Their bitter split may have rocked the showbiz world, but Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck tried to put on a united front at a family lunch last week – though an insider tells Closer that things were a lot less cordial than they appeared.
J.Lo, 55, and Ben, 52, have been trying to get along in front of their kids – her twins, Emme and Max, 16, as well as Ben’s children, Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, that he shares with ex-wife, Jennifer Garner. But they’re reportedly finding it almost impossible to stay civil, and fans noticed the tense body language between the pair in pictures taken of them at the lunch.
An insider reveals, ‘J.Lo has so much resentment. She’s been a lot more icy towards Ben and made it plain that she’ll never forgive him for giving up on the marriage in such a cold-hearted way. She’s agreed to play nice and try to look past this for the sake of the kids, but the tension is palpable.
‘They’d been bickering a lot over the phone even before this meet-up, which went about as badly as everyone had feared. The feeling is that the sooner the ink’s dry on the divorce papers, the better it will be for everyone.’
The singer and Batman star filed for divorce in August after two years of marriage, though they famously first dated back in 2001 and got engaged, later blaming the intensity of public interest in their relationship for their first break-up in 2004. The marriage broke down this year, shortly after J.Lo released The Greatest Love Story Never Told, a documentary that heavily featured their romance. Now, sources say that the two stars are struggling to navigate their public break-up, and that J.Lo in particular is determined to put on a brave face for the cameras.
‘They could have hung out in private with the kids, but they purposely chose the Beverly Hills Hotel to make a statement, and J.Lo was the one who pushed for that. Image is everything to her – she’s desperate to kill this narrative that Ben dumped her and moved on without looking back, that’s just too humiliating.’
As Closer previously reported, Ben has been spotted with actress and activist Kathleen ‘Kick’ Kennedy, and J.Lo is reportedly struggling with the fact that her ex may have moved on so quickly.
Our source continues, ‘She still can’t wrap her head around the way he’s treated her and, as angry as she is right now, there’s no doubt that she would jump at it if he offered to call off this divorce. He’s insisting that he isn’t going back, but he’s gone along with her request to put on this charade for the cameras. They’re saying this was all about showing the kids they’re still amicable, but everyone knows it was more about her ego and wanting to be seen with Ben. She’s still vulnerable to him and his manipulations, so any scrap of affection he shows her really gets her head spinning.
‘But you can never say never with these two. Miracles can happen and she’s certainly praying for one. Still, the way Ben’s talking, he seems as determined as ever to move ahead with divorce.’
