From trysts in LA and Montana to non-stop gushing about each other – signs JLo and Ben are back together
HOLLYWOOD has been rocked by scandals in recent years, but finally there is one story that has film fans rejoicing. Seventeen years after they called off their wedding, actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been spotted together on holiday at a luxury ski resort in Montana, US. Our pictures yesterday showed the pair sharing […]
HOLLYWOOD has been rocked by scandals in recent years, but finally there is one story that has film fans rejoicing.
Seventeen years after they called off their wedding, actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been spotted together on holiday at a luxury ski resort in Montana, US.
Our pictures yesterday showed the pair sharing a ride after flying into the state on a private jet last week for the cosy trip. They returned to LA on Saturday.
The news whipped fans into a frenzy, wondering if “Bennifer” could be back on. The signs are looking good.
After all, this was no chance reunion.
Oscar-winner Ben, 48, has been snapped visiting J-Lo, 51, at her California home three times in one week.
The pair are said to have stayed pals since their break-up in early 2004.
A few months earlier, they had announced they were postponing their wedding a day before it was due to take place.
And the fact that they are now both single has reignited a flame that friends say never really went out.
Ben split from Cuban actress Ana de Armas, 33, in January, while Jennifer called off her engagement to ex-baseball pro Alex “A-Rod” Rodriguez, 45, last month.
One source told People: “They have a lot of love for each other. They have always admired each other.”
Pictures showed Ben at the Hotel Bel-Air on April 22, where hours later Jennifer was seen leaving in her white SUV.
On April 28, Ben was snapped heading to Jennifer’s £20million mansion in the same upmarket Los Angeles neighbourhood.
A day later, Ben was picked up by Jennifer’s white SUV from Hotel Bel-Air and the same car dropped him off at the same spot later in the day.
The Batman actor lives alone in affluent Pacific Palisades, around eight miles from J-Lo.
‘BEN’S BEEN PRAISING JEN’
Friends think Ben has been waiting for the singer to become single.
A source said before the meetings last month: “It’s no coincidence that Ben’s been praising Jen to high heaven now that he’s single again.
“Her and Ben’s split had nothing to do with a lack of attraction for each other, he was just disillusioned with the whole fame game. But they’ve both mellowed so much over the past 18 years, they’re on very good terms and have chatted a lot recently.
“They don’t have much to lose by giving it another try. Ben is willing to be patient.”
One US gossip site even insisted Ben had been bombarding J-Lo with romantic emails as far back as February when she was still with A-Rod.
The stars’ camps have played down rumours of a reunion, with an insider saying: “They are friends . . . they’ve never not been.”
It’s no coincidence that Ben’s been praising Jen to high heaven now that he’s single again.
But the exes have been gushing about one another in the media over the past few months.
In April, Ben praised Jennifer for her age-defying beauty in a magazine tribute to the star’s 30-year career.
He said: “Where are you keeping the fountain of youth? Why do you look the same as you did in 2003 and it kind of looks like I’m in my 40s . . . at best?”
In the same piece for InStyle, Jennifer responded: “Ben is funny! He still looks pretty good too.”
The pair met in 2002 on the set of box-office flop Gigli, while Jennifer was still married to her second husband, Cris Judd, 51.
After she dumped the dancer that same year, Ben and Jen went public with their romance, earning the nickname “Bennifer”.
He didn’t waste any time, proposing with a 6.1 carat pink diamond ring in November 2002 shortly after appearing in Jennifer’s music video for hit single Jenny From The Block.
In the video, which poked fun at the media, the couple are followed by the paparazzi as they canoodle on a yacht and read magazine articles about themselves.
But a day before they were due to get married in Santa Barbara in September 2003, the pair announced they were postponing the wedding.
They said: “Due to the excessive media attention 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 realised that something was awry.
“We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised.”
They split in early 2004. But Ben recently noted how the world is a very different place now.
He told a US podcast in January: “People were so f***ing mean about her — sexist, racist.
“Ugly, vicious s**t was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now you would literally be fired.
“Now it’s like, she’s lionised and respected for the work she did, where she came from, what she accomplished — as well she should be.”
Likewise, Hustlers star Jennifer last month reflected on her fame in the early Noughties and time as Bennifer.
She said: “I would do it all again, I think. Even the relationship part.”
But it’s not the first time J-Lo has hinted her relationship with Ben could have flourished under different circumstances.
Speaking in 2016, she said: “We just happened to be together at the birth of the tabloids, and it was like ‘Oh, my God’. It was just a lot of pressure.
“I think different time, different thing, who knows what could’ve happened? There was a genuine love there.”
I would do it all again, I think. Even the relationship part.
JLo
Bennifer moved on quickly.
J-Lo married Marc Anthony, 52, just six months after her split from Ben.
She had briefly dated the Latin singer in the Nineties and they recorded duet No Me Ames together in 1999.
They went on to have twins Emme and Max in 2008, but separated three years later.
J-Lo revealed in 2016 she had known early on that the marriage would not last: “I hung in there for seven years. I knew very quickly it wasn’t the right thing.”
Jennifer had a five-year romance with choreographer Casper Smart — 18 years her junior — then met A-Rod in 2017.
They got engaged two years later, but the relationship was rocked by rumours of his infidelity. He has denied the claims.
In an echo of her romance with Ben, Jen twice postponed their wedding, both times blaming the pandemic.
But in March, it was alleged Alex had grown close to US reality star Madison LeCroy.
The Southern Charm star insisted they had only ever spoken on the phone, and added: “He’s never physically cheated on his fiancée with me.” By April 15, J-Lo had called off the engagement.
Their statement read: “We have realised we are better as friends and look forward to remaining so.”
Meanwhile, Ben went public with his romance with Pearl Harbor co-star Jennifer Garner, 49, in October 2004.
‘IT WAS A DEAL-BREAKER’
He later told how he had fallen in love with Garner on the set of their 2002 action movie, Daredevil — around the same time he was involved with J-Lo.
Of Garner, he said in 2017: “We met on Pearl Harbor, which people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil.”
The couple had three children together, Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, nine.
But they announced they were getting divorced in June 2015, following much-denied rumours Ben had cheated with the family nanny, Christine Ouzounian. Over the next two years Ben attended rehab for alcohol addiction.
He later said: “I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront.
“I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be.”
He also dated TV writer Lindsay Shookus, 40, and had a two-month fling with 22-year-old Playboy model Shauna Sexton, 25, in 2018.
A year later, while filming psychological thriller Deep Water together, he had a relationship with Ana. But the No Time To Die actress and Ben split in January, allegedly due to him not wanting more kids.
A gardener was later seen throwing a life-size cardboard cutout of Ana into the bins outside Ben’s home.
A source said: “He would not commit to having more kids. She is in her thirties. It was a deal-breaker.”
Another source said “Ben is not in a place to start a new family. Both he and Ana have three jobs lined up.”
Ben, who won an Oscar for Best Screenplay for Good Will Hunting in 1998 and another for 2012’s Argo, is soon to appear in Ridley Scott’s historical drama The Last Duel.
He will also reprise his role as Batman in The Flash, set for release next year.
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Jennifer’s career has gone from strength to strength. She was nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild award for 2019’s Hustlers. And she performed at US President Joe Biden’s inauguration in January, watched by 33.8million people worldwide.
Ben gushed last month: “I’m so happy for her. She seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves.”
And their fans are so happy that, at long last, the power couple could finally be back together.