Jennifer Lopez is reflecting on her divorce from Ben Affleck – and why she’s found a profound upside in the experience.

While chatting with Lee Cowan on the September 28 episode of CBS News Sunday Morning, the actress and singer, 56, called her split from Affleck, 53, and personal insight she gleaned during that time “the best thing that ever happened to me.”

“Because it changed me,” Lopez further explained. “It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow.”

Affleck serves as an executive producer on Lopez’s new film, Kiss of the Spider Woman. The project premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, the same month the former pair finalised their divorce.

Recalling working on the film while dealing with a tumultuous period in her personal life, the Grammy-nominated star told CBS News Sunday Morning, “It was a really tough time. Every moment on set, every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy, and then it was like, back home, it was not great. And it was just like, ‘How do I work inside of this?’ “

Affleck and Lopez initially met in 2002 and began dating. After ending their engagement in 2004, they both pursued other relationships and started families of their own.

The musician was married to Marc Anthony from 2004 to 2014, and they are parents to twins Max and Emme. The actor, meanwhile, was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018, and they have three kids together: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.

Jennifer Lopez at The Road to the Golden Globes Party held at the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto at the Toronto International Film Festival 2024 on September 7, 2024 in Toronto, Canada.

Lopez and Affleck rekindled their romance in 2021 and they married in an intimate Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022. They later celebrated their nuptials with a ceremony in Georgia in front of friends and family a month later.

The pair eventually decided to split, and Lopez filed for divorce exactly two years later, citing irreconcilable differences.

Back in August, a source told People that Lopez is doing well and focusing on her career, which includes promoting her passion project, Kiss of the Spider Woman. “This is the movie she filmed last year in New York when she and Ben were going through a difficult time. She’s come a long way since. She’s very happy and just grateful for her life,” the insider said.

Kiss of the Spider Woman, also starring Diego Luna and Tonatiuh, is a film adaptation of the 1993 Broadway classic, which in turn was based on the 1976 novel by Manuel Puig.

The story was previously adapted for a 1985 film starring William Hurt, Raul Julia and Sônia Braga.

It marks Lopez’s first time appearing in a movie musical. Taking part in a Q&A at Sundance, she said she’d been “waiting for this moment my whole life.”

During her CBS News Sunday Morning appearance, Lopez said the film also honours her mother, Guadalupe Rodríguez.

“I grew up on musicals. My mom loved musicals, and so I saw every musical you could think of,” the star said. “She was a fanatic, and a film fanatic as well, but really loved musicals, because she loved singing and dancing around the living – and so did I.”

• A Tell report / Adapted from People