Ben Affleck breaks silence on divorce from Jennifer Lopez
Ben Affleck has opened up for the first time about his divorce from Jennifer Lopez.
In an interview with GQ, the 52-year-old actor said that he and Jennifer had differing approaches to fame and privacy. He also explained why he participated in the 2024 documentary about their marriage, The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
"Part of it was, 'Okay, if I'm going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that's interesting.' Because I thought it was an interesting examination," he said.
The Accountant 2 star added that Jennifer handled celebrity "more adeptly and adroitly" than him as he was more reserved and private.
"As happens in relationships, you don't always have the same attitude towards these things. And so I thought, Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that?" he added. "I love and support this person. I believe in them. They're great. I want people to see that."
Ben also referenced a line he said in the documentary. "You don't marry a ship captain and then say, 'Well, I don't like going out in the water.' You've got to own what you knew going into any relationship."
"And I think it's important to say that wasn't the cause of some major fracture. It's not like you can watch that documentary and go, 'Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.'"
'No scandal'
Ben clarified that while he's open to discussing his personal life, he wants to make sure his true feelings, intentions, and respect for Jennifer are clearly communicated.
He emphasized that he has "a lot of respect" for his ex and that he doesn't have any negativity or judgment toward their differences in perspectives.
"I guess there’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly, like I said, the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting."
The actor also noted that there was "no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue" with their breakup and that he won't dive further as it's "sort of embarrassing" and "feels vulnerable."
"It's just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do."
Jennifer on their divorce
In October 2024, Jennifer spoke up for the first time about her controversial divorce from Ben just two years after they gave their failed romance another chance and tied the knot.
In her conversation with comedian Nikki Glaser for Interview Magazine, the Hustlers star shared that she was taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends as things had been going rough.
"It was a really difficult time for me. Probably the hardest time of my life, but it was also the best time because I got to do that work on myself," she said at the time.
Earlier in January, Affleck and Lopez settled their divorce after being married for two years.
The decision came almost 20 weeks after Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Aug. 20, with irreconcilable differences as the reason for their split.
The singer asked to have her former name—Jennifer Lynn Lopez—back after their breakup. She also said in the official documents that she did not want either her or Ben to be awarded spousal support and that she wanted their assets and debts to be separated.
The former couple started dating in 2002, but two years later, they called off their engagement and started their own families with other partners.
It wasn't until 2021 that they reignited their romance and married twice: first, in an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas, and then in a formal affair in Georgia in 2022.
