Jennifer Lopez Admits Social Media Comments About Her Life Can Sting: "I’m Not Teflon"

"I know that everything that’s being written and said about me, and all the conjecture of who I am as a person, is not who I am. I learned that a long time ago."

Jennifer Lopez wearing a silver dress and smiling for a selfie with a fan
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Jennifer Lopez would like to remind fans, "I'm Real." The pop star opened up about her divorce from Ben Affleck in the new issue of Interview magazine , released Oct. 9, and in her conversation with Nikki Glaser, Lopez said that despite her confident persona, the negativity surrounding her split on social media does get to her.

"I know that everything that’s being written and said about me, and all the conjecture of who I am as a person, is not who I am. I learned that a long time ago," she told the mag.

The Marry Me star, 55, shared that she'd been in the business for years before platforms like Instagram or TikTok were a thing, which makes her not "take it as seriously as everybody else." However, that doesn't mean that nasty comments don't bother the star.

"This is my life’s passion. I love to sing. I love to dance. I love to act. I love to entertain. I love to create. And anything anybody could say about me—and please don’t get me wrong, if I see something that’s hurtful, I’m not Teflon," Lopez admitted.

J.Lo Interview cover

A photo posted by on

The triple-threat continued that she has the tendency to focus on winning over the haters. "As an entertainer, sometimes you’ll be onstage in an arena of 50,000 people, and everybody’s jumping up and down, singing and laughing, and then there’ll be one or two people with resting bitch face," she told Glaser, adding, "And you’re zeroed in on those two people."

She mused that it was "human nature" to zone in on the people who "hate you," sharing, "Every time I’d go backstage to change, I’d come back out and check and I’d say, 'Did I get them yet?' Ignoring the other 49,998 people that are there."

However, J.Lo said she realized, "if you’re going to survive in this business, you’re going to have to understand that that’s a very small faction of people that are probably unhappy in some way."

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck wearing jeans and standing next to a car talking

Lopez and Affleck filed for divorce on their second wedding anniversary in August.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Social media users have certainly put Lopez and Affleck through the ringer amid their divorce news, and when Glaser asked the Maid in Manhattan star if she regretted any of it, J.Lo replied "not one second."

"That doesn’t mean it didn’t almost take me out for good," she noted. "It almost did. But now, on the other side of it, I think to myself, 'F**k, that is exactly what I needed. Thank you, god."

However, Lopez—who originally broke off her engagement with Affleck in 2002 before reconnecting in 2021—said she "should have learned it two or three times ago."

At the end of the day, J.Lo knows what's important in life. "Some people are going to love you and some are not going to understand you, and some people just want to hate you to hate you, and none of that really matters," she concluded.

Kristin Contino
Senior Royal and Celebrity Editor

Kristin Contino is Marie Claire's Senior Royal and Celebrity editor. She's been covering royalty since 2018—including major moments such as the Platinum Jubilee, Queen Elizabeth II’s death and King Charles III's coronation—and places a particular focus on the British Royal Family's style and what it means.

Prior to working at Marie Claire, she wrote about celebrity and royal fashion at Page Six Style and covered royalty from around the world as chief reporter at Royal Central. Kristin has provided expert commentary for outlets including the BBC, Sky News, US Weekly, the Today Show and many others.

Kristin is also the published author of two novels, “The Legacy of Us” and “A House Full of Windsor.” She's passionate about travel, history, horses, and learning everything she can about her favorite city in the world, London.