Jennifer Lopez Reflects On Her Relationship With Diddy: ”He Became Kind of a Mentor to Me”

Jennifer Lopez recently sat down with CBS Sunday Morning, where the 50-year-old mother, actress, and singer revisited several of her most famous relationships, including her controversial romance with rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, known then as Puff Daddy.

Lopez and Combs, who dated between 1999 and 2001, were a hip-hop couples staple in the late 90s and early 2000s.

“The Puffy era was just kind of a crazy, heightened time in my life,” she shared with interviewer Tony Dokoupil. “You know, Puffy and I both grew up in the Bronx. He had been in the music business and had all this success; I was just starting and making my first album when I met him. He became kind of a mentor to me in that moment. We had this kind of crazy, tumultuous relationship that ended in a bang.”

“Almost literally,” Dokoupil interjected, gatewaying into their controversial involvement in a December 1999 shooting at a Manhattan nightclub. The shooting lead to both Lopez and Combs being arrested, with Combs being charged weapons violations. However, shortly before he and Lopez split, he was found not guilty.

“It was definitely a moment, but I felt like it was necessary,” she reflected. “He was meant to be in my life at that moment to teach me what I needed to know about the music business, about what kind of artist I wanted to be in the music industry.”

This is not the first time that J. Lo has been transparent about her whirlwind romance with the music mogul, who just celebrated his 50th birthday. During a candid interview with Vibe Magazine in 2003, Lopez opened up about the drama within the relationship.

“It was the first time I was with someone who wasn’t faithful…I was in this relationship with Puff, where I was totally crying, crazy, and going nuts, it really took my whole life in a tailspin.”

However, the two have now moved past their tumultuous past, eventually becoming good friends.