Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s love story is a long one, full of highs and lows and lots of passion.
However, Billboard confirmed on August 21, 2024, that the “Waiting for Tonight” singer officially filed for divorce from the actor after two years of marriage. The documents list the date of separation as April 26, 2024.
The marriage marked Lopez’s fourth wedding, following Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony. Lopez shares twins Emme and Max with Anthony.
Affleck was previously married to Jennifer Garner. Together, they share Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
Lopez and Affleck first began dating in 2002 after meeting on the set of Gigli, the first of two movies they would star in together (the second being Jersey Girl in 2004), before getting engaged. The couple delayed their planned 2003 wedding before calling it quits in 2004.
Nearly two decades later, the couple rekindled their romance in 2021. Just a month after the couple tied the knot in Las Vegas, Bennifer celebrated their marriage in August 2022 in front of family and friends at their home in Riceboro on the Hampton Island preserve outside of Savannah, Ga.
See below for a full timeline of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship.
A meet-cute is the scene in a movie where two soon-to-be lovebirds meet for the first time. But for these two A-listers, their meet-cute actually happened while on the set of the comedy film Gigli, which came out in 2003. At the time, J. Lo was married to her second husband and backup dancer Cris Judd, but they split up in June 2002. “The harder they resist it … the stronger it becomes,” the official Gigli trailer narrates. But maybe it’s been a foreshadowing of how these two co-stars would fare in real life. “I felt like … ‘OK, this is it,’” Lopez told People in 2016 about when she first met Affleck, adding how entering into a high-profile relationship during the rise of tabloids added “a lot of pressure.” But she told HuffPost Live in 2015 that working on Gigli was her “lowest point.” “It was a very badly reviewed film. I was in a high-profile relationship at the time that fell apart in a really bad way, and so the kind of mix of those two things — the tabloid press had just come into existence at the time, so I was like a poster child for that moment,” she recalled. But would she have done it all over again? “No regrets. I would do it all over again I think. I really would. Even the relationship part,” Lopez admitted.
September 2002: The Birth of “Bennifer”
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They co-starred in the 2004 comedy-drama flick Jersey Girl as husband and wife, and director Kevin Smith has since claimed credit for the couple’s nickname heard ’round the world: “Bennifer,” a portmanteau of their first names. “It’s a name I first gave the kids during “Jersey Girl” pre-production, before the world found out they were dating,” he tweeted in May 2021 at the start of the “Bennifer 2.0” era. “I’d later drop the name in an interview with the @nytimes. Shortly thereafter, it appeared in the article and then entered the vernacular.”
November 2002: The “Jenny From the Block” Video
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J. Lo decided to take their highly publicized relationship in front of cameras once more for her “Jenny From the Block” music video in support of her No. 3 Billboard Hot 100 hit. From pumping gas to lying out on the yacht, Affleck and Lopez knew the paparazzi couldn’t stay away and miss a potential money shot.
November 2002: The Engagement Reveal
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In an interview special with Diane Sawyer on ABC’s Primetime, Lopez revealed Affleck had asked her to marry him, describing his proposal as “traditional, but also in a very spectacular way, as of course Ben would do it … it was very, very beautiful.” He got down on one knee with a 6.1-carat pink diamond ring that reportedly cost $2.5 million, which the “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” singer told Sawyer was “the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
September 2003: Wedding Delayed
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Affleck and Lopez were scheduled to say “I do” on Sept. 14, 2003, but just a few days before, they delayed their big day indefinitely because they felt it had been compromised by Hollywood media trying to get a slice.
“Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date,” their official joint statement read. “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realized 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. We felt what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us, our families and our friends.”
January 2004: The Breakup
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The two called off their engagement on Jan. 22, 2004. “I am confirming the report that Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck,” the singer-actress’ representative said in a statement. “At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy.”
Despite calling the end of “Bennifer” as “my first real heartbreak” in her 2014 book True Love, Lopez moved on to marry fellow Latin pop superstar Marc Anthony in June 2004, which she described as “a Band-Aid on the cut” of her previous split. The singers welcomed twins Max and Emme in 2008, but announced their split three years later, and finalized their divorce in 2014.
Affleck went on to marry Jennifer Garner in 2005, with whom he shares three children: daughters Violet and Seraphina, and son Samuel. They finalized their divorced in 2018.
April 2021: The Rumored Rekindled Romance
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Just weeks after Lopez and former New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez called off their engagement, Benny was on her block. Page Six reported on April 30 that the Oscar-winning actor had been spotted going to the Grammy-nominated singer’s house in a white Escalade SUV that reportedly belongs to Lopez.
May 2021: The Montana Trip
Image Credit: Stadium on Sunday, May 2, 2021 in Inglewood, CA. (Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Affleck, 48, whisked Lopez, 51, away on a getaway trip to Big Sky, Montana, which Daily Mail obtained photos of on May 10. The trip came 17 years after they broke off their engagement.
May 2021: The Miami Trip
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From Montana to Miami, these two are showing once more how well they get along. “Bennifer,” all smiles, was spotted in Florida on May 23 and hitting the same gym the next day.
June 2021
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Social media was abuzz on June 14 when Page Six published new PDA-filled photos of Lopez and Affleck. The two were snapped kissing passionately while at a dinner with her family, celebrating her sister Lynda’s birthday.
July 2021: Instagram Official
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Bennifer 2.0 finally publicly confirm their rekindled romance via J. Lo’s Instagram account on July 24, her 52nd birthday. The pair celebrated on a boat in St. Tropez, and in a slideshow post captioned “5 2 … what it do,” the singer shared three snaps of herself looking fierce in a bikini, ending with a photo of her and Affleck kissing.
The next day, the actor was snapped resting his hand on her backside — not unlike how he did in the famous shot from her 2002 music video for “Jenny From the Block.” The “Marry Me” actress later addressed the rumors they were intentionally trying to recreate the image. “We were just on the boat! There was no recreation!” she later told People. “I was lying down. … It was a trip I like to take for my birthday, but no, we were not intentionally recreating it. I didn’t know there were paparazzi out in the middle of the ocean either!”
September 2021: Red Carpet Debut
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On Sept. 10, Lopez and Affleck to the next big step in their rekindled romance: They walked the red carpet together! The couple attended the Venice International Film Festival together for the premiere of Affleck’s movie The Last Duel. This was their first time appearing on the red carpet as a couple in 18 years, the last time being for the premiere of their film Gigli. A few days later, on Sept. 13 they walked the red carpet once again, this time at the Met Gala in NYC.
February 2022: Valentine’s Day Gift
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J. Lo revealed the sweet gift Affleck had given her for Valentine’s Day, sharing a revamped music video for her song “On My Way” from her romcom Marry Me. Affleck packed the visual with personal clips of their lives, including visuals from the early days of their relationship. Lopez shared the video with subscribers of her newsletter, saying: “It’s an early Valentine’s Day present from Ben. Watching it made me think about the journey of true love, its unexpected twists and turns, and that when it’s real, it actually can last forever.” She added, “This seriously melted my heart.”
April 2022: Engaged – Again!
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The couple announced their engagement, almost 20 years after first being engaged in November 2002. J. Lo shared the news in her On the JLo newsletter with a video of herself wearing an engagement ring on April 8, and added a diamond ring emoji in her Twitter bio.
July 2022: I Do!
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Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez married in a Las Vegas ceremony on Saturday, July 16, 2022. The singer confirmed the news the next day in a newsletter sent to fans. “We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” she began the newsletter, which included details, photos and videos of the ceremony. She signed off, “With love, Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck.”
August 2022: I Do (Times Two)
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Bennifer held another wedding ceremony on August 20 in front of friends and family in Georgia. The wedding was held at Affleck’s home outside of Savannah, Georgia, with all of their kids present for the proceedings.
August 2023: One-Year Wedding Anniversary
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“One year ago today,” Lopez wrote on Instagram alongside a series of snaps from the couple’s Georgia wedding, before teasing lyrics to her song “Dear Ben Part II.” “Sitting here alone / Looking at my ring ring / Feeling overwhelmed / It makes me wanna sing sing / How did we end up here / Without a rewind / Oh my / This is my life,” she wrote.
May 2024: Lopez Gets Asked About Affleck Amid Split Rumors
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Reports of trouble in the marriage began when Affleck was notably absent from the Los Angeles and Mexico City premieres of Netflix’s Atlas, which J.Lo starred in. During a promo stop in Mexico City in May, a reporter asked, “Is your divorce with Ben Affleck real? These rumors?”
In video of the exchange, Lopez’s co-star Simu Liu jumped in and said, “Okay, we’re not doing that. Thank you so much guys, we really appreciate it. Thank you.” Lopez then looked at the the reporter and said, “You know better than that.”
February 2024: ‘This Is Me… Now: A Love Story’
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JLo documented her journey to finding love with Affleck in the musical film for her album, ‘This Is Me… Now.’ “I never thought that he and I would get back together,” Lopez told Billboard. “I just couldn’t give up on the idea that there was something amazing out there for me, even when it got really bad — and it did at times. I always believed deep, deep down to not give up completely. It wasn’t until I got to the point where I was really OK on my own and not having to be in a relationship when I feel like the universe kind of opened up and said, ‘Well here you go.’”
She added of the duo sharing the astrological sign of Leo, “Let me tell you it’s fiery! It’s great, and it’s challenging. We are both very willful. If you know what Leos are like, you know we’re passionate. Oh my God, so passionate, the both of us. One of us gets on a tangent about something, it’s like, ‘Just sit down and let him have his moment.’ Or he needs to sit down and let me have my moment. We know each other in that way and we’re getting to know each other again, which is really beautiful too.”
August 2024: Divorce Filing
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After two years of marriage, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck. The documents list the date of separation as April 26, 2024, but were filed on Aug. 20, which marks the two-year anniversary of their wedding ceremony in Georgia.
October 2024: Single & Loving It
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In a cover story for Interview magazine, the singer-actress shared that she’s enjoying being single. “Now I’m excited, when you say you’re just going to be on your own. Yes, I’m not looking for anybody, because everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I f–king do when it’s just me flying on my own,” she shared. “What if I’m just free?”
