J.Lo and Ben Affleck have a habit of setting off breakup rumors, but a recent confluence of events suggests the early aughts’ most over-the-top couple is in trouble for real. Though Ben tends to walk around with a severe case of resting divorce face, both of them have been looking kind of miserable lately, and tabloid reports indicating they are hurtling toward divorce are getting harder and harder to ignore. I am upset, sad, and stressed about the logistics of their Dunkin’ endorsement deal. Here’s the evidence that has been offered up.
Anonymous tabloid sources say they’ve called it quits.
In mid-May, In Touch claimed to have heard from an “insider” that “the writing is on the wall” for Bennifer — “it’s over.” The tabloid’s source claimed that “they waited almost two decades to get back together, but in the end, they just couldn’t make it work.” Per the chatty insider, Affleck has already moved out of their house, abandoning their 24 bathrooms to “focus on his work and his kids.” The bottom line? “They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.” A few days later, the tabloid claimed J.Lo had hired a crisis PR firm and divorce lawyer extraordinaire Laura Wasser (who happens to have handled the dissolution of both J.Lo and Affleck’s last marriages).
Speaking with a similarly confident source, “Page Six” reported that Affleck had “come to his senses” re: J.Lo and “understands there is just no way this is going to work.” Referring to their relationship as “a fever dream,” the source added, “If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would.” Another drastic statement made its way to Us Weekly, where a source claimed Affleck felt “worn down” by their marriage and “doesn’t agree with Jennifer’s lifestyle.” Yikes?
Someone else purportedly close with Lopez told Us the couple has been having “significant arguments” about things like finances and parenting and also have “fundamentally different approaches to conflict.” According to Us, the couple is “on two completely different pages most of the time” and have been “having issues” for a few months since J.Lo “started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour.”
The couple seemed to have some tension in The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
A handful of tabloids analyzing In Touch’s “insider” info have cited J.Lo’s February documentary as an example of the couple’s tension. In the movie, Affleck talked about not wanting to have such a publicized relationship and admitted he and his wife were “trying to learn to compromise” when it came to social media. The documentary also saw J.Lo showing a whole bunch of people private love letters that he wrote to her, a choice he didn’t seem too pleased with. Also potentially at play here: Right before the documentary came out, J.Lo famously poured $20 million of her own hard-earned cash into a movie-musical about her love life, which may or may not be a topic of discussion in their fights about money.
Affleck seems to have moved out, and they’re reportedly selling their house.
At this point, it seems pretty clear that Ben and Jen aren’t living together at the moment. Multiple outlets claim Affleck has been staying at a $100,000-a-month mansion in Brentwood, two blocks from his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, who has paid him a few visits. Confirmation of his new residence came via TMZ, which published a blurry photo of him zooming away from said residence, signature cig dangling from his wedding-ringed hand.
In June, TMZ claimed the couple had quietly put their dream home back on the market just over a year after buying it for $60 million and that divorce was “imminent.” A few days later, People floated the narrative that, actually, everything is fine and the couple just doesn’t want to live in that particular mansion anymore — “Ben never liked the house” because his kids live far away, their source claimed, and it was “way too big” for J.Lo.
Their recent joint outings have only made things weirder.
Amid intensifying divorce rumors, J.Lo and Affleck appeared to break their stretch of time apart in mid-May. They were seen arriving separately — and with their respective bouquets of flowers — at Affleck’s child’s school play. The Daily Mail claims there was minimal physical affection between them. (I am pining for the days when they spent an entire family dinner making out.) According to TMZ, Affleck drove J.Lo and one of her kids home before retreating back to his lair in Brentwood, where he has apparently been hanging out with his mom and ordering McDonald’s.
Less than 48 hours later, Affleck had been seen twice without his wedding ring, including during an outing to watch his son’s basketball game with his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, and their daughter Violet. Hours after the game, Garner was seen paying a visit to Affleck’s Brentwood house, seemingly without either of their shared children. Whether this was a co-parenting check-in or a mid-divorce heart-to-heart depends on how much you want Bennifer to be getting divorced.
And then, in an apparent course correction, J.Lo and Ben brought their kids to an event at the Aero Theater and then drove to Soho House for what “Page Six” describes as “a jaunt.” The couple, who were in characteristically mismatched fits (J.Lo in a beige power trench and Ben finding strength in a Beantown graphic tee), were both wearing their wedding rings. At some point in their commute, photographers honed in on Affleck’s visible phone screen, which appeared to be flashing an incoming call from “Jennifer Affleck” along with a heavily airbrushed photo of his wife — who was in fact sitting next to him in the car. Not even a second Bennifer breakup can explain this.
The following week, they were back to solo activities — J.Lo posed on the red carpet alone at the L.A. premiere of her new AI movie, Atlas. According to Us Weekly, she was far from her “usual bubbly self” and “just going through the motions.” She linked back up with Ben twice for his daughter Violet’s graduation festivities, during which they actually managed to hold hands. According to the Daily Mail, they then hung out at Violet’s party for all of an hour before heading to Affleck’s rental home together — only for J.Lo to duck into her own car and head out. They were seen again the following week giving each other air kisses before Affleck flashed a thoroughly unconvincing thumbs-up to the cameras. The pomp and circumstance continued into mid-June, when the couple reunited at yet another graduation party, this one for Affleck’s 12-year-old son Samuel, where TMZ says they “kept their distance and separated their families.”
J.Lo has pressed on with her movie’s rollout without addressing questions about her marriage.
The Atlas press tour was bound to be plagued by these rumors — at least until a reporter in Mexico City asked J.Lo in Spanish, “Is your divorce with Ben Affleck real?” Her co-star Simu Liu indignantly jumped in with an “Okay, we’re not doing that,” but before they moved on, J.Lo leaned forward and told the asker, “You know better than that.” According to TMZ, Netflix had explicitly told press not to ask J.Lo questions about Affleck or her personal life.
Another Atlas promo has been picked apart for the slightest reference to the state of Bennifer’s relationship. In an On the JLo newsletter update sent out Wednesday, J.Lo announced that Atlas was still at the top of the Netflix charts: “It may seem like there’s a lot of negativity out in the world right now … but don’t let the voices of a few drown out that there is soooo much love out there.” Hmmmmm …
J.Lo canceled her This Is Me … Live tour.
At the end of May, things took a drastic turn when J.Lo suddenly called off her splashy summer tour, which was supposed open at the end of June and run through August. In a statement included on her website, J.Lo shared that she’s “taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends.” She added, “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary.” Later on Friday, she was seen leaving a dance studio in Burbank looking glum.
J.Lo went on vacation.
Understandably, J.Lo needed to go hang out on a boat in Positano with her friends. A week prior, a source told the Daily Mail, “Jenny has had enough and she really tried but she can do no more, it’s not getting any better, it’s worse.” What is to be done in that kind of situation other than pop over to Italy and take photos of your butt? She deserved it! Lopez capped off her vacay with a commercial flight to Paris, which is almost more concerning than the divorce rumors (recession incoming).
Ben had a rocky time in L.A.
On a positive note, Affleck has been spending a lot of time with his children lately. He took his son Samuel on a motorcycle ride. Real heads will remember that Samuel is the kid who got behind the wheel of a Lamborghini and backed it into a BMW a couple years ago. He’s now older, wiser, and only allowed on the back of his dad’s bike.
Affleck also got lunch with his oldest kid, Violet. This would be a normal outing without much to report on, except for the fact that Affleck wasn’t wearing his wedding ring.
The next day, TMZ published video of Affleck “chewing out” paparazzi who had camped out by his and Lopez’s house. Affleck had returned to the house one evening while Lopez was on vacation, and when he left, he was blinded by flashes. The actor actually got out of his car to admonish the photographers.
“Listen, man, you’re going to get me in an accident,” he told one of the paps. “Don’t flash your lights as I’m driving down the driveway.” His words apparently didn’t mean much, as when the actor got back in his car, the flashes started up again, prompting Affleck to go off once again.
“Stop, man. It’s dangerous what you guys are doing. Do you understand?” Affleck said. “I can’t see. You’re going to get somebody hurt doing this shit. Jesus Christ, my daughter’s coming down here. If you flash your lights on her, you’re putting her in danger. Do you understand that?”
I think Ben might also need a solo trip to Italy, or maybe just Cape Cod.
This post has been updated.
