Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck Get Bad News on the Home Front Following Engagement

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez had reason to celebrate over the weekend after getting engaged, but they got a bad case of the Mondays to start the week. The couple reportedly learned they would no longer be moving into a $55 million estate in Bel-Air. Lopez announced their engagement in the latest issue of her On the JLo newsletter Friday.

Sources close to the Bel-Air estate’s seller told TMZ the deal collapsed out of escrow. It’s unclear what happened, but a buyer can pull out of a deal during the inspection period. Affleck and Lopez must have seen something about the mansion they did not like and withdrew their offer. TMZ spotted the two visiting other estates in Beverly Hills and Bel-Air, all valued between $64 million and $72 million.

On April 4, Lopez was spotted furniture shopping with her daughter Emme. The photos, published on TMZ, showed Lopez wearing a giant ring on her ring finger, instantly sparking engagement rumors. It did not take Lopez long to confirm the news, as she shared a brief video in her On the JLo newsletter on April 8. In the clip, set to her song “Dear Ben,” she showed off the ring. Lopez captioned the video, “Life is an art…and we are the artists…make it as beautiful as you want and create exactly what you want it to be…the JLo effect.” Affleck has not commented on the engagement.

Lopez and Affleck were famously engaged from November 2002 until January 2004. They were under near-constant watch by the paparazzi during “Bennifer 1.0,” and the couple later said the added pressure played a role in their first split. “Bennifer 2.0” began in April 2021, after Affleck broke up with Ana de Armas and Lopez ended her engagement to Alex Rodriguez. The two began spending more and more time together, and their relationship soon turned romantic again.

Unlike their first engagement, Affleck and Lopez have been more successful at keeping their relationship out of the spotlight. They did not make their first red carpet appearance together until September 2010 at the Venice Film Festival premiere of Affleck’s The Last Duel. In February, they made another public appearance together at a screening of Lopez’s movie Marry Me.

“I am in awe of what Jennifer’s effect on the world is. At most, as an artist, I can make movies that move people. Jennifer has inspired a massive group of people to feel they have a seat at the table in this country,” Affleck told AdWeek in a September interview. “That is an effect few people throughout history have had, one I will never know and one I can only stand by and admire with respect.”