With Jennifer Lopez’s Aug. 20 divorce filing from Ben Affleck, the celebrity couple has officially called off their relationship twice — and exactly 20 years apart.
There are similarities and differences between Bennifer’s two breakups, when they ended their first engagement in 2004 and now as they begin to dissolve their two-year marriage.
They kept people guessing about their relationship status before they officially split
This was them … then: In the summer of 2003 — as the Gigli co-stars’ film collaboration was deemed a “stinker” and Affleck’s strip club outing blew up in the tabloids — rumors swirl that the betrothed pair’s relationship was in trouble. Then, at the eleventh hour, they called off their Sept. 14, 2003, Santa Barbara, Calif., dream wedding, blaming “excessive media attention.” Their relationship status was then hot and cold until they finally announced they had officially split four months later, in January 2004.
This is them … now: In May 2024, rumors swirled that the couple, who married in July 2022 after rekindling their romance, were on the rocks. Affleck had moved out of their $68 million home; Lopez was photographed house-hunting and hitting red carpets without her plus-one. For months it’s been a game of “Are they or aren’t they?” until she filed for divorce on Aug. 20. She listed their separation date as April 26 — almost four months earlier.
They weren’t together very long before breaking up
Then: Bennifer had only been together for 18 months when they broke up in 2004.
Now: Bennifer 2.0 lasted three years. After nearly two decades apart, Affleck sent a fated email to a newly single Lopez in April 2021, and they gave their relationship another shot. However, according to Lopez’s divorce filing, they quietly separated in April 2024. The day she filed for divorce was exactly two years after their formal Georgia wedding.
Here’s how they handled the breakup announcements
Then: Lopez’s publicist announced the split through her publicist. “I am confirming the reports that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck. At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy,” the statement said. Affleck’s spokesperson responded by saying, “I am not going to confirm anything about his personal life. We don’t want to get dragged into quicksand. Everybody wants a war. It’s not happening from our side.”
Now: So far, Lopez has let her filing do the talking. There have been no official statements — only unnamed sources planting pro-Lopez statements like: “She tried really hard to make things work and is heartbroken” and “She was done waiting.”
He was the first one to move out — twice
Then: Affleck and Lopez moved in together while filming Jersey Girl in Philadelphia in 2002 and, when the film wrapped, they made Lopez’s Los Angeles home their own. So when they split, he moved out and stayed with friends while looking for a house to rent. (He told Rolling Stone in 2004 that he and Nelly vied for the same rental. The rapper got it.)
Now: While Bennifer spent a fortune on their Bel-Air dream house, which is now on the market, Affleck moved out after their April separation to a $100,000-a-month rental. He has since purchased a new L.A. home for $20.5 million. Lopez is reportedly still looking for a new place.
They moved on to other high-profile romances within the year
Then: Lopez moved on quickly, with Marc Anthony, who became husband number three in June 2004. In October, Affleck went public with Jennifer Garner, his co-star in Pearl Harbor and Daredevil.
Now: We’ll have to see.
How they managed their post-breakup joint work obligations
Then: The exes awkwardly still had Jersey Girl to promote, in which Lopez had a minor role, which came out in March 2004. She ended up skipping the premiere.
Now: We’ll have to wait and see here too. Affleck — who appeared in Lopez’s The Greatest Love Story Never Told and This Is Me… Now: A Love Story earlier this year — is a producer on two of Lopez’s upcoming movies, Unstoppable and Kiss of the Spider Woman. They’ve apparently already worked out an arrangement for Unstoppable’s premiere at the Toronto Film Festival in September. According to Page Six, Lopez will attend, but Affleck will not.
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