Jennifer LopezhasBen Affleck’s back.
“This story is simply not true,” Lopez tells PEOPLE exclusively. “It is not how I feel.”
She adds of Affleck, with whom sherekindled a romantic relationshipearlier this year, “I couldn’t have more respect for Ben as a father, a co-parent, and a person.”
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.Steve Granitz/FilmMagic
Affleck made it clear in a subsequent interview onJimmy Kimmel Live!that he “would never want my kids to think I would ever say a bad word about their mom.” TheTender Barstar told Kimmel that he was trying in his conversation with Stern to articulate “how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first.” Instead, he says he came off in the media as “the worst, most insensitive, stupid awful guy.”
Lopez, for one, is fully supportive of Affleck and feels that any negative characterizations — both of him and of the rumors of her being angry at him for theSterninterview — are off the mark.
For more onJennifer Lopez’s response toBen Affleck’s interview with Howard Stern, listen below toour daily podcast on PEOPLE Every Day.
A source close to the couple agrees, and says the pair is “in a really great space and really happy.”
Affleck shared onSternthat hemade sure to consider his kidsbefore rekindling things with Lopez 17 years after the couple called off their engagement in 2004. “Was there a hesitation on your part, because now you’re a dad?” Stern asked Affleck. “It crossed my mind for sure,” Affleck told Stern of getting back together with the superstar. “My responsibility to my children is the highest responsibility. I don’t want to do anything that is painful or destructive to them if I can help it.”
Ultimately, of course, Affleck and Lopezboth took the leapand have worked hard to thoughtfully incorporate their kids into their relationship dynamic.
These days the couple is focusing on the upcoming Christmas and New Year’s festivities. “For the holidays, they look forward to spending time with their children,” says an insider.
For Lopez, who shares twins Max and Emme, both 13, with ex-husbandMarc Anthony, this is always an exciting time of year. “For Jennifer, Christmas is all about the kids,” says the source close to the couple. “ShelovesChristmas and makes it very special for them!”
source: people.com
