Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship was no fairytale, even when they were married. Many cheered when the ex-couple rekindled their spark and finally got married against all odds, but even that wasn’t meant to be. As fate would have it, the Jersey Girl costars’ messy love story ultimately culminated in a divorce two years after they tied the knot, and it was JLo who took the stand.
Earlier this week, the “Jenny on the Block” singer filed for divorce from the Air director, listing irreconcilable differences as contributing to their failed marriage. She did the deed on her own, citing April 26 as their separation date. Now that the pair have gone their separate ways after months of turbulence with an unfortunate yet predictable ending, her friends have again spoken up about why it all happened. Per their narratives, JLo isn’t to blame.
“She loves him, she will always love him, that’s the problem,” one of the singer’s pals told PageSix, insisting that the Marry Me star tried her all to save the sinking ship despite living apart from Ben for months. Lopez now seems to have parted ways with that chapter of her life, considering she also urged to ditch “Affleck” from her last name.
As far as this one Hollywood source’s account goes, Jen “truly believed this was the greatest love story she’d ever known, and she was finally getting her chance at the fairy tale.” The Gigli costars’ 2022 nuptials were two decades in the making, as they reunited 20 years after initially breaking off their first engagement in the early 2000s. “She just really didn’t stop to consider who the actual man was [in] the fairy tale,” the source said of Affleck.
The insider even went so far as to establish that the kind of “big love Jennifer believes in” is “not in [Ben’s] DNA.” “Ben has a darkness to him that no other person can fix. Jen Garner couldn’t fix it, all the success in the world couldn’t fix it,” they added.
According to the person’s side of the story, the “On the Floor” icon gave this relationship “everything she had; her whole heart.” She was willing to do “anything to make this work.” Despite “countless naysayers” telling her “this was a bad idea, that it was doomed, that there was a reason it didn’t work the first time,” Lopez “didn’t want to believe it – she truly believed love would conquer all”, the source said.
As is known, Ben and Jen met for the first time in 2002 while filming their movie Gigli. At the time, Lopez was married to Cris Judd, her second husband. After divorcing, she gave love a try with Affleck, and they went public. Cut to next year: they were ready to get hitched on September 14, 2003, but things fell apart in the days leading up to D-day. They first pushed the ceremony back, and four months later, they split up.
The statement shared by Lopez’s pal about Ben’s “darkness” in a way mirrors what Jennifer Garner said after cutting marital ties with Affleck in 2018. “He’s just a complicated guy,” the 13 Going on 30 actress told Vanity Fair. “I always say, ‘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.”
Adding to that, the Hollywood insider claimed that Ben “doesn’t dislike this side of himself.” What “side” is this? “The side that needs solitude, that doesn’t believe anyone could ever truly understand him, that is convinced he is his only ally and the only person he can count on.”
The source dug deeper and said that although Affleck played along with the “sort of all-consuming devotion” Lopez believes in, “it’s just not who he is.” Even though he “is proud to be his children’s protector and provider… he had never – and seemingly will never – give himself over completely to another person.”
