believe the contact it was consensual.
“She gave me her phone number. I considered that to be intimacy. It was 15 years ago. Me, drunk, at a party, with my hand on a girl’s bum,” he said.
He also accepted he had briefly appeared with a sock on his private parts in front of four colleagues in MasterChef studio. But he said his is not a flasher, and people were either “amused or bemused” but not distressed.
On the broader allegations about using inappropriate language, Wallace accepted the criticism and suggested that some of his conduct could be explained by his autism and his background.
“I know I am odd. I know I struggle to read people. I know people find me weird. Autism is a… registered disability. Just because you can’t see it doesn’t mean it’s not real.”
He also blamed his former career: “I’m a greengrocer from Peckham. I thrived in Covent Garden’s fruit and veg market. In that environment that is jovial and crude. It is learned behaviour.”
Wallace told the newspaper he is now scared to appear in public: “I go out now in a disguise – a baseball cap and sunglasses, I don’t want people to see me. I’m scared.”
On Wednesday, the BBC confirmed a series of MasterChef filmed last year, before allegations against presenters Gregg Wallace and John Torode were upheld, will still be broadcast.
The company at the centre of a viral video at a Coldplay concert has released a tongue-in-cheek clip on social media – featuring Gwyneth Paltrow as a “temporary spokesperson”.
Astronomer was thrust into the spotlight after two of the tech firm’s senior executives were filmed embracing on a kiss cam during a gig in Boston.
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Tech boss resigns after viral Coldplay concert video
Paltrow, who used to be married to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, is seen sitting at a desk in the new video uploaded to X – and begins by thanking the public for their interest in Astronomer.
She adds: “I’ve been hired on a very temporary basis to speak on behalf of the 300-plus employees at Astronomer.
“Astronomer has gotten a lot of questions over the last few days – and they wanted me to answer the most common ones.”
A question is then typed out on the screen that reads: “OMG, what the actual…”
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Before the final word appears, the video cuts back to Paltrow, who goes on to promote some of the services Astronomer offers.
In a subtle nod to the countless column inches the company has attracted, Paltrow adds: “We’ve been thrilled so many people have a newfound interest in data workflow automation.”
Another question then pops up on screen, which begins to type out: “How is your social media team holding up?”
But before the sentence fully appears, Paltrow abruptly interrupts by declaring that Astronomer has spaces at an upcoming conference in September.
“We’ll now be returning to what we do best: delivering game-changing results for our customers,” she adds at the end of the video.
The marketing stunt is a sign that Astronomer is trying to put a positive spin on the scandal, which sparked feverish speculation online.
After Mr Byron resigned, the company had said in a statement: “Astronomer is committed to the values and culture that have guided us since our founding.
“Our leaders are expected to set the standard in both conduct and accountability, and recently, that standard was not met.”
Pete DeJoy, who has taken over as interim CEO, admitted on Monday that the company has faced an “unusual and surreal” amount of attention in recent days.
On LinkedIn, he wrote: “While I would never have wished for it to happen like this, Astronomer is now a household name.”