The Messiest Parts Of Jennifer Lopez's Divorce From Cris Judd
Jennifer Lopez and Cris Judd's happily ever after lasted just nine months. In June 2002, the pair quietly split, news that shocked the public and loved ones alike. "They looked very close," a friend told CNN, referring to a party attended by Lopez and Judd just a day earlier. "They were very warm and affectionate. Nobody sensed anything was wrong." The situation got even more confusing when Lopez was seen packing on the PDA with Ben Affleck the following month before she even filed for divorce.
Lopez's second marriage ended nearly as fast as it started. She met Judd in late 2000when he worked as a backup dancer on the "Love Don't Cost A Thing" music video. The couple took their relationship to the next level just months into it, with Judd getting down on one knee in June 2001. Three months later, they were a married couple. That's when Judd got a real taste of what his life was about to become. "[Our wedding] was a circus. I think several people got arrested trying to climb up a mountain... trying to sneak in. We actually rented the airspace," he told Us Weekly in 2014.
A dancer and choreographer with virtually no prior media experience, Judd struggled with this new reality. "You know it's very tough," he said. "Our privacy is breached. You're no longer a normal person." But it was all the talk about Lopez and Affleck's relationship that made the divorce messier than it needed to be.
J.Lo and Cris Judd's divorce came amid cheating rumors
Jennifer Lopez met Ben Affleck while filming the rom-com "Gigli" in 2001, the same year she married Cris Judd. So when she filed for divorce in 2002 and subsequently entered into a relationship with her co-star, cheating rumors started flying. But she denied it. "I'm a very faithful person. If somebody had told me, 'Ben's attracted to you,' I would have said, 'No, I wasn't raised that way,'" she told Reader's Digest (via Entertainment Weekly).
Not everyone was convinced, including Cris' father. "She was infatuated with [Affleck] from the start," Larry Judd told the New York Daily News in 2003. And he suggested Lopez wasn't being truthful about her faithfulness. "She'd be happier if she'd just tell the truth," he added. However, his son wasn't on his side. Cris tried to stop Larry from speaking with the press, which created conflict between father and son.
When the elder Judd didn't honor his son's wishes, Cris stopped talking to him for over a year. "And I was like, 'Well okay, then I don't have anything to say to you,'" Cris said on "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" in 2013. The estrangement was hard on Cris, who was close to his father. He eventually forgave him because he understood where he was coming from. "No parent wants to see their child go through pain, especially in tabloids when most of it's not true," he said. Cris never commented on the allegations.
Cris Judd doesn't blame Ben Affleck rumors for their split
Cris Judd's family may believe Jennifer Lopez's feelings for Ben Affleck were to blame for the end of their marriage, but he disagrees. While the media scrutiny was hard, it wasn't responsible for the divorce. "It had no bearing on the outcome of a relationship," he said in his 2014 Us Weekly interview. "Unfortunately, it just didn't work out." However, he did suggest Lopez may be too quick to give up when issues arise, addressing why Lopez's relationships are short-lived.
"I think that it's that it is work. It's whether you want to work on it or not. Everyone has baggage and problems," he said. Lopez, for her part, admitted she wasn't fully invested in her first two husbands. Even though she had walked down the aisle twice, she didn't feel she had been in a real marriage at that point.
"This is not to take anything away from Cris or Ojani, who are wonderful people and who I loved very much, but I think it more had to do with me," she told ABC's Diane Sawyer in 2002. But Lopez's messy relationship with Diddy also played a role. "Coming out of a torrid relationship, I meet this sweet person who's so refreshing," she told Vibe in 2003 (via Entertainment Weekly). She also expressed regret for the pain she caused Judd. "Cris knows the last thing I ever wanted in this f***ing world was to hurt him," she said.