Why Jennifer Lopez Now Thinks Jenny From The Block Music Video Was A Mistake

While speaking with Variety about her upcoming musical film, This Is Me…Now: A Love Story, Lopez admitted, in retrospect, the concept for 2002’s “Jenny From the Black” video maybe wasn’t the best idea.

According to Lopez, the idea to do a meta tabloid-themed video examining the Bennifer phenomenon was director Francis Lawrence’s, not hers.

The video, which famously sees the couple evading paparazzi around New York City, Lopez dressed in fur and stunner shades, and later on a yacht, where Affleck is seen kissing his future wife’s bikini-clad bottom, has become iconic, but the “On the Floor” singer says it should have reflected more of her reality in the Bronx.

“‘Jenny From the Block” should have been me back in the Bronx kind of walking around the neighborhood,” Lopez shared. “That’s what that video should have been.”

Lopez also revealed that it was Lawrence who convinced her to ask Affleck to be in the video — which despite being beloved today, earned the high-profile couple lots of media backlash.

She continued, “We were so ourselves. And we never thought that people would take offense or be angry at us for kind of living out loud and making a cool video. We were so naive.”

Still, Lopez says she doesn’t regret making the video, telling the outlet, “Even though it wound up turning out ugly for us in the media, it was very defining for me in my musical trajectory. Some very beautiful, iconic images came out of that video. It’s the one thing, no matter where I go people still go, ‘Hey, there’s Jenny from the block.'”

Elsewhere in the interview, Lopez details how the Prime Video film shows the trajectory of her love life, particularly as it pertains to Affleck — their courtship then — and marriage now.

“I’ve been on this journey, and I’ve been trying to figure it out,” Lopez said about her chronic quest for enduring love. “Now I feel like because Ben and I have rediscovered each other — and now that we’re married — I have something to offer. This is the defining piece of work that’s going to close that chapter so I can move on to the next part of my life.”

While initially apprehensive to share their story with the world, Affleck has given his stamp of approval on the film, the greatest compliment Lopez says she could receive.

“He said, ‘You made a movie. For you. You made a great movie. You did it,'” Lopez said after showing Affleck a final cut of the film last year. “Honestly, I don’t care what happens now. That is the biggest kind of compliment that I could get.”

This Is Me…Now: A Love Story hits Prime Video February 14.