Jennifer Lopez Files to Divorce Ben Affleck

The rumors are true: Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are over … once more.

Certainly one of Hollywood’s most well-known A-list {couples} have cut up for a second time as Lopez filed for divorce on Tuesday in L.A. County Superior Courtroom. Per Individuals, Lopez listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024, although she filed at present, on Aug. 20, the second anniversary of their ceremony in Georgia, an extravagant wedding ceremony that adopted a quickie Las Vegas elopement in July 2022. The Hollywood Reporter has reached out to reps for Affleck and Lopez and can replace accordingly, although no statements are anticipated as they each have saved mum in current months in regards to the standing of their relationship. TMZ was the primary to report the information.

The information comes after a dizzying few months of tabloid headlines and TMZ information blasts overlaying the sale of their $65 million mansion, separate outings (with and with out wedding ceremony rings) and hypothesis in regards to the supply of pressure in one of the publicized couplings in trendy movie star historical past.

In hindsight, the hints have been there. The flurry of tabloid protection included stories of Lopez’s solo summer time journey to the Hamptons (and Italy earlier than that) whereas Affleck remained again in Los Angeles, the place he’s mentioned to have moved his belongings out of their shared residence and right into a Brentwood rental. She attended the premiere of her Netflix movie Atlas alone, identical to that different main outing of hers in Could when she stepped out with no plus-one as a co-chair of vogue’s largest night time on the Met Gala, which has lengthy been a high-profile place for Hollywood {couples}. Whereas within the Hamptons, she additionally celebrated her fifty fifth birthday with a Bridgerton-themed bash with no Affleck in sight.

Affleck, 51, and Lopez, 54, reunited in April 2021, after she ended an engagement with baseball nice Alex Rodriguez and Affleck parted methods with onetime co-star Ana de Armas. A yr later, Affleck proposed whereas Lopez was taking a bubble tub. An intimate Las Vegas ceremony adopted in July 2022, whereas a bigger, extra conventional ceremony adopted a month later at Affleck’s Georgia property, presided over by life coach and podcaster Jay Shetty and lined by Vogue. The bride wore a customized Ralph Lauren wedding ceremony costume, whereas the seats have been crammed with household and pals like Matt Damon, filmmaker Kevin Smith and Affleck’s longtime energy agent, WME’s Patrick Whitesell.

They blended their households, with Affleck arriving to the wedding with three youngsters from a longtime marriage to actress Jennifer Garner, and Lopez bringing twins from a wedding to music star Marc Anthony. There have been many high-profile public appearances over the previous two years at their respective movie premieres and awards reveals just like the Grammys. A few of these, like music’s largest night time or her The Mom premiere, impressed headlines about every thing from Affleck’s resting grumpy face to an alleged crimson carpet spat, although they maintained all was nicely with their rekindled romance.

This yr delivered a brand new spherical of press when Lopez dropped back-to-back-to-back new tasks with an album (This Is Me … Now), a musical movie that includes the tracks from the brand new album (additionally titled This Is Me … Now) and a documentary in regards to the making of the musical movie (The Best Love Story By no means Instructed), all of which put their romance entrance and middle because the fairy story that had lastly come true. Lopez repeatedly praised Affleck because the inspiration for the works and spoke about him at size in numerous interviews.

“Now I really feel like as a result of Ben and I’ve rediscovered one another — and now that we’re married — I’ve one thing to supply. That is the defining piece of labor that’s going to shut that chapter so I can transfer on to the subsequent a part of my life,” she advised Selection. In a separate interview, she confessed that Affleck wasn’t “very comfy” with the swirl of tasks. “However he loves me, he is aware of I’m an artist, and he’s gonna assist me in each method he can, as a result of he is aware of you may’t cease me from making the music I made  …  he doesn’t need to cease me. However that doesn’t imply he’s comfy being the muse.”

He confirmed {that a} public romance wasn’t the simplest place for him to exist. “Getting again collectively, I mentioned, ‘Pay attention, one of many issues I don’t need is a relationship on social media.’ Then I form of realized it’s not a good factor to ask. It’s form of like, you’re gonna marry a ship captain and also you go, ‘Properly, I don’t just like the water.’”

Nonetheless, it appears as if having their relationship function the inspiration for an album and for breathless media protection created some pressure. “Issues which are non-public, I’d at all times felt, are sacred and particular, as a result of, partially, they’re non-public. So this was one thing of an adjustment for me,” he has mentioned.

The Bennifer origin story dates again to 2001. Affleck and Lopez met whereas filming the Martin Brest romantic dramedy Gigli, which was launched two years later, solely to tank on the field workplace and reside on in infamy. Their romance, nevertheless, flourished and the couple received engaged in 2002 when the actor proposed with a 6.1-carat Harry Winston rock. Additionally that very same yr, Affleck made a cameo in Lopez’s “Jenny From the Block” music video, a observe from the entertainer’s This Is Me … Then album.

“I believe what occurred is, as we labored collectively [on the movie Gigli], we turned such good pals,” Lopez beforehand advised Zane Lowe in an interview. “We realized that we have been loopy about one another. I discovered myself form of occupied with him after the film was over. And having to care for my very own enterprise, as a result of I used to be popping out of a relationship at the moment. Nevertheless it’s such as you simply knew it. It’s identical to, ‘That is the particular person I need to be with.’ And that occurred over a interval of months. It wasn’t an instantaneous factor as a result of we weren’t allowed to do this. Yeah, it form of grew over time.”

Nevertheless it didn’t develop all the way in which to the altar. The couple broke up simply days earlier than an extravagant wedding ceremony. “Ben and I broke up 4 days earlier than our wedding ceremony and we had a giant wedding ceremony plan, with like 14 ushers and bridesmaids, and three days earlier than we simply crumbled underneath the stress,” Lopez as soon as confirmed in regards to the heartbreak that took a while to recover from. “For all these years it was actually exhausting trigger I didn’t simply really feel like I misplaced the love of my life, I felt like I misplaced the perfect buddy I ever had. I couldn’t discuss for thus a few years, and that was the toughest half.”

Lopez was beforehand married to Ojani Noa (1997-98), Cris Judd (2001-03) and Marc Anthony (2004-14), and was engaged to Rodriguez throughout a four-year relationship. Affleck was married to Garner (2005-18).

Whereas it could be the top of the street for Bennifer, it’s by no means too late to seek out one other Hollywood ending. “Typically it doesn’t work — and that’s unhappy,” Lopez defined in a 2011 interview with Vainness Truthful. “However I stay an everlasting optimist about love. I consider in love. It’s nonetheless my largest dream.”