Why Lil Kim Wasn't A Fan Of Jennifer Lopez And Diddy's Relationship

Jennifer Lopez may be best known these days for her relationship and eventual marriage to actor Ben Affleck, but back in the early aughts, the pop superstar was famous for dating Sean Combs, a.k.a. rapper Diddy. Per Glamour, J Lo and Diddy — or Puff Daddy, as he was called then —  became an item after working together on the music video of Lopez's song "If You Had My Love" in 1999. Both hailing from the Bronx, the two shared an instant connection, one that very quickly blossomed into a romance. "He had been in the music business and had all this success," said Lopez in a CBS interview in 2019. "I was just starting and making my first album when I met him. He became kind of a mentor to me in that moment." 

As a couple, Lopez and Diddy were the subject of much fascination and had dominated Hollywood's headlines — like when they stepped out at the 2000 Grammy Awards dressed to the nines, with Lopez clad in her iconic Versace green dress. They seemingly made the perfect pair, although the two ended up parting ways in 2001, on account of Diddy supposedly being unfaithful on Lopez. "I was totally crying, crazy, and going nuts," Lopez told Vibe in 2003, per Entertainment Weekly. "It really took my whole life in a tailspin ... I never caught him but I just knew."

While Lopez and Diddy were undoubtedly one of the biggest "it couples" in showbiz back then, not everyone was a fan — and by "everyone" we meant Lil' Kim, who has had some choice words to say about their coupling, particularly JLo. 

Turns out, Lil' Kim was not a huge fan of Jennifer Lopez! Kim, whose sophomore album "The Notorious Kim" was produced by Diddy, explained to MixMag in August 2000 why she's not in favor of her friend's relationship with Lopez. "I don't care for her," said Kim, per Entertainment Weekly. "I'm Puffy's friend and I know when good people are around and I know when bad people are around, and that's basically it." She then accused Lopez of — get this — being a "gold digger." "Being a gold digger doesn't necessarily mean you're after money all the time," Kim explained. "Something can be valuable to you just like a pot of gold. It can be something else ... It could be anything." 

When asked of her reaction to Kim's controversial statement, Lopez simply told EW, "I haven't heard anything about it." While it's unclear why Kim felt that way about JLo, the "Lady Marmalade" hitmaker was remarkably close to Puffy and his ex-partner, Kim Porter, who passed away in 2018 following complications of pneumonia, per CNN. According to EW, Kim once called Diddy and Porter "the perfect Bill Cosby couple." She also paid tribute to Porter following the actor's tragic death via Twitter. "I've tried to write something so many times, but I can't put into words how special Kim Porter was," tweeted the rapper. "Oh my Kim. There are so many memories with the family and although you were talented at many things, you had one of the major roles and held down the family like none other. ... Rest in Paradise."

Lil' Kim wasn't the only one who had spoken ill of Jennifer Lopez, however. The late Kim Porter herself — whom Diddy reportedly left to date JLo for two years — also expressed her disdain for the "Hustlers" star when talking about their relationship in a past interview with Essence. "That relationship wasn't real," said Porter. "The world just saw the bright lights and the camera. But I knew what was really going on. He was still in love with me." Describing Lopez as Diddy's "little Puerto Rican girlfriend," Porter said, "No one knows that part. He was calling [me] 50, 60 times a day [even while they were together]. Sometimes I wouldn't even talk to him because I was so angry."

When asked whether Diddy ever took their son Christian around the pop star, Porter took another jab at Lopez and said: "Does she look like the type that would want to play house and family with two little Black kids? No. I don't think it was that type of situation." For her part, Lopez did what she does best: take the high road. "Look, she knows what went on, I know what went on. And that is where we have to leave it," said JLo, per New York Post. "I am not going ... to discuss any of the details of that intimate relationship that I had with the public. It's just not that necessary."

As for JLo and Lil' Kim, the two ladies seemed to bury the hatchet years later, when Kim attended Lopez's fashion show during Olympus Fashion Week in NYC in February 2005.