Jennifer Lopez opens up about cancelling tour amid Ben Affleck divorce

Jennifer Lopez lifted the lid on her decision to cancel her tour on a recent episode of The Graham Norton Show. Photo / Getty Images

Jennifer Lopez hailed cancelling her tour as “the best thing she’d ever done”.

The 55-year-old singer and actress pulled the plug on her “This Is Me... Live” shows just weeks before they were due to begin in June, and though she has apologised to fans, she doesn’t regret taking a break from work to spend quality time with her 16-year-old twins Max and Emme – whom she has with ex-husband Marc Anthony – amid the breakdown of her marriage to Ben Affleck.

Speaking on Friday’s episode of The Graham Norton Show, she said: “I took the summer off to be home with the kids, which is the best thing I have ever done.”

“It was not like me to do that, so I always want to apologise to the fans.”

The On the Floor hitmaker recounted how she’d had an emotional encounter the day beforehand with a fan who told her she didn’t need to say sorry for the cancellation.

She said: “Actually, something very touching happened when I was coming out of the hotel yesterday. A fan came up to me and said, ‘I had tickets to come and see you’. When I apologised, he said, ‘Don’t say sorry – we love you’. I started crying straight away.”

Jennifer Lopez cancelled her global tour weeks before it was set to begin amid the breakdown of her marriage to Ben Affleck. Photo / Getty Images

The stunned Unstoppable star was then told that, by coincidence, the fan in question was in the audience for the show.

Offering a hug and another apology, Lopez told him: “Was that you? I don’t believe it.”

When she announced the cancellation of the tour, the Jenny From the Block hitmaker admitted the decision had left her feeling “completely heartsick”.

In a Live Nation newsletter, she wrote at the time: “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary.”

“I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”