In the past months, the notion that J.Lo and Ben Affleck are hurdling toward divorce has gone from tabloid speculation to scientifically valid theory. The mounting pile of evidence is impossible to ignore: Affleck got a new bachelor pad and a breakup haircut, J.Lo celebrated her birthday solo, and their ring fingers are bare more often than not. The writing is on the wall and Ben Affleck’s skull — Bennifer may really be breaking up. I am upset, sad, and stressed about the logistics of their Dunkin’ endorsement deal. Here’s a timeline of how we got here.
February 2024: The couple seems to have some tension in The Greatest Love Story Never Told.
In retrospect, it seems like J.Lo’s February documentary may have touched on some of the couple’s tension. In the movie, Affleck talks about not wanting to have such a publicized relationship and admits he and his wife are “trying to learn to compromise” when it comes to social media. The documentary also has J.Lo showing a whole bunch of people private love letters Affleck wrote to her, a choice he doesn’t seem too pleased with.
May 2024: Anonymous tabloid sources say they’ve called it quits and Affleck moves out.
In mid-May, In Touch claimed to have heard from an “insider” that “the writing is on the wall” for Bennifer — “it’s over.” The tabloid’s source claimed “they waited almost two decades to get back together, but in the end, they just couldn’t make it work.” Per the chatty insider, Affleck had already moved out of their house, abandoning the 24 bathrooms to “focus on his work and his kids.” The bottom line? “They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.” A few days later, the tabloid claimed J.Lo had hired a crisis PR firm and divorce lawyer extraordinaire Laura Wasser (who happens to have handled the dissolution of both J.Lo’s and Affleck’s prior marriages).
Speaking with a similarly confident source, “Page Six” reported that Affleck had “come to his senses” re: J.Lo and “understands there is just no way this is going to work.” Referring to their relationship as “a fever dream,” the source added, “If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would.” Additional sources later told the outlet that Bennifer’s marriage has actually been over since March. Another drastic statement made its way to Us Weekly, where a source claimed Affleck felt “worn down” by their marriage and “doesn’t agree with Jennifer’s lifestyle.” Yikes?
Someone else purportedly close to Lopez told Us the couple has been having “significant arguments” about things like finances and parenting and also have “fundamentally different approaches to conflict.” According to Us, the couple is “on two completely different pages most of the time” and have been “having issues” for a few months since J.Lo “started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour.”
Also around this time, tabloids started reporting that Affleck had decamped to a $100,000-a-month mansion in Brentwood, two blocks from his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, who has paid him a few visits. Confirmation of his new residence came via TMZ, which published a blurry photo of him zooming away from said residence, signature cig dangling from his (still wedding-ringed) hand.
May 22, 2024: J.Lo presses on with her movie release, but no one is allowed to ask her questions about her marriage.
The Atlas press tour was bound to be plagued by these rumors — at least until a reporter in Mexico City asked J.Lo in Spanish, “Is your divorce with Ben Affleck real?” Her co-star Simu Liu indignantly jumped in with an “Okay, we’re not doing that,” but before they moved on, J.Lo leaned forward and told the asker, “You know better than that.” According to TMZ, Netflix had explicitly told press not to ask J.Lo questions about Affleck or her personal life.
June 2024: J.Lo cancels her This Is Me … Live tour.
In June, things took a drastic turn when J.Lo suddenly called off her splashy summer tour, which was supposed start at the end of the month and run through August. In a statement included on her website, J.Lo shared that she’s “taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends.” She added, “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary.”
It was becoming increasingly hard to deny that Bennifer’s mood was bleak. One source told the Daily Mail that Lopez, who was seen taking a restorative Italian vacation with her girlfriends, was “over” trying to make their marriage work: “Jenny has had enough and she really tried but she can do no more, it’s not getting any better, it’s worse.”
July 2024: They can’t decide whether to keep their rings on, but they’re not hanging out.
Bennifer spent the Fourth of July apart, which was not the best news for people who believe love can persevere. Yet both Affleck and Lopez had their wedding rings back on after a few public appearances with bare ring fingers. Did this mean that they had worked things out?
I’m sorry to say, I don’t think so. But Bennifer did make up their minds about their house: They don’t want it. TMZ dug up a very unquiet $68 million public listing for their 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom mansion, suggesting they were eager to get rid of their former love nest. The painful real-estate deals didn’t stop there — a few weeks later, Affleck reportedly bought his own $20 million house in the Pacific Palisades.
As you have probably guessed by now, these two also spent July largely apart — J.Lo was in the Hamptons, where she celebrated her 55th birthday with a Bridgerton-themed party. Had she done this last year, we might have been blessed with the image of Affleck grimacing in a powder-blue Regency tailcoat, but not now. Instead, he and his midlife motorcycle have been skulking around L.A. with a huge mysterious duffel. The couple didn’t even reunite for their two-year elopement anniversary.
August 2024: Affleck gets a haircut
Though he tends to walk around with a severe case of resting divorce face, Affleck recently started to plumb new depths of how divorced a man can look. In early August, he debuted a freshly mowed faux-hawk. He also started exploring a long-nascent corner of his wardrobe involving Red Hot Chili Peppers merch and biceps-hugging leather jackets. This is not the garb of a man currently on speaking terms with his significant other. Rumor has it, though, that he’s gearing up to play Hulk Hogan in a Gus Van Sant movie, so that could be a factor here.
In more concrete evidence, the Daily Mail claimed that, after one last stab at reconciliation, Bennifer have “finalized but not yet turned in” divorce documents, with TMZ blaming the slow pace of the process on the fact that the pair are no longer speaking to each other.
One source speaking with “Page Six” offered some insight re: Affleck’s state of mind, calling his marriage to J.Lo “the most elaborate and expensive exercise in closure ever.” Apparently, these two have finally “seen all they need to see, and it’s over.”
August 11, 2024: The couple is seen under the same roof.
Signs of a slight thaw have emerged. J.Lo was seen hanging out with Affleck’s 12-year-old son, Samuel — they went shopping, and Samuel appears to have invested in a bottle of Creed cologne. Nice. After dropping him off at his mom Jennifer Garner’s house, J.Lo headed to Affleck’s rental, where she spent five hours doing … couples therapy? Arbitration? No one knows. (Presumably, he was inside?) The level of privacy doesn’t exactly suggest things are looking up, but if they are back on speaking terms, at least that means something is moving along, whether it’s divorce or reconciliation.
This post has been updated.
