`Puffy' Combs And Jennifer Lopez Showbiz's Most Talked-About Couple

Jet, Sept 4, 2000

People are talking about Sean "Puffy" Combs and Jennifer Lopez. In fact, they have become showbiz's most-talked about couple.

People are saying they seem like such an odd couple. They say, "What does she see in him? He's going to bring her down. She's just in it for the publicity and attention," people say.

And people are still talking about that revealing, eye-popping dress that showed half of each breast and was loosely held together just below the navel at this year's Grammys.

The amazing thing about all this talk is that Puffy and Jennifer have survived it all. They have survived the gossip, the speculation and the rumors. They are still very much together and gone on with their private lives and superstar careers.

People really stood up and started talking about the celebrity couple last year after they left a New York City nightclub where a shooting had occurred. Lopez was released without any charges being filed. Puffy, however, was indicted for possession of two stolen guns and bribery. Puffy has maintained his innocence.

Matt Lauer, co-host of NBC's "Today," show recently told Lopez: "I saw a lot of stories that came out--and I know you probably saw these too--that said, `Poor Jennifer. She is such a nice girl. How'd she get involved with him?' How do you feel about these stories? I know you read some of them."

Jennifer replied: "You can't focus on things like that because people, they have a different perception of who you are than who you actually are ... And that goes for me, that goes for Sean, that goes for anybody in the public eye. You know, nobody knows who you really are. You know what I mean? That's just how it is. They only have a two-dimensional and what they're fed by the media. So, I mean, they can paint any picture they want of you. It really doesn't matter."

Jennifer stood by Puffy then, and she stands by him today. She issued a statement in January that said: "I am surprised and saddened to learn of the indictment against Sean Combs. I support him wholeheartedly throughout this difficult time."

She recently told Glamour magazine: "We were in the wrong place at the wrong time." She said it was "the worst thing that ever happened to me ... You can't imagine the stress caused by a situation like that. It gets in the way, but it's not going to ruin what we have."

Moving right along with their lives, Jennifer recently revealed she wants to have a baby.

"I want a family," Jennifer recently told the New York Post. "I'm at that age where I'm feeling that's something I want to do. I come from a great family, a very close family, and I know what that is to grow up like that. So that would be the ultimate goal for me."

She noted, "I know how hard it would be. I would want to do it right. I wouldn't want my children to feel cheated or my husband to feel cheated, or me to feel cheated because I'm not able to spend enough time with them."

And despite what some people might say, she and Puffy are soul mates. They really don't care what people are talking about.

"Nobody knows the real stories; not when something's personal to you, you just don't share that with everybody," she told the New York Post. "So people can speculate and have their own perceptions and whatever, and that's OK. As long as I'm happy and healthy, I'm cool."

Puffy has kept his romance with Jennifer private. He very seldom discusses their relationship in public. However, Puffy, 30, once remarked: "Jennifer Lopez is my soulmate. When we're together, I don't see her as a singer or anything like that. Behind closed doors, she's Jennifer and I'm Sean."

Puffy announced at his 30th birthday bash last year: "I've never had anyone love me the way she loves me. I love her and, hopefully, one day I will be able to marry her."

Jennifer told the N.Y. Post: "We grew up in the same city, with the same background, at the same time, so we have all that in common. Plus, we both started out with a lot of big dreams--we still have a lot of big dreams--so we have that drive to accomplish things, to realize things and make them reality."

They were friends before they became lovers last year. They admit they are opposites in some areas, but have been able to strike a balance. "He loves to go out, loves to be at parties," Jennifer told USA Today. "I'd much rather just stay home and watch a movie. So we balance each other out. I guess ... that definitely plays a big part in our relationship."

She added, "He's different from me; he started out in promotion, then became a music producer, then an artist. He's got more going on than I do with all his businesses and everything," she says of her soulmate.

They have their biggest disagreement about her refusal to use his bodyguards when she goes out. "I say, `I don't care! I'm going out," she told the Sun-Times. "If people recognize me, it's OK. If not, I have to go back home. I don't use a bodyguard. Puff hates that. He's always on me. But I don't like to walk around with a bodyguard. I like to be a normal person and do my thing."