Bennifer is Over, Again, After JLo Files For Divorce! | Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck's Love Story

[Music] Jennifer Lopez finally files for divorce from Ben Affleck Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are calling it quits [Applause] Again Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's second shot at love coming to an end but were there signs the rumors have now proved to be true benifer is over again and just when we thought they'd finally got it right but what happened wait before we discuss that let's recap how it all began what we going to do right here is go back way back back into time just like her career Jennifer Lopez's personal life would also soar to new heights in the early 2000s on September 29th 2001 she would marry for the second time to her former B dancer Chris Jud whom she'd met the year before on the set of her Love Don't Cost a Thing music video The non-denominational ceremony took place at a private residence in Calabasas California just a few miles Northwest of Los Angeles and was attended by about 170 guests that December Jennifer began work on a new film called gie where she would be the leading lady the leading man would be Oscar winner Ben Affleck for the next several months the two would form a close friendship while working side by side after the movie wrapped in March 2002 Ben let Jennifer and the rest of the world know just how much he enjoyed the experience by taking out full page ads about it in variety and The Hollywood Reporter Affleck was so captivated by Lopez that he took out full page ads in variety and The Hollywood Reporter praising his co-star's Beauty and courage as well as her Poise and true Grace he gushes about her in this ad that he has to pay for and take out it's for the whole world world to see now if you're Chris jut I don't know how you take that the next month Jennifer's restaurant Madres had its grand opening madre's open on April 12th 2002 with a celebrity studded [Applause] [Music] party Jennifer arrived on the arm of husband Chris Jud tons of celebrities showed up for the event including Ben and who shows up but Ben Affleck and he brings her flowers Jenn Chris Jud is being told oh can you get out of the pictures you know even though he was a part of creating the grand opening the whole thing just seems so like uh-uh this is not good later it was revealed that Ben was the one who came up with the restaurant's name I talking to Ben affle and I'm like I need a name for my restaurant and I can't find it and it's like has that family kind of feeling like you know when you go to your grandmother's house maybe mama or Papas and Ben alick says what about M's and I go you know what that's a good idea on July 24th Jennifer celebrated her 33rd birthday one of the gifts she received was a beautiful diamond bracelet from Ben the very next day less than one year after tying the knot Jennifer filed for divorce from Chris citing irreconcilable differences JLo wouldn't be solo for long though before the ink was dry on the divorce papers her and Ben officially came out as a couple naturally due to the timing of her relationship with Chris ending and her relationship with Ben beginning the question of overlap between the two kept coming up actually rumors about something going on between Jen and Ben had already popped up during the filming of xie we met like at a couple of the parties you know we barely paid any attention to each other at all just like hi hi you know saying you iced me at the no you iced me but we met we met when we did the we did the uh the readr for the movie yeah the readr the first readr yeah and he was smitten with her immediately so I think as close as love at first sight as you can get they had a lot of chemistry on the set she vehemently denied that she and Ben had been romantic prior to her divorce we became friends first we worked together you know um and we basically just became friends and then after that kind of we stopped working together I came to New York to do ma in Manhattan and I was here all you know all summer and everything then after that he came to New York and and you were friends up to all this time yes oh I can't believe that you know we became friends first us and I think that was kind of different for me um usually it's more of like an attraction thing right off that I think a lot of a lot of girls do that and um actually we worked together and we became friends first and there was really no kind of ever an idea of it going beyond that at that time because the whole thing was totally off limits you know we we did end up becoming friends pl we told each other too much yeah tell me about that she said said you gave you gave up too much information about each I probably I you know because you know when you're not trying to impress somebody cuz you don't think that they're going to be you don't think that you're ever going to be dating them so you're like whatever it doesn't matter I don't have to impress her you know what I mean and you like yeah yeah I did do that you know what I mean or you'll kind of admit to things that you wouldn't necess and the truth is probably you know we all try to put this he told me about all his ex-girlfriends and everything that's what I mean you know and let's dial that down that's yeah so so anyways we we you know when you you put out like a kind of a representative it's like Chris Rock says when you're trying to meet it's like the two Representatives he wasy you know and and instead I just you know and I think she was the same way so we kind of were kind of a cool way to do it so it was great we get to know each other know the real person the real person in addition there were also claims that her relationship with Chris was already on the Rocks before she even met them by the fall of 2002 the couple were busy shooting their second film together Jersey girl it was around this time that the media started referring to them as benefer as if doing two movies together wasn't enough Ben would also Star as Jen's leading man in the music video for her single Jenny from the blog in October Ben took Jennifer to his parents home in Boston where he planned to ask her a very special question we go back and we're supposed to just basically spend the weekend with his family and then when we got there we go to walk into the house drive there and he was like a little nervous but I didn't I didn't know why and he kept calling and saying you know things like you know you know how much I love you and you know how much I want to spend my life with you know all this stuff and I'm like yeah like it was a little bit too much during the day and I was just like what is going on you know and then finally we get to the house and we walk in oh that was another thing he kept saying how the house it's going to be a mess and they probably have pizza there for us and I'm like stop it already it's fine it's enough what are you explaining like you don't have to explain those things to me I grew up just like you did it's fine you know so we walk up to the the house and I see like little candles up the stairs and I'm like oh look how cute his mom must have heard that I like candles or something from the tabloids you know what I mean so she put him up the stairs that's sweet and um he opens the door and it is just a blanket a quilt of rose petals all over the whole entire house and just everything was just so so many candles and vases with bouquet and and my song Glad was playing and I walk in and I'm just like overwhelmed like I wasn't expecting it and I was just like oh my God and then I kept thinking I was like how did he do this because we were in Philadelphia working and I was like who did this and he was like my mom helped me do it and I just started soing cry I was like oh my God and it was just the most it was the best day of my life did he know what you'd say I'm sure yeah um well it was funny because you know he had um written this letter which he says was really too long he didn't realize how long until he started reading it and I was crying a lot you know what and he's reading it reading and telling me all the stuff that he wanted to tell me as you know I guess he proposed at the end he was he just said will you marry me and I was just like and he he had the ring out but I didn't want to look at the ring cuz I could tell it was pink and I was just like oh God it can't be pink on top of it I was just too much for me to handle I was just like oh my God I was like I can't he was like baby look at it I was like I can't I can't you know and he was just like look at it and I looked at the ring and I was like oh my God it was just it's the most magnificent thing and he was like you haven't answered me I was like oh yeah yeah yes yes the following month she released her third studio album titled this is me then a project clearly dedicated to and inspired by Ben Jennifer's love for Ben became the primary inspiration for her third album this is me then the whole album with the exception of one or two songs was about that time in my life which had a lot to do with him things seemingly continued to go well between the now engaged cou far into the next year it seemed Lady Luck was still on Jennifer Lopez's side come 2002 with yet another number one album under her belt it was to be her romance with actor Ben Affleck that was to create a worldwide stir the paparazzi followed them everywhere every single moment of their engagement of their life was chronicled and this is where we saw kind of a I know a cleaned up Ben Affleck he started wearing Gucci and all of our and being really dressed up and slick back hair a very different Ben outf than we're used to I love him and I and I'm very happy we're together and he's very happy and we know that we're going to be reported on and everything we do is going to be reported on I'm just looking at the ring I can't help it it's beautiful thank you it is beautiful this is a very beautiful ring going to have to compromise I think we're we're really being um conscious of each other's schedules and how we're going to do things and it's going to be tough it's going to be hard but and like I said there's going to be compromise but I think we'll work it out because we want to and I think that's the most important thing that you want to kind of work it out it's not like this relationship is taking up too much of my time you know what I mean it's not like that type of situation we actually both wanted to work a year and a half after filming wrapped XI was finally ready to be launched the red carpet Premiere took place in LA on July 27th 2003 where Jennifer took the opportunity to show off another extravagant gift from her man a canary yellow rang then 3 Days Later news broke about an alleged wild night Ben had at a Vancouver strip club while on a break from the set of his movie Paycheck apparently the wildness also included him crossing the line with one of the strippers his Camp denied that anything scandalous happened xie opened on August 1st the reviews were so bad it soon got pulled from theaters in August of 2003 at the peak of benifer Reign Over Hollywood X had a mentally poor showing at the box office I don't think anyone's going to defend jie as a great film but I think that it was way overplayed how bad it was um it was made fun of nobody could watch that film with any objectivity paying one bit of attention to the plot the couple's embarrassment escalated after some critics dub XI the worst movie of all time Jen and Ben had the best distraction from all the negativity though their wedding the date was set September 14th 2003 at an estate in mono California approximately 100 Mil from Los Angeles 5 days before however Jen and Ben released the following joint statement due to the excessive media tension surrounding our wedding we have decided to postpone the date when we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate decoy Brides at three different locations we realized that something was aai we began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of Our Lives could be compromised we felt what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us our families and our friends the cancel nuptial turned out to be the best thing they could have done since Just 4 months later in January 2004 benifer would be no more he was used to being kind of a media darling you know the guy who wrote The Amazing script and won the Oscar and was always looked at as incredible and now he was you know something else tabloid father and how did this happen and when it started falling apart it started kind of imploding From the Inside Out Just days before their wedding in September 2003 Ben got cold feet he didn't leave me at the altar but a few days before the wedding we did call it off the pressures from the outside world plus what was going on within our relationship which is just personal and private it was it was starting to come apart at the seams and even though we were trying to hold together it was slipping through our fingers and I had to face that fact around that time Ben affle was gambling and that was said to be one of the main issues Ben also spent some time in a strip club that caused quite a bit of controversy for months gosip columnists have been asking will they won't they and this week JLo has the answer and then right days before their wedding they call it off on January 20th 2004 the couple announced a permanent split fans speculated that Jennifer had been fed up with Ben's immaturity and gambling but the Tabloid frenzy couldn't have help Ben and Jen went out to dinner one night and she gave him the ultimatum she said you know you're going to marry me or this is over and he said then this is over on January 20th 2004 Ben and Jen made it official the engagement was off the announce had a domino effect the director of the couple's second collaboration Jersey Girl decided the film needed emergency surgery there is a there was a wedding shot about 12 seconds long which he's wearing a gown he's wearing a tux people are whipping rice at him and then they kiss so when they didn't get married uh it just felt like leaving that in would just be a little creepy you want people going like I saw an e that they didn't get married one reason why some of Jennifer Lopez's um performance didn't end up in the movie is that Jersey girl was released in the wake of so Kevin Smith realized that people didn't want to see um Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez together Jersey Girl premiered on March 26th 2004 once jile kind of Tanked to the box office I realized our movie would never open up at number one in fact the film landed in fifth place and only grossed $8 million opening weekend still director Kevin Smith did not blame Jennifer and Ben I don't regret they went out a I like got late B I got much better performance out of him and her because they were in love at the time I have really great memories of doing this movie it's wonderful I I loved it I love every minute of it and I'm really proud of it I'm still friends with Jen and we're on very good terms in April 2021 after Jennifer had just ended her engagement to former MLB player Alex Rodriguez and Ben had split with actress Ana de armas the two were spotted hanging out again sources claimed that the pair being spotted together was pure early platonic though since they'd always maintained a friendship that July in an Instagram post compiling a bunch of images from her 52nd birthday celebration Jennifer ended the collection of pics with a photo of her and Ben kissing it was the official public confirmation that they had in fact rekindled their relationship one year later in an exclusive video published in her personal fan newsletter Jennifer announced that she and Ben had gotten engaged for the second time 20 years after after the first proposal the video showed her grinning from ear to ear as she showed off her pale green diamond engagement ring with an inscription on the inside saying not going anywhere he hands me ring and he said it's a green diamond my favorite color feeling so lucky is not often you get a second chance at true love we feel very lucky I love you I love you too on the inside of this ring right here my engagement ring that he gave me it says not period going period anywhere period uh where in my first diamond ring he gave me the pink diamond ring it said sing and this one he put not period going period anywhere period because that's how he would sign his emails when we started talking again the couple were married in Las Vegas on July 16th 2022 and held a wedding celebration for family and friends the following month in Georgia then in April 2024 people started noticing that Jen and Ben hadn't been spotted together for weeks the next month it was revealed that Ben had moved out of their shared home in Beverly Hills benifer 2.0 were definitely on the Rocks while sources claimed that even though they were living separate lives there was still hope for the pairs relationship sadly everything that happened after that would only further speak to to their marriage being over Jennifer went on an Italian getaway in June and spent her 55th birthday on July 24th in the Hamptons without Ben oh yeah and their wedding anniversary on July 16th it came and went without a word about it from either of them something positive was trying to be made of Jennifer scene leaving Ben's rental home in LA on his birthday August 15th but all it may have been was a final farewell 5 days later on the second anniversary of their Georgia wedding Jennifer officially filed for divorce she submitted the paperwork herself instead of through a lawyer waved her right to spousal support and asked the judge to deny Ben the same type of payment according to the documents obtained by TMZ since they didn't have any children together there are no custody issues an Insider told NBC news that they did not have a prenuptual agreement meaning the money earned by both parties since their July 2022 wedding in Las Vegas is considered communal property between the couple additionally Jennifer listed the date of Separation as April 26th which is just days before the rumors of marital issues surfaced when she arrived at the Met Gala as a co-host without Ben so what happened this time some are already speculating that the answers are in Jennifer's documentary the greatest love story never told about her movie This Is Me Now a love story the romantic drama musical film and visual accompaniment to her ninth studio album also titled this is me now about her rekindled romance with Ben as well as a part two if you will to her 2002 album this is me then that was inspired by the couple's first go around they clearly had very different takes on what aspects of their relationship they were comfortable making public one obvious example can be seen in their feelings about Jennifer sharing all the letters and emails that they wrote to each other over the years dating back to when they first met with her collaborators to gain inspiration for the songs on this is me now on that first day I showed everybody this book this book is a book that Ben gave me on our first Christmas back together it is every letter and every email that we wrote to each other from 20 years ago and today the greatest love story never told by Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck 2001 and 2021 in counting I came to the house one day and and there was like she had told me the musicians are coming this great producer R blah blah blah and then I went down there and my book that I had given her was down there she was like I've been reading and people this is the kind of inspiration I've been showing them the book like you you been showing all the musicians all the letters that uh and they were like yeah we call you pen Affleck and have to oh my God Jennifer even admitted that Ben was reluctant to be featured in the revealing behind the scenes project Pro I don't think he's very comfortable with me doing all of this but he loves me he knows I'm an artist and he's going to support me in every way he can because he knows this is this he can't stop me from making the music I made and writing the words that I wrote he can't you know that's going to happen and he doesn't want to stop me he wants to do that but that doesn't mean he's you know kind of comfortable being the Muse and being Jen was really inspired by this experience which is how artists do their work they get inspired they person life it moves you I know as a writer and director like I certainly do the same things but things that are private I had always felt are sacred and special because in part they're private when Shen and I broke up for the Catalyst for that was this massive amount of scrutiny around our private life we bought a Bentley and drove around town with it you know it's like yeah take pictures of us it wasn't that we just we were just like celebrating our lives and our love I had a very firm sense of boundaries initially around like the Press while Jen I don't think objected to it in the in the way I did I very much did object to it getting back together I said listen one of the things I don't want is a relationship on social media then I sort of realized it's not a fair thing to ask it's sort of like you know you're going to marry a a boat captain and you go well I don't like the water you know we're just two people with kind of different approaches trying to learn to compromise this is all of course just speculation only time as well as the former coup's willingness to talk can reveal why Jen and Ben didn't end up living happily ever after [Music]