After weeks of growing concerns that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s relationship was in serious trouble, fans have begun to suspect that they’ve gone their separate ways for a second time.
Divorce rumours went into overdrive last week when the 54-year-old singer liked an Instagram post about broken relationships posted by a life coach who’d written, “You cannot build a healthy relationship with someone who lacks integrity and emotional safety”.
It followed a Hollywood insider revealing, “The writing is on the wall, it’s over” – after Ben had reportedly moved out of their £47 million mansion.
One fan responded to the drama, posting, “Too much baggage, too much money, too much desperation to maintain relevance and careers, too much scrutiny. How could it possibly have worked?”
And now sources tell Closer that Ben, 51, found it increasingly hard to live out his marriage to the megastar in the spotlight.
“J-Lo has built them into this super-brand, with Ben’s permission, but he’s had major regrets over agreeing to put their relationship in the spotlight,” a source tells us. “It got way too intense for him, and he feels the only way to save things now is to take stock.”
Ben was noticeably absent from his wife’s side when she co-chaired the Met Gala. He instead decided to stay on the west coast to shoot his sequel film, The Accountant 2. And insiders now have also said that their search for a new house in New York was called off and J-Lo is thought to have been house-hunting alone.
The source says, “This is a critical period for Ben as he makes final preparations for his next two big films. He doesn’t need more chaos in his life, self-inflicted or otherwise, and that’s exactly what his marriage with Jennifer turned into.
“Moving to New York was something Ben initiated a few months ago and Jennifer went along with it, even though her kids love living in LA,” the source adds. “Now Ben’s revising those plans and you can see the stress all over his face as he deals with this.”
The couple, who married in 2022 – having called off their first wedding in 2003 and splitting up due to the intensity of public interest – have become one of the most talked-about marriages in Hollywood. But for Ben, that seems to have taken its toll, and sources tell us that to save their relationship Jen might need to rethink things.
The source adds, “If they hope to salvage this relationship, they need to agree on a much more low-key lifestyle where their marriage is more private.”
