Though it’s perhaps hard to remember, there was a time before Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie (the four whores of the apocalypse?) ruled the tabloids with their tales of boozy excess, criminal mischief and the like. That era was powered by Jennifer Lopez. The artist formerly known as J. Lo owed her ubiquity partially to her high-profile relationship with fellow actor Ben Affleck, naturally, but also to the fact that at every turn, she seemed to be launching a fragrance or shooting a music video or opening a (generally cruddy) movie or feting the opening of an Arby’s.

If there was a red carpet, she was on it. No wonder so many people seemed eager to celebrate her Hollywood downfall or demotion. That turbulent time is not too far in the past, but Lopez — with the aid of new husband Marc Anthony, her costar in El Cantante — is working hard to make sure it remains in the rearview mirror. “Marc helped me with this in the beginning,” she confesses in a recent interview. “I just didn’t know there was another way to live.”

“At that time, I was like, ‘I’m going to live my life, I’m not going to let this change me,’” Lopez continues. “But you’re out there and then all this stuff is happening to you and you’re on the cover of the tabloid every week. And you’re like, ‘Wait a minute, this is not working in the way that I want it to work.’” For the full feature piece, from FilmStew, click here.