Jennifer Lopez Reveals She Was ‘Manhandled’ in Previous Relationship

Jennifer Lopez is opening up about some “unsavory” relationships from her past. The actress and singer, 54, gets vulnerable as she reflects during her new Prime Video documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which follows the making of her original musical film This Is Me … Now: A Love Story, which is also on the streamer.

Lopez’s past relationships come up during the filming of scenes for her song “Rebound” which insinuates domestic violence and a toxic relationship. Walking to her trailer after performing the choreographed dance for the scene, Lopez says, “I’m glad that one’s behind us,” later getting emotional when asked about her reaction during a car ride. “Being thrown around and manhandled like that is not fun,” Lopez admits. “I was never in a relationship where I got beat up, thank God, but I’ve definitely been manhandled and a couple of other unsavory things…rough…disrespectful.” 

Lopez shares how difficult it’s been to be in such a “vulnerable place” with This Is Me … Now during a phone call with friend and producing partner Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas. Lopez says, “More than anything, it’s really a vulnerable place to be in every day. That’s why I go to work every day, and I’m like, ‘What am I doing?’” Goldsmith-Thomas replies, “It’s a personal journey … that will relate to so many women who are abused … You’re talking about how we accept less than we deserve.”

Lopez never goes into detail about who it was who “manhandled” her in the past but has been open about how her musical film chronicles her own journey in love and self-love. “There were people in my life who said, ‘I loved you,’ and then didn’t do things that were kind of in line with the word love,” Lopez says in the documentary, admitting that she had to get to a “rock bottom” point where she was in situations that were “so uncomfortable and so painful” that she was able to admit they weren’t what they wanted.

“A therapist said to me, ‘What if this was your daughter? What would you do?’ And it was so clear. I was like, I’d tell her, ‘Get the f- out of here, never look back,’” she shared. “But for me, it was so clouded and so complicated with so much of my past and my own pain and hurt and dysfunction, that I couldn’t see clearly. It was like looking through fog.”

Nowadays, Lopez is married to Ben Affleck, whom she finally married in July 2022 after their previous 2002 engagement came to an end in 2004. 

If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, you can reach the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233. You can also chat with a representative at thehotline.org or by texting “START” to 88788.