JENNIFER Lopez gave an awkward reply when asked point-blank about Ben Affleck split rumours yesterday.
J-Lo, 54, and Ben, 51, initially dated for two years until 2004 but got back together in 2021 – tying the knot not once, but twice the following year.
Rumours about marital difficulties emerged earlier this month after fans realised the couple hadn’t been seen together publicly for seven weeks.
It was also claimed Ben moved out of their £47million mansion, with sources saying he had “checked out” of the marriage.
So, with Jennifer promoting her Netflix film Atlas during a Mexico City press conference, one reporter seized his opportunity to pose the question on everyone’s minds.
A viral video doing the rounds on Instagram shows a male journalist asking the On The Floor singer if the “Ben Affleck rumours are real”.
Jennifer’s co-stars Simu Liu quickly snapped back: “Don’t come in here with that energy, please.”
The actress, wearing her wedding ring at the event, awkwardly added: “You know better than that.”
Despite putting on a united front last week, sources say there is trouble bubbling under the surface.
One told Page Six: “If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would.
“He feels like the last two years was just a fever dream and he’s come to his senses now and understands there is just no way this is going to work.”
The couple began having problems “a few months ago,” according to another source.
“They started having issues a few months ago as Jen had started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour.”
The US Sun reached out to Jennifer and Ben’s reps for comment.
Fans noticed that the pair started arriving at events separately, with Jennifer arriving at the Met Gala without her husband earlier this month.
A source exclusively explained the duo’s dynamic to The US Sun, saying: “The ground rules are, Jennifer and Ben are allowed to go off and do projects, appearances and work that completely don’t involve each other, and definitely involve spending weeks at a time apart.
“The fundamental difference between them is that Jennifer has an incredible golden optimism about every situation and Ben sees everything – and I mean everything – in his life as a problem that only he can solve.”
“She’s good at ignoring little, insignificant stuff and focusing on the big picture and he isn’t,” the insider added.
The rumours have left others divided, however, with another source claiming the husband and wife of two years are on the rocks.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck relationship timeline
JLo and Ben were first linked together in 2002 and became engaged later that year. However, they called off the wedding just two years later. They rekindled their romance in 2021 and finally got hitched in 2022. Here is a timeline of their love story:
- June 2002 – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck met on the set of Gigli and JLo divorced from her second husband Cris Judd
- November 2002 – Ben proposed to JLo with a six-carat pink diamond ring
- September 2003 – JLo and Ben called off their wedding and blamed it on ‘excessive media attention’
- January 2004 – The celebrity couple announce they are heading separate ways
- July 2021 – JLo posts an intimate photo of herself beside Ben and they begin dating again
- April 2022 – Ben proposes to JLo for a second time
- July 2022 – The celebrity couple officially celebrated their nuptials in a Las Vegas, Nevada, ceremony
- August 2022 – Ben and JLo have a second A-list wedding at their $8.9million George estate
“It’s over – they’re headed for a divorce and for once [Ben’s] not to blame. He’s focusing on his work and kids now,” the source told In Touch.
“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.”
Jennifer and Ben reunited in July 2021 after breaking off their engagement two decades earlier.
Their romance quickly blossomed, and they got engaged the following April.
