Celebrity3 min(s) read
Published 12:52 20 Jul 2026 GMT
R&B legend Jennifer Lopez is facing backlash online over her rather forward promotional tactics for her new film.
The ex-girlfriend of Lopez’s former co-star Ryan Guzman, model Melanie Iglesias, has claimed that the pop icon turned actor and her team allegedly pressured Guzman into pretending he was single for a publicity stunt in the hopes of making more at the box office.
In a recent appearance on the No Chaser podcast, Iglesias detailed the behind-the-scenes engineering that went into promoting the 2015 psychological thriller The Boy Next Door.
In the movie, Lopez played a high school teacher who develops an obsession with her 19-year-old neighbor after a one-night stand.
According to Iglesias, because the movie had such a small budget, the marketing team relied heavily on a false narrative off-screen that blurred the lines between fiction and reality.
The 39-year-old model claimed: "She made my ex, oh my God, pretend that he was single to promote the movie.
"The publicists, both of them, called me… so they were at afterparties together, like, holding hands and stuff to promote this."
Much to Iglesias’ dismay, the fabricated single status worked and became perfect tabloid fodder, with fans across the world questioning whether the two co-stars were dating.
In the same episode, Guzman’s ex-girlfriend recalled how painful it was to watch the promotional tour unfold. She claimed that one appearance Lopez made on The Ellen DeGeneres Show was the most painful part.
When host DeGeneres explicitly asked Lopez if she was dating Guzman or if he had a partner, the Jenny from the Block singer slyly replied: "I think he might? I’m not sure. I know he did… I’m not in his business like that."
When DeGeneres joked that there could be a romance, Lopez giggled and said suggestively: "You never know."
Clearly offended by how Lopez allegedly treated her, Iglesias spoke out against the Marry Me star’s televised ignorance over their relationship.
Iglesias: "We friggin' met. What do you mean you don't know if he had a girlfriend? We met. You squeezed the s**t out of my hand."
She also suggested that the need to fabricate a relationship to promote a movie proves that the movie can't be that good. Iglesias said: “I also feel like, where’s your faith in the movie? You know what I mean? Why do you have to act like you’re with everyone that you’re in a movie with. … I don’t get it.”
Although it could be seen as morally wrong, the exploitative promotional strategy ultimately worked, as The Boy Next Door earned over $52 million worldwide despite a budget of just $4 million.
However, the PR stunt took a toll on Guzman and Iglesias’ relationship, and the couple split soon after the movie's release.
Jennifer Lopez has never confirmed nor denied the allegations or whether there was any real romantic relationship between the pair.
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Published 16:42 10 Feb 2022 GMT
Jennifer Lopez has opened up about what reigniting her spark with Ben Affleck has been like - and it hasn't all been smooth-sailing.
The singer/actress, 52, got back together with the actor last spring after ending her engagement to baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
The pair famously dated between 2002 and 2004 and were hailed as an iconic Hollywood couple.
However not long after Affleck popped the question, the pair's romance crumbled and resulted in a break-up just four days before their wedding.
And although it took nearly two decades for the pair to come back to one another, it seems as though 'Bennifer' is now stronger than ever, despite the harsh criticism that came with their reunion.
When Lopez and Affleck dated the first time around, South Park called her a "mean-spirited b****" in an episode that mocked her Latin heritage, meanwhile, Conan O'Brien said that, as stand-ins for the couple in a sketch, he'd cast "our script intern" as Affleck and "our cleaning lady" as Lopez.
"It was brutal," Lopez told Rolling Stone."It was brutal. It's one of those things that you bury very deeply so you can move on and get about your business."
She went on: "It’s funny because Ben and I were together, and we were so in love. It was one of the happiest times of my life.
"But also, there was this other thing happening where we were being criticized, and it really destroyed our relationship from the inside out, because we were just too young to understand at that time what were really the most important things in life."
Lopez said she does not see the relationship ending this time. "I don't think we would have got back together if we thought that was where it was headed," she added.
"We feel like what we found again is so much more important, and how we protect that and how we live our lives – what to share, what not to share – is the balance that we have now, the benefit of experience and the wisdom that we gained over the years."
Following her initial split from Affleck, Lopez went on to marry Marc Anthony in 2004 - which was her third time walking down the aisle. She and Marc went on to welcome two children, before their divorce in 2014. The pair have remained on good terms.
More recently, Lopez's relationship with baseball star Alex Rodriguez, 45, came to an end in April earlier this year. The pair had been dating since 2017.
Meanwhile, Affleck went on to date actress Jennifer Garner, whom he married in 2005. The pair went on to welcome three children together before their divorce in 2018.
Published 14:42 12 Mar 2026 GMT
Jennifer Lopez has opened up about her dating life since the break-up with her ex-husband Ben Affleck.
The 'Jenny From The Block' singer, 56, was first in a relationship with Ben, 53, from mid-2002 until early 2004 when they broke off their engagement.
The couple went their separate ways for two decades, with Ben marrying Jennifer Garner and having three children together, while JLo married Marc Anthony and welcomed twins together.
However, Bennifer fans were delighted when the pair decided to get back together almost 20 years later when they were both single once again, rekindling their romance in early 2021.
They announced their second engagement and then got married in July 2022 in Las Vegas, however, their union was set to be short-lived.
Jennifer filed for divorce on August 20, 2024, citing April 26, 2024, as the date that they separated, with their divorce being finalized in January 2025.
The singer has now opened up about life post-Bennifer, and how she feels about dating now that she's single again.
In an upcoming interview with Juju Chang on Nightline, Jennifer admitted she was in no rush to meet someone new after their split.
When asked whether she is "dating up a storm", Jennifer responded: "No! No I'm not! God forbid, I don’t want to ruin anything!
"It’s so nice right now! I’m so happy! It’s the best. I just feel really good right now.
"And that was a scary thing for me when I was younger. I didn’t know if I could do that. I was always really afraid to be alone."
She also addressed how she dealt with the break-up, including cancelling her 'This is Me...Live' summer tour.
"I had to stop everything and I took a year off," she explained. "I canceled tours and just decided to be home and sit in what had happened without running away from it through work, through another person, through anything. Just sit."
The host reminded her that she'd said her life "exploded" that year, with JLo admitting: "It did. It did feel that way. I needed to be home with my kids and that was the priority at that time.
"I was just at a point where I was like, what is going on with you? Because I couldn't blame anybody else because I don't think that's where the lesson is. I really wanted to figure myself out."
Jennifer revealed that the period of healing worked wonders, adding: "I'm in my happy era! For the first time in my life, I feel I'm free, I'm on my own. It feels really good.
"I didn’t really know what that felt like since I was in my early 20s and even before that, I always had boyfriends. There was always someone in my life, and so many other things that I felt like were out of my control.
"I’ve gotten to the point where I really trust myself and appreciate myself a little bit more, instead of being so hard on myself all the time and always trying to prove myself."
Published 10:27 23 May 2024 GMT
Published 15:09 17 May 2024 GMT
Published 09:19 31 Jan 2019 GMT
Jennifer Lopez's ex-boyfriend P-Diddy, and her current squeeze Alex Rodriguez, both seem to be pretty enamoured by her slim figure, and eagle-eyed fans have picked up on their thirsty comments.
It all began when Lopez decided to start doing the 10-Day Challenge; a new health trend in which participants are encouraged to ditch high-carb and high-sugar foods, such as potatoes, pasta, rice, sugar, caffeine, and milk, for a whole 10 days in a bid to shed a few pounds.
Yesterday, on the ninth day of her self-imposed diet plan, J-Lo took to Instagram to post a picture of herself wearing a sports bra, leggings, and beanie hat, with her abs prominently on display. She captioned the post: "Day 9 and feelin’... like I can’t wait for Day 10. ?Who’s still with us?"
Although she tagged Rodriguez in the post, the Instagram page 'Comments By Celebrities' noticed that P-Diddy had commented: "OMG" along with the heart-eye emoji. Seems as though he still appreciates Jennifer's good looks.
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This isn't the first time P-Diddy has made his admiration of J-Lo public. In an interview with Access Hollywood after the release of her music video Booty, he stated that he thought that Jennifer's derrière is: "A work of art. It's something that will go down in history. No disrespect, Kanye and Kim, but that thing right there is something special."
The singer doesn't seem to mind, however, and has made it clear that the two are still just friends.
In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, she opened up about how her divorce from her Marc Anthony gave her an epiphany, stating: "I realized that the only person who could guide me out of it was myself, and I had work to do and I had to make myself happy and figure myself out. That was a big turning point in my life.
"You get a new perspective and gratitude and you grow into somebody who realizes that your mistakes are not what define you. What defines you is what you do after your mistakes and how you learn what is meant to be learned from those moments."
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She added, "Everybody has the same feelings where you feel lost at some point in your life and think, ‘What am I doing? Is there more? Should I dream bigger? Can I start now? Is it too late?’ ... Because it really does make you feel like the only person stopping you from anything in your life is you. And you really have that power to make your life whatever you want it to be."
Wow; couldn't have put it better myself J-Lo. That really is some sound advice; just what we all need in the midst of diet season, as we all hit the salad bar and the treadmill!
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