Once upon a time Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck: the never-ending (love) story
In the early 2000s, they were one of Hollywood's hottest couples, and almost got married. Twenty years, a few marriages and divorces later, the two stars have resumed. Back on a story that today makes you dream.
It's a kiss that seals everything, an act with multiple meanings, which sounds at the same time like a new hope: Monday, June 14, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are caught exchanging a kiss during a romantic dinner at the very chic Nobu restaurant, in Malibu (California).
EXCLUSIVE: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez make out at steamy PDA-packed dinner https://t.co/UcgSI9JTyD pic.twitter.com/yCZYK42sTT
— Page Six (@PageSix) June 14, 2021
They thus confirm what everyone, for a few weeks, already knew: after a passionate relationship almost twenty years ago, between 2002 and 2004, J.Lo and the actor-director reunited. Picking up their story where they left off.
"Troubled loves"
It’s the end of 2001: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez meet on the set of Gigli (in French, Troubled Love), a romance set against the backdrop of a hitman and mafia story. Both already have good careers: Jennifer Lopez's second album, J.Lo, released earlier this year (and filled with unstoppable hits such as My Love Don't Cost a Thing and I'm Real), works as well as the romantic comedy A Marriage Too Perfect, where she plays Matthew McConaughey. Ben Affleck, him, is the handsome kid who connects the blockbusters type Armageddon (1998) or Pearl Harbor (2011), able to save the world (or at least part of it) while living a torrid love story, all without to be disheveled for a single second.
On the romance side, Jennifer Lopez has recovered from a first ultra-mediatized relationship with rapper Sean "P-Diddy" Combs by marrying, seven months after meeting him on the set of a music video, a dancer named Cris Judd. . Ben, meanwhile, probably an area of dating in "dates" off the radar (social networks and other dating sites are not yet there to post it, as happened last May) since his split from Gwyneth Paltrow two years earlier. They are beautiful, they are young, they are ready, “watch out, ladies and gentlemen, it will begin!”.
Heroes not very discreet
It was in July 2002, when J.Lo had just (already) divorced Cris Judd, that she and Ben Affleck were for the first time seen hugging each other on their birthday. 'a friend, as the New York Post reported at the time. It is passion, so crazy that it does not bother with any discretion: not content with being often the target of the media, that they regale with public displays of affection and other appearances on the red carpet, they coo through the intermediary press.
As early as April 2002, when they are not (officially) together and Jennifer Lopez has just received an award, Ben easily buys a full page in Variety magazine to congratulate her, as recalled here by the Vulture site: "You have shown kindness, dedication, diligence, height of vision, beauty in courage, great empathy, incredible talent, real mastery and genuine grace", wrote there -he. “It has been no less than an honor and a pleasure to work with you. I just wish I was lucky enough to be in all of your movies. With love, respect and gratitude, Ben Affleck. ”
Later, as their relationship this time became official, J.Lo told People magazine how she felt the first time she saw the actor on the set of Gigli: “I thought to myself. . “Ok, so that's it.” ”“ That, ”so that's great love. The couple will be the first to be mentioned, in popular culture, by the fusion of their two first names: Bennifer was born, well before Brangelina or Kimye.
"From the block"
And Bennifer never stops throwing his love and his best life in the face of the world: on November 5, 2002, MTV broadcasts for the first time the clip for Jenny From the Block, a huge hit in which the popstar recalls that, despite love, fame, beauty and Versace dresses, she remains little Jennifer from the Bronx, raised in a modest, Puerto Rican family. In the video, mock-stolen footage can be seen showing Ben and Jen sunbathing on a yacht, the actor slicing and kissing his partner's ass.
Beyond the dripping glam of highlighter and glittery eye shadow, the clip is also meant to convey a message: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are people like any other, lovers from the block that the evil paparazzi keep pestering. . Hard to swallow when, days later, it is during an interview with the much-watched ABC show Primetime that Jennifer Lopez reveals that she and Ben Affleck are engaged. The two stars are beginning to be taken for spoiled children: in 2008, Ben Affleck will confide that having shot in this clip remains for him a "great regret". Jennifer Lopez, as for her, will even try, in 2004, to make it disappear from the sites of musical chains like MTV or VH1.
“Make a Gigli”
In the meantime, Bennifer is going to get married. The request, which was held in the singer's mother's house, was made in a "traditional but very spectacular fashion". Understand: with candles, roses, a knee on the ground and ... A monstrous 6.10 carat pink diamond, valued at an estimated $ 1.2 million. That the star will not hesitate to wear every moment, from red carpets to press conferences.
But the road to Bennifer to the altar is fraught with pitfalls. July 2003: The couple face rumors that Ben went to a strip club in Vancouver, as reported in People magazine, and came out in good company. The actor attacks the media that spread the information, Jen publicly defends him: "You can no longer go to a place to spend some time with friends without it turning into a national scandal," she complains in W.
August: their film Gigli, comes out on the screens. The critics deliver their verdict: it is a turnip, coupled with a commercial flop ($ 7.7 million in revenue, for a budget of $ 75.6 million), of those who stand out in the history of cinema; so much so that for a while Americans used the phrase "make a gigli" to refer to a resounding failure. September: the day before their wedding, scheduled to be a gigantic party of 400 people in Santa Barbara, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck announce, through the press, that they are suspending the festivities: "Due to excessive media attention around our wedding, we decided to postpone the date. When we found ourselves seriously considering hiring the services of three "mock brides" in three different locations, we realized that something was wrong. "
Alas, the wedding will never take place: on January 23, 2004, Jennifer Lopez confirmed, via a statement to the Associated Press, that their engagement was broken. The other movie they starred in together, Jersey Girl, will be released in March, without the promotional aura of a couple that just blew up in midair. In 2014, in her book True Love, Jennifer Lopez will confide that it is the first time that she has seen her heart break: “I had the impression that it was torn out of my chest. », She writes, relayed by the PageSix site.
So far, so close
Jenifer Lopez and Ben Affleck then take different paths. In June 2004, J-Lo married singer Marc Anthony (already an ex, with whom she had a brief relationship in 1999). Together they will have twins, Max and Emme, born in 2008, and will divorce three years later. If her acting career stagnates in a few forgettable romantic comedies, she extends her dominance over pop with albums in Spanish, collaborations with musicians from new generations (remember this Lambada reviewed and corrected with rapper Pitbull) , and a jury seat on the American Idol show. A true national treasure, she was invited to sing at the Superbowl in 2020 and at the nomination of Joe Biden, a year later.
For his part, the actor can recycle the "Bennifer" brand with Jennifer Garner, whom he met on the set of Pearl Harbor in 2000 (but with whom he would later admit to having had a brief relationship in 2002 on the film Daredevil). Together, they will have three children, Violet, Serafina and Samuel. Having become a recognized director (his third film, Argo, released in 2012, was crowned at the Oscars and at the Golden Globes), he also landed prestigious roles, in love with Terrence Mallick (In wonder, in 2012), or as a mystified husband. in Gone Girl (2014) until Batman, which he will play on several occasions.
But his divorce from Jennifer Garner in 2011 plunged him into a spiral of alcohol, depression, and questionable dragon tattoos. A difficult period of which he will speak frankly in an interview with the New York Times, where he evokes their separation as "the greatest regret of his life" (in front of the clip of Jenny from the block, therefore). The only clarification: a brief but intense romance with the young Cuban actress Ana De Armas, met on the set of Deep Water, with whom he posted enamored selfies on Instagram for a year. Meanwhile, Jennifer had time to announce and then cancel her marriage to footballer Alex Rodriguez, whom she dated for three years.
Romantic getaways
The planets were therefore aligned so that the stars meet and that "Bennifer II, the return" is played out. Once again, it all started in the media: in April 2021, Ben Affleck intervened in InStyle magazine's portrait of Jennifer Lopez, and sang his praises: "She remains, to this day, the most hardworking person. that I have come across in this industry. She is very talented, but she worked very hard to achieve this success, and I am happy that she finally got the recognition she deserved. ” And to question his ex-fiancée: "Where are you hiding the fountain of youth? Why haven't you changed since 2003, when I look like I'm in my 40s ... at best? " To which the main interested party replies: “Ben is funny! He still looks pretty good, too. "
In good shape, and suddenly very busy: everything accelerates for Bennifer who, according to those close to them, would never have cut off the ignition. The actor is thus spotted several times aboard a white SUV belonging to his ex-fiancée. The week of May 3, 2021, the Batman performer takes him on a romantic getaway to a Montana ski resort. On Tuesday, June 1, PageSix unveiled new photos showing them cuddling as they go to a one-on-one dinner. And to anyone who would believe they're just friends, a source familiar with the matter sneers, still in PageSix: "Like they never had been."
Second chance
But things have changed: scalded by the first season of their relationship, whose overexposure precipitated its downfall, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez can't escape the paparazzi, but strive to keep a (roughly) low profile. No more enamored looks and other embraces immortalized on film. Now it's the little things of everyday life that sign the proof of their love: this photo in which J.Lo is wearing the (old) plaid shirt seen on Ben a week earlier, as Buzzfeed notes. This evening that on June 13, as reported by PageSix, the actor spent at the casino with Jennifer's mother, Guadalupe (who knows a lot about slot machines: in 2004, she won a jackpot of 2.4 million dollars at an Atlantic City facility). And finally, this kiss, exchanged in the presence of J.Lo's children, Max and Emme.
I, for one, am totally here for the slow yet sure rekindling of this romance. https://t.co/Vm28252NIO
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) June 13, 2021
A miracle of love, and from another era, Bennifer II (whom some on Twitter like to call "Againiffer") wowed the world. Too bling, too openly in love, didn't we take Act I seriously? We love Act II. Because he is proof, after a black year of economic and health crisis, that great stories can happen. That in a world that still mourns the split between Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, what was shattered can be fixed. That even in love, recycling and the second hand are now values on which we can bet. In short, that you can fall in love with your ex again. And above all, because their story can work: more mature, wiser, Ben Affleck and J.Lo can perhaps reset the counters. Finally learn from the mistakes of the past. Finally live happy and maybe (a little more) hidden.
