She’s been putting a brave face to the world – hitting red carpets, posting beaming photos to Instagram, and celebrating her 55th birthday in July with a star-studded party. But behind the glitz and glamour, Jennifer Lopez is unsurprisingly devastated as she picks up the pieces of her fourth failed marriage – one that she fought so hard to hard to save.

Still, you can’t keep a superstar down for long and, according to insiders, Jen is tentatively ready to start dating again – especially since her ex, Ben Affleck, seems to be doing the same. We’re told the star is in absolutely no rush to settle down or get serious with anyone else for the foreseeable future, not least because she’s still coming to terms with the fact that Ben wasn’t the ultimate happy ending she truly believed he would be. But, while she’s licking her wounds, there’s no harm in having some fun in the process, especially with an old fling who she knows she can rely on: former flame, Drake. An insider tells Closer that J.Lo and Drake, who first casually dated in 2016, have been back in touch, and the Canadian rapper and singer is giving Jen just the boost she needs. Having held a candle for her for so long, he’s apparently delighted to be back in the game.

“Jen is in healing mode right now,” says an insider close the On The Floor singer, who filed for divorce from Ben, 52, last month, on the second anniversary of their lavish Georgia wedding ceremony. “She’s very intentional and wants to totally clear Ben and his energy from her life before she’s intimate with someone else. As angry and bitter as she is, she still has Ben on a pedestal. He really was her dream man and letting go of that dream is going to take time; for now, flirting and getting attention is all she wants. She appreciates that Drake is fine with that; he isn’t trying to pressure her to go at a different pace. For now, they’re calling and texting each other – she loves hearing from him and even sharing some sexy selfies. He’s very quick to compliment her. But when Jen’s ready to meet up, he’s told her that he’ll drop everything and meet her wherever she wants. It’s just a matter of her being in the right head space.”

It’s safe to say that the demise of Ben and J.Lo’s second stab at a happy ever after is an embarrassing and upsetting development for all involved. As Closer has reported, Jen has tried for the majority of the year to turn things around – even cancelling her US Summer tour to focus on her family, and putting on a united front with Ben in front of the cameras, even after they officially split in April. But while she has been focused on spending time with friends, extended family, and her children, Max and Emme, 16 – Ben has supposedly wasted no time in dipping his toes back into the dating pool.

Last month, it was reported that he’d been “hanging out” with Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy – Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s 36 year old daughter and a prominent member of the Kennedy dynasty, having initially met in late spring. These rumours remain unfounded – but that doesn’t lessen the sting for Jen, especially as it seems that Ben was checked out of their marriage long before she was. Meanwhile, he’s also been leaning heavily on his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children, Violet, 18, Fin, 15, and Samuel, 12. The former couple have been pictured spending time together with their brood, with insiders saying that Jennifer has always been and always will be Ben’s rock – prompting many to speculate that, while it was said that J.Lo was the love of his life, it’s actually been Jennifer all along.

All this has come as a heavy blow to Jen, who seemed to be living the ultimate Hollywood fairytale when she reunited with Ben in 2021 after 17 years apart. The former flames had first got engaged in 2002 before they split in 2004. Their reunion, and eventual marriage in 2022, seemed to signal to the world that soulmates really do exist – and Jen doubled down on that message with her visual album, This Is Me…Now, and its accompanying, making-of documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never told, which she released earlier this year as a tribute to Ben. The fact that their marriage fell apart so soon after is a bitter pill for her to swallow.

Still, we’re told that reaching out to Drake – who once admitted in an interview to sleeping with ‘tons of women’ – is giving her the confidence boost she so keenly needs. While the pair never confirmed that they dated in the past, there was little doubt back in 2016 that something was going on, after they posted selfies of themselves cuddling up together to Instagram and were even filmed kissing and dancing at a Winter Wonderland party. Their fling apparently fizzled out amicably – and Jen went on to date and later get engaged to baseball star Alex Rodriguez soon after, before, of course, reuniting with Ben. Drake himself has been romantically linked to A-listers like Kylie Jenner, Rihanna, and Tyra Banks. But sources say that Drake has always held out hope that, one day, Jen would be single again. Right now, he knows she needs little more than a flirt and a good time, and he’s very happy to oblige.

“Jen has great memories of dating Drake the first time round and she’s so glad it ended on a good note – there were never any harsh words or games,” our insider reveals. “She says that Drake is actually a lot more mature than Ben when it comes to his communication style, and he’s straight up and open about talking about his feels, whereas Ben just isn’t that evolved. Drake really does treat her like a prize. He had such a crush on her growing up, and still sees her as this fantasy come true. That’s exactly what she needs right now. Ben shattered her confidence and left her feeling unwanted and desperate, so to have Drake pursuing her now is the perfect antidote.”