Jennifer Lopez’s Brutally Honest Reaction to Ben Affleck’s Back Tattoo Resurfaces

As Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck continue their whirlwind romance, the “Let’s Get Loud” singer’s reaction to her new beau’s massive back tattoo is coming back into focus. The new couple, who previously dated in the early 2000s and renewed their romance following Lopez’s split from Alex Rodriguez in April, were spotted getting cozy and soaking up the sun in St. Tropez, France over the weekend, and while Lopez may seem to have no qualms about Affleck’s rising phoenix tattoo now, she certainly wasn’t a fan of it back in 2016.

Affleck’s tattoo has been the topic of much chatter in the years before and since its debut in 2018 when it was fully revealed as he was shooting scenes for his Netflix film Triple Frontier, and Lopez didn’t hesitate to weigh in on the topic during a 2016 interview on Watch What Happens Live. Asked by Andy Cohen about her thoughts on the piece, Lopez declared it “awful.” The singer said, “I would tell him that, ‘like what are you doing? It has too many colors.’ His tattoos always have too many colors! They shouldn’t be so colorful, you know what I mean? They should be, like, cooler.”

Thankfully for Lopez, Affleck seems to mostly be keeping his massive back ink-covered amid their getaway. The couple embarked on a journey to St. Tropez to celebrate Lopez’s 52nd birthday and were spotted packing on the PDA as they enjoyed some quiet time together on a yacht. According to the Daily Mail, the couple flew to the French Riviera on a luxury private jet and were whisked away to a luxury $130M mega-yacht dubbed Malerie in the Mediterranean, where they were spotted exchanging kisses and embraces as they caught the sun’s rays.

Amid the getaway, the couple even went public with their relationship. On Saturday, Lopez shared the first photo of herself and Affleck on Instagram. The image, taken from her birthday celebration, showed Lopez kissing Affleck. She captioned that post, “5 2 … what it do …” Affleck was not tagged in the post.

Affleck and Lopez had first met on the set of the rom-com Gigli back in 2001. They went on to film Jersey Girl together in 2002. Following Lopez’s divorce from Chris Judd in 2003, she went public with her relationship with Affleck, and the couple became engaged in November 2002. However, just days before their wedding in December of that year, the couple called off the ceremony and ultimately called off their engagement in January 2004. Fast forward more than a decade, the duo rekindled their romance after Lopez and Rodriguez called off their engagement, saying they “realized we are better as friends.” According to a source who spoke to PEOPLE, Lopez and Affleck are “madly in love” and feel as though they have “been given a second chance.”