Ben Affleck Breaks His Silence on Jennifer Lopez Divorce

Ben Affleck says what people believe led to his second split from Jennifer Lopez is wrong. One of Hollywood’s most talked about couples ended their first engagement in 2004 before rekindling their flame in 2021 and marrying in 2022 before another heartbreaking split for the Selena star.

Fans believed their lifestyle differences led to their breakup. Affleck was allegedly open about his desire to keep their romance out of the public eye while Lopez opted to share, but he says that’s not the cause of their marital demise.

In hindsight, fans pointed to Lopez’s 2024 documentary about their marriage – The Greatest Love Story Never Told – as the breaking point. Affleck says despite his hesitation to participate, he obliged out of love for his then-wife.

“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 in a chat with GQ. The Accountant star admits Lopez to be someone who has “handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have,” adding, “My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers.”

“As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things,”he continued. “And so I thought, Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that? Because … I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that.”

Regarding the documentary, Affleck recalled how he said something along the lines of, ” ‘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,’ ” he noted.

Later on, he said he “[doesn’t mind]” talking about his “personal life a little … as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated, which I hope I was clear that really [Lopez] is somebody I have a lot of respect for.”