Rapper Sean “P. Diddy” Combs says his relationship with Jennifer Lopez was under stress even before his trial on gun charges but he was surprised that she married so quickly after their breakup.
“Yeah, I was surprised,” Combs told Newsweek in an interview in the issue on newsstands Monday. “I mean, I didn’t know it was coming, but if getting married made her happy, then I’m happy she’s married.”
Combs was acquitted last year by a jury that found him and his bodyguard, Anthony “Wolf” Jones, innocent of gun possession and bribery charges. The charges stemmed from a Dec. 27, 1999 shooting in which three people were injured.
“There were problems in the relationship before the trial,” he said. “Then, during the trial, we had to be apart a lot, which made it so easy to stray. I couldn’t be at her door with flowers and cards. A relationship needs that or someone else will step in.”
Lopez, the singer and actress, married dancer Cris Judd last September.
Combs spoke to Newsweek in Orlando, Fla. where he was opening for ‘N Sync.
“We hang tight,” he said of Justin Timberlake and company. “You see how they’re in and out of my room and I’m in and out of their rooms? It’s funny because we like the same things – the same music, the same artists, the same parties. It’s all love around here.”