Bennifer has been relatively quiet for months. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been seen a few times – walking arm in arm down a street, or going to dinner, or having an argument in a car – but it was an incredibly quiet summer for them, and I imagine it will be a quiet fall. I’m fine with that – I wish them well and I believe in them. I believe that it’s different now, that Ben has had enough of scratching his self-destructive itch, that he’s really making an effort to ensure that this marriage works. This is one of those rare situations where it feels like “no news is good news.” Now, Page Six and other outlets are desperately trying to convince people that there’s drama behind the scenes, especially with their blended family. “Sources” shut it down:
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are crushing co-parenting — and they have Jennifer Lopez to thank for it. The singer has helped her husband and his ex-wife get to a “better place,” a source told the Daily Mail Thursday.
“Ben is healthy,” the source continued. “The drama of the past and the emotions of divorce are long gone and they are all making it work.”
In fact, Lopez herself is “friendly” with Garner and all of their children “love each other.”
“It is really a very happy co-parenting situation,” the source furthered.The Grammy winner is the mother of twins Emme and Maximilian, 15, whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony. Meanwhile, Affleck and Garner share Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel, 11.
“Everything is really good right now and should be the same in the near and distant future,” the source gushed, going on to note that the actor, 51, and Lopez, 54, have also had “many talks” about her co-parenting relationship with Marc Anthony.
“They all have been able to figure it out,” the outlet reported. “It is actually inspiring and nice to see.”
I actually believe this? I don’t think Garner wants him back and I think she’s happy to see him with J.Lo. Or rather, Garner got there eventually, and I would also assume that J.Lo made an effort as well. I find the blended family aspect fascinating – it’s clear that Emme and Seraphina were instantly tight, just as it was clear that Ben felt comfortable with J.Lo’s twins right away. As for Marc Anthony… from what’s I’ve heard, he’s barely involved with those kids, but whatever. Anyway, this is just my update – I think Ben & J.Lo are fine, despite the efforts to make them sound like their marriage is already full of drama.
Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck have heated discussion inside car after his intimate moment with Jennifer Garner https://t.co/fxsxBxc6Gb pic.twitter.com/bbZyTwvkUb
— Page Six (@PageSix) October 1, 2023
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images.
I know only a few people in the entertainment biz but one worked for jlo for years till (my friend) had kids last 2 years. Last time we chatted a couple weeks ago I said, I need to know! Is jlo and batfleck real. I really want it to be real, I’m strangely invested. She said they are absolutely soul mates, no doubt about it. I know it doesn’t mean they’ll last but that’s from a legit source. She said they absolutely want it to work.
Yeeeeeeeeees! Thank you!
I know this is silly, but seeing their second chance and seeing THEY ARE ACTUALLY DOING IT WELL because they have grown is so comforting. Gives me hope!
I know! I needed to know it wasn’t fake. She promised me it’s not fake. She said no guarantee it’ll last but its not fake and they believe they’re soul mates.
Glad to hear it because I too am bizarrely invested in this relationship. Really want these two to last…
What is J-Lo like as a person and a boss? I’m curious, because there are so many bad stories about her, but the people who work with her really seem to like her.
Yeah I’m not worried about them.
Have you seen the pictures of Jennifer Garner in the car with Ben. It looks fairly affectionate. I hope it’s just a friendly moment. The pictures with JLo arguing seemed recent to that picture(s) with JG. I hope he’s not messing up!!
The pic with them “arguing” literally looks like when my boyfriend is talking about something very boring to me. So overblown.
Agreed. The whole angle “J Gar, J Lo” is silly.
Garner is his ex wife with whom he co-parents their children.
He loves her, they are affectionate. Great to see a functional pair of exes!
J Lo is his wife. He LOVES her. Actively.
Agreed. That is my “I know James in accounting is a moron. You’ve only told me that 20 times in the last month. What did he do this time?” face.
Agree. When Mr. Jaded goes off on a lengthy explanation of a 3-5 beat vs. 4-7 or percussion vs. drumming (he’s a drummer) my eyes glaze over and I start thinking about what I’ll make for dinner. J-Lo has that exact face. It’s not like they have to be grinning and mooning over each other 24/7.
Those pics with him and her in the car don’t show that their daughter is literally in the front seat with them. You would think if something inappropriate was going on they would not do that in front the kid. Plus I don’t think Ben is stupid enough to do that to Jlo because I think he does love her.
JLo and Ben make a cute couple. I don’t click on PageSix or the DF—I read write-ups about what they’ve written here. I hope they are solid, but that DF article is really weird to me. Jennifer Garner and Ben seemed to have co-parenting down well before they divorced and moved on to other relationships and I never got the impression that they were at odds over their kids.
So why this, “Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are crushing co-parenting — and they have Jennifer Lopez to thank for it. The singer has helped her husband and his ex-wife get to a “better place,” a source told the Daily Mail Thursday.”? They didn’t need JLo’s help before.
They didn’t need Jlo’s help at all to be good co-parents and anyone who has been paying attention since Ben and Jen G separated knows that.
This article seems to be in response to the two articles about Ben and Jen G being friendlier than usual (he hugged her, she got a ride in his car with their daughter).
The article makes JLo sound insecure like she needed to insert herself into their co-parenting relationship to take credit but I think it’s a made up story.
They don’t need J. Lo’s help to coparent. I’m sure Jennifer appreciates J. Lo’s presence in Ben’s life as a stabilizing presence and that he’s no longer her problem. But they split years before Ben and J. Lo got back together, it’s not like they were just figuring out how to coparent as single parents when Bennifer Part II happened.
I have never been a fan of Ben or JLo individually, but for some reason, I love them as a couple and I really hope they make it in the long run.
I have a soft spot for Jen and Ben and hope it works for them. I also really hope this sticks for Jen’s kids. Her children were from the reporting and what she said extremely close to A-Rod’s kids. I understand letting down your guard when it’s reached the stage of engagement, so not a criticism of Jen (also A-Rod is yuck and I’m glad she ditched him), but these kids risk having serious trust issues if they have another situation of “new sibilings” being around for several years instead of the rest of their lives….Family blending should not be a cyclical thing…
I’m finding it so weird how after an initial positive response, the media and internet seem to be attacking them again constantly. There appears to be an orchestrated hate campaign against J-Lo since last year, with a bunch of recycled stories about her being rude and a bad tipper, and now the “Ben looks so miserable with her” stories have started right back up again. Does nobody else find it depressing that the racist, sexist trope of the henpecking Latina was NOT in fact left in 2003, but people are still using the same tired jokes and comments today?
Glad to see that others have noticed this. It’s been very obvious that this has been going on for at least a year now and as you say, a lot of those stories that re-emerged were 20+ years old.
DM and Page Six are absolutely relentless and I’ve lost count of the amount of articles I’ve seen of them having ‘heated exchanges’ in their car, or on the red carpet when they are clearly just stills pulled from videos of them having very normal conversations.
People may dislike one (or both) of them but I really hope that the media back off and give this relationship a fair chance. They both seem very in love and are obviously older and more mature this time around but I can imagine that the media being on your case like this would put pressure and strain on anyone. It also can’t be nice for Jennifer seeing outlets insinuate that her husband is cheating on her with his ex-wife, particularly as JG was there for 1.0.
It’s also surprising to see people comments on sites like this — where you tend to expect better media and pop culture literacy — saying that ‘Ben always seems miserable with her’ (not in this post but generally). That’s patently not true but it also buys into the narrative that certain outlets have deliberately constructed.
Having said that, they do seem very happy for now and I hope it stays that way. There were some adorable pictures of them holding fans’ babies and posing for pictures from over the weekend that I saw. Lovely to see them so happy.
Weren’t JLo & Ben just behind Meghan & Harry on some sort of list of the couples who garner the most media attention? Bennifer drives clicks. To be more specific, newly reunited, then engaged and wedding Bennifer drives clicks. After a few months of marriage and the new glow died for the media, they started in the racist Latina tropes and divorce-watch Bennifer was born. They’ve cynically decided this current version is the most bankable Bennifer version for the coveted click. The media thrives on bad news and that’s why we are getting these sensational stories. They took a few photos where JLo & Ben were talking in a car and because JLo isn’t smiling they assume she’s angry. They did the same at the Grammy’s when there were plenty of photos of her and Ben enjoying themselves. As for the recent car pics, she just looked to be listening intently to me. They do the same to Ben. They purposely select the photos where he isn’t smiling to create a narrative of misery. There is a covid mask-era photo of him talking to JGar in the street coming out of a school meeting I think and Ben’s arms are raised expressively and I believe the headline the tabloids ran with was that he was yelling at her. When clearly he wasn’t. It’s all just ridiculous and by all accounts, Bennifer is fine.
Yea I think they are fine and the gossip sites are trying to stir up trouble since they would love a story about Bennifer and J Garner drama again. I think Ben truly loves Jlo and are in it for the long haul.
Read an article about how Venus in Leo retrograde is giving us so many breakups and I kept thinking just not the OG Bennifer please!
I love Bennifer Againifer and am rooting for them. IA that in their case, no news is good news, I don’t need to see them everywhere, if they’re just living their lives and raising their kids and working, good for them.
That (obviously) planted story was so weird. Jenn and Ben coparented fine during the six years before JLo came along (again). They should just ignore those silly stories the pap agencies concocted to sell their pictures. Ben was with his ex several times while (obviously) doing the kid trade off thing. They seemed friendly but they’ve known each other forever, they’ve been split for years and if they are friendly isn’t that a good thing? Sometimes it’s better to stay silent than try to counteract this obvious push the tabloids are trying for another triangle that was so lucrative for them during the brangelina years.
That (obviously) planted story was so weird. Jenn and Ben coparented fine during the six years before JLo came along (again). It seemed like someone should have ignored those silly stories the pap agencies concocted to sell their pictures. Ben was with his ex several times while (obviously) doing the kid trade off thing. They seemed friendly but they’ve known each other forever, they’ve been split for years and if they are friendly isn’t that a good thing? Sometimes it’s better to stay silent than try to counteract this obvious push the tabloids are trying for another triangle that was so lucrative for them during the brangelina years.
Yeah, Ben and JGar coparented fine for years. I just think the tabloids want to sell discord in order to engage JGar’s demo (the so-called minivan majority/mommy crowd) and the JLo haters. Everyone else is either a bonus to the party or collateral damage. It’s a shame that pitting women against each other is still a thing in 2023. And they are doing it overtly, what with them cropping out and not mentioning their child Sera was in the car with them when the supposed “intimate” shots were taken. That was particularly nasty work. Now they are using that incident as a basis for them arguing in public — a couple who knows the paps follow them everywhere — and now they are heading towards a breakup. Just plain nasty. It’s like the tabloids are trying to break them up all over again, really. I am not a conspiracist. I would prefer to think this is all about clicks and money as opposed to someone really being invested in them not lasting long as a couple. It’s just weird and evil.
I think the whole co parenting stories are a little weird. Jen and Ben had no problems co parenting before Jlo. Jen G has never wanted him back. As far as the kids, it definitely seems like they call get along but I do wonder about Jlo’s son. He’s almost never photographed with them, even when all the other kids are there. I wonder if he spends a lot of time with his dad
I don’t know if the blended families thing really indicates that much. JLo’s kids and ARod’s kids blended really well together too and look what happened there. I think she has a habit of getting serious quickly and also encouraging her kids to do the same.
I find it difficult to care about Bennifer. I truly rooted them the first time around, but it was obvious that Ben couldn’t take the heat/criticism that sometimes accompanies an interracial relationship. I lost respect for him at that time.
That said, for JLo’s sake, I hope they’re happy.
I agree with some others commentators here, the pagesix article was weird and unnecessary, Ben and Jennifer Garner always had a great coparenting relationship, they didn’t need jlo for that.
I understand the need to respond to the attacks bennifer is unfairly getting in the press but that wasn’t the way to go about it. I’m rooting for them still and all this negatively surrounding them must be tough for them
O for Pete’s sake. That was no heated discussion. My husband does this with his hands while explaining that mashed potatoes need gravy . Her expression shows how much she doesn’t give a rip.
LOL! Agreed.
I want her sunglasses
It was said that when Sophia Vergara & Joe Mangiello announced their divorce that they would never be reunited again like Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck. I think Ben & JL have chemistry like Joe & Sophia did, but I don’t see them sharing the same lifestyle interests. JL loves going to award & fashion shows, while Ben is clearly uncomfortable & IMO, he does not want to go & she wants him to be there. ( Sometimes you do want your spouse to accompany you) Don’t get me wrong, opposites do attract but do they share enough of the same interests & want the same lifestyle?
Also, that statement (& the timing of it) that JL has helped Ben & JG get along better as co-parents has really backfired. People realize that Ben & JG had been co-parenting wonderfully even before JL & Ben reunited.