Relationship Lessons from Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck latest News: In “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” a documentary on the filming of Jennifer Lopez’s 2024 musical film “This Is Me… Now,” there are many excruciating scenes about her reunion with her longtime love and fourth husband, Ben Affleck. What follows is among the worst.

Lopez brings up her spouse after expressing concern about other performers’ refusal to participate in the film. “I don’t think he’s very comfortable with me doing all of this,” she tells her manager, Benny Medina. “But he loves me, knows I’m an artist, and will support me in any way he can…”He cannot stop me.”

Many people are interested in Bennifer’s relationship status, which is currently a topic of considerable discussion.When they first got together, they were the embodiment of early 2000s glamor. Affleck’s public appearances, like his involvement in Lopez’s 2002 “Jenny From The Block” music video and the $2.5 million pink diamond in her engagement ring, conveyed excessive commitment. They even created the cloying portmanteau nickname.

Their 2003 split felt like the death of a very particular kind of Hollywood love, one that had appeared so lavish and choreographed it could never have been grounded in reality.

The couple’s 2021 reunion elicited a different response. The globe was eager for upbeat, insignificant news after being released from lockdown. Bennifer’s reintroduction came with an added nostalgia hit, and photos of the pair celebrating Lopez’s 52nd birthday on a yacht looked like a tongue-in-cheek throwback to their noughties heyday.

The images also acted as a reminder of the media attention that had strangled the relationship the first time around. Over time, Affleck became a symbol of dissatisfied middle age, while Lopez experienced numerous high-profile breakups.

In 2022, they eloped to Las Vegas in a paparazzi-free midnight wedding, which received global acclaim. The couple deserved happiness, and it appeared that everyone had learned a few lessons about privacy. Everyone, apparently, besides Lopez.

Fast forward to 2024.”The Greatest Love Story Never Told” is quickly turning into The Greatest Love Story Never Off Duty. The “This Is Me… Now” album, the sister record to 2002’s “This Is Me… Then,” is a whistlestop tour of Bennifer’s romance, containing tracks like “Dear Ben, Pt. II,” and “Midnight Trip to Vegas.”The accompanying film depicts a gigantic steampunk “heart factory” to demonstrate the transformational influence of Affleck’s love.

It’s fine; everything is fine. The film is puerile, but it’s fine. Until we find its origins.

Lopez confesses in “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” (the film’s making-of documentary, stay up) that her new music was inspired by a scrapbook Affleck handed her containing all of their love letters. On the first day, she delivered it to her production crew as if it were a gift from the gods of content. “We just left it there in the studio, and people would thumb through it,” she says. Affleck, it turns out, was clueless.

“I was like, ‘You’ve been showing all the musicians all those letters that, uh…. I was like, Oh my God,” he says, plainly humiliated.

In the documentary, Lopez focuses on the possible impact of her film on her profession, but not on her relationship. Her approach to producing it is rather unromantic. Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, her longtime producer, tries to convey to her that Derek Hough, the dancer, will be unavailable to film since he is attending a wedding. “I want you to call him,” she says.

In another interview, Affleck, a self-described alcoholic who has openly discussed his troubles and sobriety, compared Lopez’s need for affirmation to his urge to drink. “In Jennifer’s case, I don’t think there’s enough followers, movies, or records…to still that part of you that still feels a longing and pain. Ultimately that’s the work that you got to do on your own,” he says.

It’s the most informative moment in the documentary, and it’s likely that many people may learn from it. But the more you watch, the less it seems like Lopez has. It’s as if Icarus survived his first disastrous flight near the sun, but after crashing to the ground, he simply dusted himself down, glued his wings back on, and flew right back up.

Her film highlights the cliché that you must learn to love oneself, but there is less emphasis on caring for a love formed with someone else.

So yet, neither Lopez nor Affleck have responded to the rumors of their breakup.During the premiere of Lopez’s Netflix film Atlas last week, her co-star Simu Liu boldly stated, “We’re not doing that.”According to Hello!, both Affleck and Lopez have been photographed wearing their wedding rings despite living separately.

I hope things work out for Bennifer. We’re already in deep, and the prospect of everything crumbling again is like paying off a mortgage and then setting fire to the house. But if ever there was proof that ambition cannot replace contentment, this is it.