Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on a boat during the shooting of 'Jenny From The Block' music video in Malibu, California
Lopez and Affleck (here, filming the “Jenny From the Block” video) met on the set of the film “Gigli” in 2002, while she was still married to her second husband, dancer Cris Judd.2002 RAMEY PHOTO AGENCY 310-828
Paparazzi hounded the couple, who played it up. Lopez included a song called “Dear Ben” on her 2002 album “This Is Me … Then.” He starred in the video for her “Jenny From the Block,” which featured the two cavorting on a yacht (his hand firmly, famously, grasping her bikini-clad buttocks) and dodging snap-happy photographers.

Then “Gigli” bombed. The next month, they postponed — then canceled — their September 2003 wedding, blaming “excessive media attention.”

Lopez admits in the “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” documentary: “We just crumbled under the pressure.”

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck on the set of 'Jenny From the Block' music video, sitting at a cafe table
The two co-starred in the “Jenny From the Block” video in 2002 — in which she showed off her engagement ring.2002 RAMEY PHOTO AGENCY 310-828
Yet there is also a scene in the doc in which Affleck looks startled to learn that Lopez has shared his very private love letters and poems with her co-songwriters for inspiration.

It was Affleck “who made me believe in myself. Maybe I’m setting myself up to be f–king criticized again I don’t know,” she says of their rekindled romance. “But this is what my heart’s telling me to do.”

It was also, apparently, telling her to share the story with the world.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez posing at the Los Angeles Premiere of 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story'
Bennifer 2.0 attend the premiere of “This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.”FilmMagic

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez posing at the Los Angeles Premiere of 'This Is Me...Now: A Love Story'
Lopez talks about the reason her first engagement to Affleck ended in 2003 in the “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” documentary, admitting: “We just crumbled under the pressure.”Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/MEGA
“When people are up that high, like Jennifer, and they take this kind of risk with their own money and it flops, it’s crushing on so many levels,” the music industry insider said.

Cyndi Lynott, SVP marketing at BMG, Lopez’s music distributor, said in a statement that the album was “the first step of an immediate strategy with a long-term goal as the incredible content to support the album continues to roll out” — mentioning the Amazon Original film, the documentary and the summer tour kicking off in Orlando on June 26.

“Jennifer knows she’s just at the beginning of this journey to share her music and project sharing it with her fans and beyond,” a source told The Post.

Jennifer Lopez, in a cape made of oversized fabric florals, at the Elie Saab fashion show in January 2024
Sources said the album failure won’t get Lopez too down: “She’ll focus on moving forward.”Getty Images
And those close to Lopez believe she won’t crumble under pressure this time.

“She’s probably disappointed, but focusing on rehearsing for the tour and has started production on [music film adaptation] ‘Kiss of the Spider Woman.’ She has several film projects in the works. She’ll focus on moving forward,” the source who has known J. Lo’s family told The Post.

“Clearly she has a big ego. And I’m sure it’s bruised. But I don’t think she’s the type to be devastated over it,” the source said. “In her mind, we’re the problem, not her