Ben Affleck Reveals What Caused ’50 Percent’ of His Jennifer Lopez Breakup

Ben Affleck didn’t hold back when telling Howard Stern what led to his first breakup with Jennifer Lopez. The actor says the two called off their engagement in 2004 because of the negative attention their relationship received at the time. 

“I would say it was about 50 percent [of what destroyed our relationship]. The idea that people hate you and they hate you together and that being together is poison and ugly and toxic and the thing none of us want to be part of,” Affleck said on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show. “And who the f–– would want to have them to dinner? And what the f–– are they doing together?”

Ben and Jennifer Lopez rekindled their romance earlier this year after she broke things off with her former fiance Alex Rodriguez. The Batman star began dating Lopez in 2002. They were quickly engaged the next year but didn’t make it down the aisle before calling it quits. Affleck went on to marry Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children: Seraphina, Violet and Samuel. Affleck and Garner went their separate ways in 2018. 

Affleck added that he had some apprehensions when it came to getting back together with Lopez due to his children. “Well, look, my responsibility to my children is the highest responsibility I have. So I won’t do anything that’s painful or destructive to them if I can help it,” he said.

“That being said, I know that my life affects them. I dropped my son off at school two days ago, and he’s the only one who will talk about it,” he continued. “He’s nine years old and there’s a bunch of the older boys out there doing some toy drive or something, and I heard them go, ‘Oh Ben Affleck, Ben Affleck.’ And my kid looks at me and goes, ‘#WelcomeToMyLife.’” 

Affleck went on to share what factors contributed to his 2018 divorce. “The truth was, we took our time, we made a decision, we grew apart. We had a marriage that did not work. This happens,” he said. “It is somebody I love and respect, but to whom I should not be married any longer.” 

“And then we said, ‘You know what? We tried. We tried, because we had kids,’” Affleck continued. “And then both of us felt like, ‘We don’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.’” The filmmaker also insinuated at one point of the interview that his marriage to Garner led to his eventual drinking problem, and shortly after reports came out that his “Let’s Get Loud” singer girlfriend was upset at the comments. Lopez later set the record straight telling PEOPLE that the stories were “simply not true.” “It is not how I feel,” she said, adding “I couldn’t have more respect for Ben as a father, a co-parent, and a person.”