Jennifer Lopez's mom gives 'Today' her take on Ben Affleck

Jennifer Lopez’s mom crashes ‘Today’ interview with candid thoughts on Ben Affleck

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck pose together in formal attire.

May 3, 2023 12:28 PM PT

Jennifer Lopez is the star of “The Mother.” But her mother was the star of her “Today” show interview promoting the new movie.

While Lopez chatted Wednesday with “Today” co-anchor Hoda Kotb about “The Mother,” a forthcoming album and parenting with Ben Affleck, the singer and actor’s mom, Guadalupe Rodríguez, interrupted to share her candid thoughts on her daughter’s new husband.

Lopez and Affleck spontaneously tied the knot last summer in Las Vegas about a year after rekindling their romance (hello, Bennifer 2.0) and three months after getting engaged for the second time. The A-listers were previously betrothed in the early 2000s before calling off their engagement and going their separate ways.

“I knew that you would always get back together — because I prayed for 20 years,” said Rodríguez, who tagged along with Lopez to the “Today” studio and kept making side comments off-camera to co-anchor Savannah Guthrie while her daughter was being interviewed. Lopez laughed and rolled her eyes at the unsolicited, extremely mom-core remark.

“Let’s keep going,” the chagrined entertainer said to Kotb.

While discussing her ninth studio album, “This Is Me... Now,” Lopez revealed that the upcoming record captures “the moment in time” when she and Affleck got back together.

Lopez also gushed about what a “wonderful father figure” Affleck has been to her twins, Max and Emme, from her previous marriage to singer Marc Anthony. The “Air” star and director has three children as well — Violet, Samuel and Seraphina — from his previous marriage to actor Jennifer Garner.

“He’s fantastic,” Lopez said. “He really steps up to the challenge of what that is and what that means, and [the kids] love him. They love him, and they appreciate him — and so do I.”

Segueing into a discussion about her children, Lopez reflected on being the mom of teenagers who are becoming adults and “challenging everything in life.” Kotb — whose 3-year-old daughter was recently hospitalized with an illness — quickly dabbed at her eyes during the conversation.

“They’re thinking and talking about things and about life in a different way than I did when I was 15 or 16 years old,” Lopez said.

“They’re gonna change the world.”