Jennifer Lopez opened up about her marriage to Ben Affleck and how they’re blending their families together.
Speaking with Vogue, the singer discussed her decision to legally take her husband’s last name. “People are still going to call me Jennifer Lopez. But my legal name will be Mrs. Affleck because we’re joined together,” she said. “We’re husband and wife. I’m proud of that.”
To those who took issue with her taking Affleck’s last name, Lopez said that she was “very much in control of my own life and destiny and feel empowered as a woman and as a person.”
“I just feel like it’s romantic,” she added. “It still carries tradition and romance to me, and maybe I’m just that kind of girl.” Lopez also said she never considered having Affleck take her name. “It’s not traditional,” she said. “It doesn’t have any romance to it. It feels like it’s a power move, you know what I mean?”
The couple first dated in the early 2000s before calling off their engagement in 2004. They rekindled their romance last year and wed in July.
Lopez shares twins Emme and Maximilian with ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Affleck shares daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Samuel with ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Lopez said the blending of their families is something that “needs to be handled with so much care” and noted, “it’s going really well so far.”
“What I hope to cultivate with our family is that his kids have a new ally in me and my kids have a new ally in him, someone who really loves and cares about them but can have a different perspective and help me see things that I can’t see with my kids because I’m so emotionally tied up,” she said.
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