Jennifer Lopez admitted she felt like she was “dying” and found herself in an 18-year “downward spiral” after breaking off her first engagement to Ben Affleck.

More than 20 years later, she ended the relationship (this time a marriage) again.

Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Tuesday, the anniversary of their second wedding, but their love story began in 2002 after they starred in the flopped romantic comedy film “Gigli.”

Affleck proposed to her that year with a 6.1-carat pink diamond from Harry Winston, reportedly worth $2.5 million. The couple had planned to marry in September 2003, but called off the wedding. They finally announced their separation in January 2004.

“I confirm the reports that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck. During this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy,” her spokesperson said at the time.

They rekindled their romance in 2021 and walked down the aisle not once, but twice in 2022. Lopez later spoke about her heartbreak after ending their first engagement in an interview with Apple Music 1’s Zane Lowe.

“Twenty years ago I fell in love with the love of my life. I was working on an album and it was called ‘This Is Me…’ “Then.’ It was about capturing this moment. Now the most amazing, unbelievable, incredible thing has happened. The reason we’re here is because I want to capture this moment because it’s even better than the first time,” she said in November 2022.

Lopez spoke in detail about the pain following their separation.

“Dude, I wouldn’t even perform those records. It was so painful after we broke up. When we called off the wedding 20 years ago, that was the biggest heartbreak of my life. I honestly felt like I was going to die. It sent me into a downward spiral for the next 18 years where I just couldn’t get it together,” the singer said.

She also spoke about rekindling their romance, saying, “It has the ending that would never happen in Hollywood. That would never happen, we’re not going to write that because nobody would believe it ends.”

“I think now that we’re older, it’s a lot clearer to us, because even (back then) when we felt that way, we know now,” Lopez stressed. “Now we know. And there’s no questions and there’s no kind of, ‘Well, let’s see how it goes.’ Like, ‘No, it’s you and me. That’s all. All the way, to the end. That’s all. It’s going to be us.'”

While Lopez has spoken frequently about her marriage — and even made her documentary “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” a self-funded, $20 million, three-part multimedia project about her tendencies as a serial romantic — Affleck chose to exercise “a little restraint” and not go “into gossipy details” about her second chance at romance.

“One of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is that it’s not smart to share everything with the world,” he told the Wall Street Journal in December 2021.

“I know that I feel more comfortable when I set healthy boundaries in my life. And I’ll tell you in a friendly and direct way: I just don’t want to talk about my personal relationship in the newspaper.”

In the end, their love story did not survive.

Lopez filed for divorce, giving April 26, 2024 as the separation date, and confirmed that they had not been a couple for nearly four months.

Speculation of a split began in May after it was revealed that Affleck and Lopez had been living separately. He moved out of their shared $60 million mansion and into a rental property. The “Argo” actor has since bought a $20.5 million home and put the jointly purchased property up for sale.

Lopez and Affleck did not spend their 55th birthday and second wedding anniversary together in July. She was spotted at his rental home last week for his 52nd birthday, but danced the night away to Bruno Mars at the musician’s concert without her husband.

Lopez did not specify in the divorce documents whether they had signed a prenuptial agreement, but sources told TMZ that they never had one. If true, it will prove to be a costly mistake, as her net worth is estimated at $400 million and Affleck landed on Forbes’ list of highest-paid actors for 2023 with an estimated income of $38 million last year.