Cris Judd Recalled His 'Tough' Nine-Month Marriage to Jennifer Lopez: "Didn't Feel Like a Normal Person"

The past still appears to haunt Cris Judd. The Filipino-American actor married Jennifer Lopez in 2001. He confessed to having been smitten by the songstress. However, their love fizzled out in nine months, and Judd ended up describing his marriage to Lopez as a 'tough' period. The dancer discussed his relationship with the Marry Me singer in conversation with US Weekly at the Industry Dance Awards in Hollywood in 2014. 

The 54-year-old recalled, "You know it's very tough. Your privacy is breached. You're no longer a normal person." The choreographer also wasn't too pleased with the media attention and intrusion in his private life because of his bond with the singer. He added, "[Our wedding] was a circus. I think several people got arrested trying to climb up a mountain… trying to sneak in. We actually rented the airspace." Although he didn't deny the media circus was expected, the 'constant limelight' was tough on him.  

The ex-couple met on the sets of the Love Don't Cost a Thing's music video, where he was the backup dancer and Lopez, a star. Soon after the music video was released, the duo got engaged and, within a month, took wedding vows. Judd continued, "You kind of sign up for that, you know?" The public eye on his personal life 'bothered' him. However, he admitted he tried to make peace with it. "You kind of have to take it and accept it and embrace it, adding, "Once you stop fighting it, it smoothes itself over." 

"If you try to keep that privacy, it drives you nuts, and that's why people break," Judd explained. The loss of privacy did affect him initially; however, this didn't break their short-lived marriage. "It had no bearing on the outcome of a relationship," the choreographer clarified. "Unfortunately, it just didn't work out," he said about their whirlwind romance, which lasted till 2003. 

But unlike other sour exes, Judd has no bad blood for the songstress. Their broken relationship didn't stop him from appreciating her. "She looks fantastic, that goes without a doubt," he praised. "Anybody that would say she doesn't look great is lying," he added. However, he failed to come up with a 'reason' as to why their marriage couldn't survive the test of time. 

"But you know, I can't give you the answer as to why her relationships don't work. I think that it's that it is work," he expounded. "It's whether you want to work on it or not. Everyone has baggage and problems. It's whether you want to deal with those problems. When you sign up to get married, you can't just walk away."

After his divorce from Lopez, Judd tied the knot with Kelly A. Wolfe in 2009, and they have been going strong since. "I mean, I am remarried, and we're going on five years. My wife Kelly and I have a daughter," he stated. Lopez, too, moved on with Ben Affleck and got engaged to him briefly, which was followed by the infamous 'Bennifer' split in 2004. She moved on from Affleck and married singer Marc Anthony. She welcomed twins Emme and Max in 2008. But the ex-couple divorced in 2014, followed by her engagement with Alex Rodriguez, which also ended in March 2021. The Mother actress miraculously reunited with the Gone Girl actor and married him in 2022.