Solo appearances and public outbursts have fuelled speculation that the fairy-tale love story is over, says Jessica Barrett
IT WILL BE Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s two-year anniversary in August; two years since the wedding that might never have happened, after the A-list couple ended their original engagement in 2004. And yet, after proving their critics wrong by reuniting in 2021 and falling in love all over again, the couple are once again mired in speculation that their relationship is on the rocks.
It has undoubtedly been a roller coaster couple of weeks for the couple, since reports first broke that Affleck had moved out of their $60m, 17-bathroomed Beverly Hills marital home into a house in nearby Brentwood. At that point the pair hadn’t been seen together for seven weeks but, on 19 May, they were spotted attending a film event at an LA movie theatre alongside Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, and her children with Affleck: Violet, 18, Fin, 15, and Samuel, 12. One of Lopez’s twins, 16-year-old Emme (whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony) was also present.
This show of togetherness is in line with the couple’s ‘family first’ mission, says Grazia’s source, adding that even in the light of such a strain on their relationship, an existing family event was not something they were willing to skip after ‘working so hard to blend their families’. The very next day, however, Lopez cut a more solitary figure at the premiere of her new Netflix film Atlas, while Affleck was seen leaving the set of his new film Animals – it was noted that he wasn’t wearing his wedding ring.
While neither Lopez or Affleck had commented on the reports about their relationship at the time of going to press, it has become harder for them to sidestep the fact there have been issues mounting publicly for some weeks (indeed, a reporter in Brazil questioned Lopez about the divorce rumours during her press tour for Atlas, but she swiftly shut them down). The rumours started not because of Affleck’s perpetually downcast face (although it can’t help), but, as they often do, with the US tabloids. In Touch magazine spoke with an ‘insider’ who said that ‘the writing is on the wall’ for the couple. ‘It’s over,’ the source said, adding, ‘They waited almost two decades to get back together but, in the end, they just couldn’t make it work.’
Their solo public appearances have certainly hinted at discontent behind the scenes. Lopez attended the Met Ball alone this month and went viral for snapping at a red carpet interviewer who asked her what she was wearing. Affleck showed up alone at Netflix’s live roast of NFL star Tom Brady the same week and made what The New York Post described as an ‘unhinged six minute rant’ on stage, laying into online trolls.
