He’s happily married to wife Jennifer Lopez – but last week, Ben Affleck raised eyebrows when he was pictured cosying up to his ex-wife Jennifer Garner in LA.
Ben and Jennifer, both 51, were spotted hugging it out in a car and having an affectionate moment together, before smiling and parting ways. The two have been co-parenting together since their 2015 split, remaining close friends.
And now insiders say J-Lo, 54 – who was away in New York attending Fashion Week when the cosy reunion took place – has been left fuming at the snaps.
A source says, “J-Lo’s absolutely furious and feels like she’s been blindsided by these pictures. Ben’s been insisting they were completely innocent – and J-Lo does believe him – but he’s also been unrepentant. He keeps saying Jennifer’s like his sister at this point and if J-Lo’s going to get jealous and throw tantrums over a harmless cuddle, then the problem’s on her. It’s a real war of attrition here that’s threatening to blow up.”
The Let’s Get Loud singer and the Gone Girl actor rekindled their romance in spring 2021, two decades after their initial relationship. They then tied the knot the following year in Las Vegas – before holding a much more lavish second ceremony in Georgia months later.
The showbiz pair first began dating in 2002 after meeting on the set of rom-com Gigli, getting engaged after just four months. But although it seemed the couple had found their happy ending, their love story wasn’t meant to be – with J-Lo and Ben calling it quits on their engagement in 2004. Opening up about their split in recent years, Ben shared that the negative attention contributed to “50 per cent” of their split.
In the years that followed, Jen married singer-turned-actor Marc Anthony, 55, going on to have twins Maximilian and Emme, now 15. Meanwhile, Ben married actress Jennifer in 2005, welcoming daughters Violet, now 17, Seraphina, 14, and son Samuel, 11, before splitting in 2015.
Despite their marriage breakdown, Ben and Jennifer remained close pals – with Jennifer supporting her ex-husband through his battles with alcoholism. Back in 2018, Ben was spotted being driven to rehab by his estranged wife, later saying, “I’m very grateful and respectful of Jennifer”.
The source says, “J-Lo doesn’t begrudge Ben from having a friendship with Jennifer. She knows they have a tight bond, she doesn’t ultimately suspect he’d want to go back to her and of course she recognises they’ll always have a need to stay in contact because of their children – it’s the exact same situation as hers is with Marc. But she makes the point that you’ll never see her cuddling up in a car with her ex, it’s simply not on and he’s sending a very strange message to the world in general if he thinks differently.”
Since Ben and J-Lo rekindled their flame, they’ve become one big blended family – with both Jennifer and J-Lo spending time together, as well as embracing their new step-children.
But with rumours swirling that the odd bit of tension is arising between the happy couple – including a frosty exchange at the Grammys – J-Lo doesn’t want any more slips-ups from Ben. The source reveals, “J-Lo has said she wants very little to do with Jennifer now moving forward, which is a real shame as they’d managed to put those initial differences aside and build a solid rapport.”
And after pictures of J-Lo and Ben looking closer than ever emerged the day after Ben’s close encounter with his ex-wife, the source says it was all in the name of damage control – setting down some rules moving forward.
The source adds, “J-Lo’s second reaction was to organise a public outing and make sure everyone saw them together the next day looking happy. That’s classic J-Lo – always quick to do damage control on the surface while she raises merry hell behind the scenes.
“For her, there needs to be strict ground rules moving forward. She intends to bring this up in therapy as well, and Ben won’t get her to drop it by being stubborn. She says if the shoe were on the other foot, he’d be livid too – and she’s probably not wrong!”