Ben Affleck Ditches His Wedding Ring Amidst Jennifer Lopez Divorce Rumors

Ben Affleck was photographed without his wedding ring on Friday night amid rumors of marital strife between him and Jennifer Lopez. Days after InTouch Weekly first reported that the couple were “headed for divorce,” TMZ published pictures of Affleck with his left ring finger bare in Los Angeles. So far, he and Lopez have not commented on the widespread speculation about their status.

The new paparazzi pictures show Affleck adjusting the sun visor in his car, which gave photographers a clear view of his left hand with his fingers splayed. There was no wedding band to be found, though in similar candid photos, he never seemed to be without the ring. Internet sleuths believe that Affleck was wearing his ring up until Thursday. Affleck was on his way to his children’s school on Friday for a recital.

Other than the ring, all the biggest stories about Affleck and Lopez in the last week have been based on anonymous sources close to them speaking to reporters. An insider told Us Weekly that they are no longer living together, which paired with paparazzi photos of Affleck leaving a different L.A. neighborhood from the one that he and Lopez live in together. Another source told PEOPLE that Affleck and Lopez did not celebrate Mother’s Day together.

Affleck and Lopez have spoken publicly about the struggles in their relationship before – both in the early 2000s and during their reunion over the last three years. In Lopez’s recently released documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Affleck admitted that publicity and social media are challenging for him, while Lopez embraces them more. He said that the two are striving to “compromise” on that issue. This is comparable to their broken engagement in 2004 when excessive media attention prompted them to cancel their wedding.

On Thursday, an anonymous InTouch insider claimed that Affleck and Lopez are in marriage counseling together, but that Affleck is not particularly enthusiastic about it. They said “Ben believes in therapy, to a point, and is willing to be a good sport about participating with an open mind, even though he hates the whole humiliating process. He’s never going to gauge the success of this marriage by what happens in the therapist’s office.”

Affleck and Lopez have not commented publicly on the speculative reports about them emerging over the last week. This is not the first time such stories have proliferated in the last few years.