Jennifer Lopez must let ‘talent speak,’ show she’s more than 'tabloid headline’ post Ben Affleck split: expert

Jennifer Lopez is no stranger to public scrutiny. From failed marriages and movie flops to releasing No.1 hits and winning Golden Globe Awards, the star has faced her share of downfalls and victories in the spotlight. 

With a movie premiere scheduled in two weeks and reports of a possible Las Vegas residency in the works, Lopez — who filed for divorce from her fourth husband, Ben Affleck, on Aug. 20 — has a lot at stake right now, but will public opinion surrounding her personal life impact her next professional move? 

Steve Honig, founder of PR and issue management firm The Honig Company, believes the singer should hold back on what she shares on social media and "let her talent speak for itself."

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"As much as she can, Lopez needs to minimize her exposure on a personal level and maximize it on a professional level," Honig told Fox News Digital. "She needs to immerse herself in her work and let her talent — of which there is ample — speak for itself. It’s important for Lopez to show she is more than a tabloid headline and, instead, a great, timeless performer who can withstand some bumps in the road."

Lopez was allegedly in talks with MGM Grand for a guaranteed $1 million per show for 90 dates starting next year, the New York Post reported on May 28. A representative for MGM did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

Three days later, however, it was announced that Lopez had canceled her "THIS IS ME...LIVE" tour. 

At the time, representatives for Live Nation explained JLo would be "taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends."

"I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down," Lopez wrote in her newsletter. "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..."

While it is unclear if Lopez plans to return to Vegas or relaunch her tour anytime soon, Doug Eldridge, founder of Achilles PR, says the actress needs to continue to control the narrative of her own story for the sake of her public image and her future. 

"Ending a marriage and pausing her career is a double-whammy," Eldridge told Fox News Digital. "While details have been sparse, speculation and rumors are filling the informational void. That's PR 101: never leave a story for someone else to tell, it will almost never be positive. Having a client pull back from social media on top of all this could prove to be the 'proverbial straw' and we know how that ends."

"In JLo's case, the details around the pending divorce are murky at best, so getting out of the literal spotlight is a risky proposition."

— Doug Eldridge, Achilles PR

"From a PR standpoint, social media is both a strategic and tactical means of controlling and leveraging the message," he continued. "This is especially important during polarizing divorces, when one side almost always tries to play the sympathy card. As I've always said, the only difference in the villain and the victim is who's telling the story."

"In JLo's case, the details around the pending divorce are murky at best, so getting out of the literal spotlight is a risky proposition," Eldridge added. 

Though not ideal, the timing of her impending divorce could potentially boost her career, if the cards are played right, said Eldridge.

"When it comes to taking a break [from social media], the problem is more complex: Lopez has made a career at the center of pop culture, which is quite literally based on Q scores and popular trends," he said. "The marketplace now moves at an eye-burning pace, and it's hard to predict what will be popular in six to 12 months from now, especially when you're already playing catch-up to global acts like Taylor Swift, who is single-handedly rewriting the revenue record books."

"That said, Lopez has managed to reinvent herself throughout her career, while never losing her core fanbase in the process," he added. "The timing here is like Double-Dutch on the playground: time it right and you'll come out in sync on the other side; mistime it and you'll get the rope in the face."

A representative for Lopez did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment. 

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Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Aug. 20 in Los Angeles County Court and cited "irreconcilable differences" as the reason for their split, according to documents obtained by Fox News Digital.

The "Love Don’t Cost a Thing" singer listed their date of separation on April 26. Lopez additionally stated that she did not want herself nor Affleck to be awarded spousal support, according to court documents.

Lopez filed the divorce papers on the two-year anniversary of their Georgia wedding ceremony.

Affleck and Lopez were first engaged in 2002 after meeting on the set of their film "Gigli." Affleck proposed, and they were set to be married in 2004, but the wedding was called off at the last minute.

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Twenty years later, Lopez and Affleck married in Las Vegas during a surprise wedding ceremony.

While rumors of their split began earlier this year, after they were not spotted together for 47 days, whispers about the state of Affleck and Lopez's marriage took a drastic turn when Affleck did not attend Lopez's luxurious "Bridgerton"-themed 55th birthday party on July 2.

Earlier this year, in the documentary "The Greatest Love Story Never Told," Affleck was shown reluctantly dealing with the public scrutiny that followed the couple when they first got together in the early 2000s.

During the documentary, they admitted they "just crumbled under the pressure" of being a tabloid phenomenon, and it put a strain on their relationship, leading them to call off their 2003 wedding three days before it was supposed to happen.

"I had a very firm sense of boundaries initially around the press, while Jen, I don’t think, objected to it the way I did. I very much did object to it," Affleck said.

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"Getting back together, I said, 'Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media. And then I realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like you’re going to marry a boat captain, you want to like the water. We’re just two people with kind of different approaches, trying to learn to compromise."

Fox News Digital's Tracy Wright and Elizabeth Stanton contributed to this post.