Ben Affleck proposed to Jennifer Lopez in April 2022. He proposed with a large green diamond engagement ring, which she loved and couldn’t wait to show off. I forgot something about the ring though – Ben had it engraved with “not going anywhere” because that’s how he would sign off his emails when he started pursuing her again in 2021 (when she was engaged to A-Rod). Ben would write her love letters and sign off “Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” Just another sad piece of gossip, given Jennifer’s divorce filing this week. And it’s even more evidence that Ben and Jen really did think this was for real and the genuine endgame. Speaking of, People Magazine has more exclusive quotes from “sources.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck entered into a romantic partnership — for the second time — with the best intentions. After news broke of Lopez’s recent divorce filing, a source who knows both Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, tells PEOPLE they “really loved each other — and it happened quickly.”
“They were really going to give it a try, and they did,” adds the source. “These are two people who are in love with love, and who wouldn’t jump into that? And the world wanted it.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s marriage helped him “become a family man again,” a source close to both of them tells PEOPLE. Lopez, 55, filed for divorce from Affleck, 52, this week on the second anniversary of their wedding ceremony in Georgia, and a source says that their relationship always prioritized family.
“Family is very important to both of them, and together they were family people — and the connection doesn’t end,” the source says of their once-blended family.
Lopez shares twins Max and Emme, 16, with ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Affleck shares three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.
“They are very different people,” the source adds of Affleck and Lopez. “She’s super public and wants to go out, and he’s more of an introvert and is happy to hang out at home.”
Eh. Ben’s side is really leaning into the version of their split where Ben was just a quiet guy in a delicate place in his recovery who was focused on his kids and then this vixen came back into his life and threw everything off-kilter. And that’s not what happened. Ben had been in recovery/sober for several years when HE pursued Jennifer and he made the effort to woo her yet again. As for all of this family stuff… I feel sorry for Emme. Emme and Ben seemed tight. As for his kids, Ben has not really role modeled healthy behavior in this instance.
Photos courtesy of OnTheJLo newsletter, Instagram and Backgrid.
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- Los Angeles, CA – Ben Affleck looks happy and tired after spending the whole night at girlfriend Jennifer Lopez’s house in Los Angeles. Pictured: Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 2 JUNE 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: LaStarPixMEDIA / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Santa Monica, CA – Ben Affleck smokes a cigarette outside the sports facility while his son Samuel completes his swimming practice. Pictured: Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 18 JUNE 2021 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Nerano, ITALY – Singer, actress, and dancer Jennifer Lopez pictured with Boyfriend Ben Affleck in Nerano, Italy. Pictured: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 28 JULY 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: Cobra Team / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck spotted packing on the PDA as they go for a walk in the Madison Square Park Pictured: Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 26 SEPTEMBER 2021 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- New York, NY – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck kiss in New York City before flying out. Pictured: Jennifer Lopez , Ben Affleck BACKGRID USA 26 SEPTEMBER 2021 BYLINE MUST READ: T.JACKSON / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Los Angeles, CA – Cast Members attend Amazon Studio’s ‘The Tender Bar’ Los Angeles Film premiere at TCL Chinese Theatre. Pictured: Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez BACKGRID USA 12 DECEMBER 2021 USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex goes on a bicycle ride during the 2020 Invictus Games presentation Featuring: Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex Where: The Hague, The Netherlands When: 09 May 2019 Credit: Dutch Press Photo/WENN.com **Not available for publication in The Netherlands**
My impression is that JLo has always chased validation and Ben is only ever in love with himself. It’s like watching a slow-moving car crash…that lasted three years. I feel bad for the kids.
I do not think Ben even likes himself. As for Lopez, I agree. But why him out of all men? The need for validation, it is like it was so important to get it from BA. She should have blocked his email 20 years ago.
As for those blasting her as a parent, wasn’t she in like 2 relationships after the divorce and that was it? Her first 2 marriages were way before she had kids. Anthony even admitted he’s not involved. I would worry more about that than Jen’s parenting.
@MIL, for a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx, Ben represents (though in fact is not) the ‘American Golden Boy.’ Tall, very ‘white,’ a New Englander, an Oscar winner~ the ultimate catch. Yet it sounds like their childhoods were on par in terms of dysfunction.
Yes, and also because he is the one that has always expressed his admiration for her, in private and in public. Remember, he rent a page in a newspaper to express his admiration for her when they first met. This was huge ! And of course, she loves it.
And he is from far the most respectable profile she dated. He is a successful artist and business man. His admiration and validation means a lot more than Casper’s, for exemple..
Jen always looked for validation thats for sure, but once she has validation from the object of her desire, she then has the need to prove it to the world that it’s true: he loves only me me me me me, and he proposed to meeeee, and we’re getting married. There’s something that seems forced every time, for things to happen this way/her way and maybe that’s why it keeps failing. Ben is also flawed, it’s not just her. Ben was probably like fck it, let’s do it, get married on a whim, no prenup, nobodys gonna take advantage of nobody’s money, and whatever happens, happens. And then sht hit the fan. Genuine true loving intentions and just crappy reality.
Both of them share the blame here. I know we really don’t know how they’ve parented, but I’ve always had serious concerns about Max and Emme being constantly uprooted because of Jen’s “love addiction” lifestyle, especially since Marc Anthony doesn’t seem like he’s a present father at all. If it weren’t for the fact Jennifer Garner’s the mother of Ben’s children, I’d be concerned on that front too. I think Ben’s kids are pretty fortunate they have the mother that they do to balance out Ben’s selfishness.
K8erade, I agree that neither JLo nor Ben are decent role models of healthy romantic relationships. This could prove tricky for the kids when and if they start dating. As to their parenting, I do not really know that they are terrible parents. In fact, I would say that they seem to be there for their kids.
I don’t know. I know no parent is perfect but in the case of Ben it just seems Jen Garner had to clean up Ben’s messes so to speak when it came to his inability to stay sober. But she did and that’s awesome. But even if the public doesn’t see it, I think we can assume there were hits taken in Ben’s parenting department. But you’re right, we truly don’t know.
What really stands out to me is the preceived lack of stability Max and Emme had due to J.Lo’s sliding doors of relationships. I mean they’ve moved around quite a bit. If she was able to do that in a way that never affected the kids, then hallelujah. That’s not say she isn’t a good parent in other ways but I think that lack of stability in the kids lives is real concerning to me and, call me dramatic, pretty selfish on her end.
“Not going anywhere,” from ”Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere,” completely tracks with Ben’s MO. He’s either in love and present, or mentally checked out but passive aggressively trying to get his gf/ wife to end it. He himself never actively leaves.
JLo filed for divorce a couple of days ago on (CU next) Tuesday, their 2nd wedding anniversary. Whoever Ben hired for PR was READY. Yesterday, People published her source saying that she was tired of trying to make it work and he wasn’t willing. This article is emphasizing that, gosh, the two of them just love love. He’s been trying to rewrite how they got together as well.
I agree that something happened between March and April 26. I’ll buy that their relationship was not going well beforehand, but everything about this situation is giving “all of a sudden” instead of gradual.
“but everything about this situation is giving “all of a sudden” instead of gradual.”
It seems that way to me too. The fact that she filed on their 2 year anniversary blows me away. I know most people focus on how much of a message that particular date sends, and for sure it DOES. But to me the timeline just shocks me. That means her mind was made up AT the 2 year mark. Not things started to go south and then they tried and it took awhile to see it wasn’t working, but AT 2 years, it was completely decided.
Maybe I am not the best one to judge though, it took me 4 years after finding out about my husband’s affair to start the divorce process! That was definitely a lot longer than it needed to be.
I lost my job right before the pandemic and it took me a year to get back on my feet. During that time, my husband cut off all financial support for me. Didn’t even offer to help–telling me to hide my car so it wouldn’t get repossessed, instead of offering to help me. It was brutal. I filed for divorce 3 years later. Not because I wasn’t sure, because I don’t have JLo money. When you know, you know.
It’s sure giving hints of a significant relapse with cheating, substance-abuse, or both.
Interesting – I worked in the recovery space for 7+ years (and have loved ones in recovery) and do not get that sense at all.
@ML..Yeah, between March & April, the “P.Diddy tapes happened.”
They’re 2 addicts using each other to get high. Ben’s in recovery and JLo needs to be.
There’s nothing romantic about disease. It will affect the children too.
I hope they all get the help they need.
Yes – he is likely sober but is RID (restless, irritable, discontent). He is (hopefully) in therapy, going to meetings, etc. I would hate to see him bury himself in work and relapse due to lack of self-care.
JLo has a bad picker (Casper Smart, anyone?) and/or she loves the validation of love. She would be best served to slow down, take 6 months off the grid/SM, get into therapy and take time for herself. Throwing herself right back into work, projects, etc. is not going to solve anything.
I know JLo is in love with love and too public with her stories, but I think the blame falls more on Ben. He is clearly a narcissist who love bombed her and then withdrew his affection once she was totally hooked.
Emme isn’t close to Ben. Emme is close to Seraphina and Samuel. Violet is also close to JLo, enough that she spend a bit of her summer holiday with her in Hamptons. In what universe is Ben close to Emme come from. JLo and her maternal family went out of their way to blend the families together and somehow people are claiming Ben’s close to the kids when he put in the bare minimum effort of being nice to them. He didn’t spend a day with JLo’s kids all throughout the summer if it didn’t involve his own children. You all are weird trying to rewrite things.
I don’t get this “who’s to blame” PR strategy. JLo and Ben are in their 50’s, everybody has known for a long time who they are and all about their personal histories. Their images are set and their fan base is set – nobody’s going to switch from Team Jen to Team Ben or the other way around. And you can’t tell me that it was a surprise to Jen that Ben has sobriety issues or that Ben didn’t know Jen loves publicity – everyone on the planet knows this, it was a surprise to them?
It just seems like clickbait to me – like it doesn’t matter what is being said, it only matters that their names are in print as much as possible.
I think you’re right. I thought once they filed they would both stop running to the media, but I was wrong . Their PR teams are working over time and like you said ( It just seems like clickbait to me – like it doesn’t matter what is being said, it only matters that their names are in print as much as possible. )
I thought the drip drip of both camps running to the tabloids would have stopped when one or both finally filed. I’m disappointed in their lack of maturity and the fact both have kids. And now they’ve filed it’s not just speculation it’s fact so it should be over. Even daily mail (snort!) says and I quote ‘’After months of exhausting leaks and counter attacks from their respective camps, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are officially over – again. if you’d thought Lopez’s decision to finally file for divorce on Tuesday would bring an end to this petty briefing war, then think again. Now, it would seem, all bets are off – with each side blaming the other for the collapse of the two-year marriage.’’ So they keep embarrassing themselves and handing over their lives to daily mail.
@ Len
That’s how you know you hit rock bottom when the Daily Fail calls out and are over your blame game.
The PR smear campaign is most likely from her by reading the sources connections and the tone in the article. He rarely addressed her. Only after several days wall to wall PR campaign from her side, I finally read an article from him today addressing her PR tactics on Daily Mail:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-13770523/Ben-Affleck-Jennifer-Lopez-divorce-final-compassion.html
@Lens, the quote is directly from the aforementioned article link, whihich means that quote was sanctioned by his PR campaign, which means he was addressing her exhausting leaks on tabloids over the past several month and his occasional counter-attacks for drawing boundary. It also serves as a warning to her.
Kill me now! When is this yawn-fest going to end FFS? We ALL knew when they got engaged what the end story would be. Two egos crashing together over rocks then breaking apart. Do we HAVE to name blame? Do we have to keep rehashing the same sorry stories? It’s boring as f**k and has been for weeks.
This website is getting just like the Brit media, putting out the exact same story about our Harry and Meghan with a tiny alteration each and every time! So we’re getting here the exact same story with the tiniest of alterations about two desperate middle-aged, heading to old age celebs, who’s gigantic egos have lad to this embarrassment for them both.
Move on people! I’m sure there are lots of other celeb stories out there for us to read and dissect, bitch and moan about.
Then why don’t you just stop reading these articles, simple as that. I really don’t like being lectured to by a keyboard warrior hiding behind a computer screen, and we are free to dissect and comment on these stories as much as we want without you admonishing us for it.
Well, “two desperate middle-aged, heading to old age celebs, who’s gigantic egos have lad to this embarrassment for them both” is kind of a story, isn’t it? Their strategy is weird and pointless and only makes both of them look boring and petty. It’s the same with the H&M pieces – they’re not really about H&M, but about the Royal Family and their weird and pointless strategy which makes them look boring and petty.
It’s like a slow motion train wreck and kind of fascinating to watch people with gobs of wealth and privilege make asses of themselves in public. There’s a level of delusion there that’s irresistible. And the decay of a 1,000-year old monarchy is happening in front of our eyes in real time – we can chart every wrong decision – it’s watching history unfold.
I can’t help but wonder if affleck said the same things (don’t worry, i’m not going anywhere, blah, blah, blah) to jennifer Gardner and wrote her love letters with similar sentiments.
Yes we knew that years ago when she was asked how they got together (she was promoting valentines day was why) and she said he wrote her long love letters and that he was a very good persuasive writer. So it’s what he does. As far as the not going anywhere on the ring I think he said that because jLo was insecure about him bolting again after their called off wedding. And it was to reassure her. And he did marry her this time which is what she wanted/needed.
“And the world wanted it” is not a good reason to dive onto a relationship! 😬
I snorted at that line.
I just hope JLo kept both engagement rings. Those were beautiful diamonds and she should just own the Elizabeth Taylor of it all. She’s an overly optimistic romantic with an eventful love life. No one can ever say she didn’t give it her all (in every aspect of her life).
‘The world wanted it ‘ is a poor excuse for marriage too. I’m sure the ecstatic reaction to the news here was common and they are public people who live for public opinion. But don’t think she has ever given marriage her all (maybe a little more with Marc because of the kids). It’s the big wedding and the new love infatuation she loves not the marriage part. Ben tried in his first marriage maybe since this is the second time around with them he knew that basic things wouldn’t change.
She can alters the ring.
Seriously, that first pink diamond engagement ring from Ben in 2004 was gorgeous. I would love to know what happened to it.
At this point, she must have all the colors of the rainbow with the diamond engagement rings from the various ex-husbands.
She had the first ring and she would have the second ring as well, since he married to her. The second ring belongs to her alright.
As for the first ring, a simple detective work will have the conclusion:
She originally returned the ring to him after the break up. He sold the ring back to Harry Winston when he got married to Jennifer Garner. And this story was credible because Harry Winston itself confirmed the sellback in a press release.
But according to her song in 2010, she kept the ring. This can only mean she bought it back herself later when she learnt the news.
Here is the lyrics from One Love. The second verse relates to this story:
“It’s take three, could there be a part for me?
Came and swept me off my feet
Went nowhere, but kept the ring
Once again, I’m lonely
Number four, he sang to me but I’m not sure
So worn out, but love just saw
Made me want to try once more
And I couldn’t say no (Ah)”
The third was from her with Affleck back in 2002/2003. And the lyrics description matches to the dynamic from that relationship. He can be quite charming and love bombing.
Jennifer Garner later had a similar take on that Vanity Fair cover in February 2016:
“‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it.’ But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.”
Interesting now I read it back and noticed something in the lyrics that I didn’t earlier:
Once again, I’m lonely
It says all about her not being able to be alone.
He seems like an unhappy person with an addiction. Who is high maintenance. However at the same time she’s been married 4 times. And maybe at this point she should realize marriage isn’t for her.
I think BOTH JL & Ben got caught up in ” what the world wanted”, that they did realize how incompatible they really were!!!
20 years had gone by. I would like to think that people change & hopefully mature. There have been numerous reports that Ben is a homebody now. Even Shauna Sexton ( who Ben dated )said that Ben was boring & wanted to stay in & watch movies. That is definitely not JL!!! At least, they blended their families well..
“Don’t worry, I’m not going anywhere.” is the sunshine Jennifer Garner has spoken about. He makes you feel like you are the only person in the world. From what I see Good Ben is smart, talented, witty and charming. Bad Ben is a love bomber, cold, addiction issues, a cheater and cuts a person off like they don’t exist. I think Jennifer went from the sunshine to the shadows. And kept hoping thing would work out when they separated in April. Make your own sunshine Jen!!
The first thing she said in her documentary was Ben was the love of her life. Madonna said the same thing about Sean Penn. Then corrected herself on Oprah that her child was (Lourdes had just been born).
I hope Jennifer just loves herself and her kids now. Ben was an ideal not a person. And I will say Ben did make a good correlation in the documentary. That he does not love her need for fame and attention. But if he loved a Boat Captain. He would never tell them that could never go out on the water. This is who she is and really should have just left her alone. Maybe they were trying to recapture their youth and fix the past. But you know what they say about the definition of crazy. Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result.
I was wondering what kind of love letters this guy was writing when I remembered…Good Will Hunting.
That screenplay won Ben and Matt multiple awards including the Oscar and Golden Globe. I think for years people have been insinuating that Matt really carried the writing but in reflection with the statements about the love letters….I think we may have had it backwards this whole time!