While promoting her new sci-fi movie and upcoming tour, Jennifer Lopez has thus far dealt with friendly interviewers, such as Jimmy Kimmel, who have not asked her any probing questions about her reported marital troubles with Ben Affleck.
They also haven’t asked the entertainment icon to share her thoughts on another man with whom she shared a romantic connection. That’s her long-ago boyfriend Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is under investigation for alleged sex trafficking and whose reputation was further damaged after a disturbing video was made public last week, showing him viciously abusing another ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura.
LOS ANGELES, UNITED STATES: Singer/actress Jennifer Lopez (L) poses with her boyfriend Sean “Puffy” Combs (R) for photographers at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards at the Staples Center in Los Angeles 23 February, 2000. (AFP PHOTO VINCE BUCCI/AFP via Getty Images)
It’s expected that Lopez’s team will try to protect her from reporters asking her hard questions about Combs, whom she dated from 1999 to 2001, the Daily Mail suggested in a report.
“Jen is not going to address the accusations or take time to talk about them because it is not her story to tell,” a source told the Daily Mail.
Lopez’s team probably hope to help her avoid having to deal too much with renewed interest in her presence at a New York City nightclub in 1999, when Combs was allegedly involved in a confrontation that led to a gunfight and multiple injuries.
And if Lopez won’t be asked, she also won’t volunteer to talk him about him publicly, according to the Daily Mail.
Behind the scenes, though, it appears that sources close to Lopez want to let her fans know that she’s not oblivious to the latest developments in Combs’ downfall. The sources say she is “extremely disappointed,” “disturbed” and “disgusted” by the video, which was released by CNN last week and which shows the mogul assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. The video shows Combs chasing, kicking, dragging and hurling a glass vase at the singer.
“It is disgusting for her to see that someone, who at one point in her life was someone she put so much trust in, has ended up turning into a very damaged human being,” a source told the Daily Mail. “It is disturbing to see.”
Other artists and former associates of Combs have issued public statements about the video, or about the rapper being the subject of a sweeping federal inquiry into sex-trafficking allegations, which resulted in federal raids in March at his estates in Los Angeles and Miami. Combs has not been charged with any crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
On Sunday, Combs released a video, offering a public apology for his actions on the video, but the apology has been widely denounced as “pathetic,” “performative” and issued only “after he was caught.”
Lopez doesn’t plan to issue any statements on the video in particular, a source told The Daily Mail.
“If she is asked about it in a future interview, she will cross that path as and when it happens, but she won’t address it publicly and will not put herself in that conversation on purpose.”
Jennifer Lopez attends the premiere of Netflix’s “ATLAS” at The Egyptian Theatre Hollywood on May 20, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)
The Daily Mail report also suggested that Lopez has her hands full, promoting her new film, “Atlas,” and rehearsing for her upcoming tour. On top of all that, she’s dealing with a barrage of headlines about her supposedly failing marriage to Affleck, less than two years after their wedding.
“Among everything else that Jen is dealing with in her life, she is aware and has seen what Diddy did and is tremendously disappointed,” the source told the Daily Mail.
TMZ reported last week that Lopez and Affleck are living separately, with Affleck staying in a residence in Brentwood, not with Lopez at the $60 million Beverly Hills mansion the couple purchased last year.
A report from Page Six earlier this week said that Affleck had “come to his senses” about his failing marriage and knows he and Lopez are headed for a divorce.
“If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would,” a source told Page Six. “He feels like the last two years was just a fever dream, and he’s come to his senses now and understands there is just no way this is going to work.”
Lopez and Affleck have put out mixed signals about their marriage and whether they are working on staying together. Affleck hasn’t accompanied Lopez to her most recent red-carpet appearance, including the Los Angeles premiere of “Atlas” on Monday evening and the Met Gala in New York on May 6. In the past week, they have been spotted wearing their wedding rings on some occasions, ringless on others, while allowing themselves to be seen together as they attend family events involving either of their children.
As for Lopez’s relationship with Combs, his troubles have reminded the public of how they were once one of the most famous couples in the world, making waves at the 2000 Grammys and other events, according to Us Weekly.
But the relationship also was volatile, and the two became the focus of unwelcome headlines and an NYPD investigation when they were arrested in December 1999, while fleeing a New York City nightclub after a gunfight broke out. The gunfight left three people injured.
After the shooting, Lopez and Combs and others in their entourage fled the club in a Lincoln Navigator, whose driver led police on a chase through Manhattan, reports said. The chase ended with officers finding a stolen gun inside the vehicle and arresting Lopez and Combs on suspicion of criminal possession of a weapon.
Lopez and Combs spent more than 12 hours in police custody, with Lopez handcuffed to a pole at one point, the New York Post reported. Prosecutors ultimately dropped charges against Lopez, but charged Combs with two counts of criminal possession of an unregistered gun and attempted bribery for allegedly trying to get the driver of the car to say that the weapon was his. Lopez was not called as a witness at Combs’ criminal trial, which ended with his acquittal.
Over the years, Lopez has stayed pretty tight-lipped about her relationship with the Bad Boy Records founder and that harrowing night. However, she confirmed in 2022 that Combs was unfaithful and told British Elle in 2000 that the shooting was “a complete nightmare,” saying, “I was scared to death in the car. I had absolutely no idea what was going on. No one did,” Forbes reported.