BEN Affleck has dramatically spoken out on his 'embarrassing' divorce from Jennifer Lopez in a rare remark.
The Argo producer and actor seemed to put blame on the split as he cited their differing views on fame.
Ben, 52, first dated superstar Jennifer, 55, from 2002 before their first high profile split.
After encountering each other at industry parties, they became pals when they worked together on the set ofGigliin 2001.
Less than a year later, they became engaged to each other before calling off the wedding and their relationship in 2004.
After remaining in contact, they started dating again in April 2021, twenty years after their first romance.
In July 2022, they tied the knot in Vegas before hosting a larger reception for their friends and family later in the summer at Affleck's home in Georgia.
However, less than two years later the pair announced they had split again before their divorce was finalised in February of this year.
The Good Will Hunting star has remained tight-lipped about their second short-lived romance, until now in a candid chat with British GQ.
He insisted that there was “no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue” when it came to their separation.
The Hollywood star explained: “The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?' Well, there is no: ‘This is what happened.' It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do.
“And as you get older, this is true for me, I assume it’s true for most people, there is no ‘So-and-so did this' or ‘This was the big event.'
“It’s really, it sounds more like a couple’s therapy session, which – you would tune out of someone else’s couple’s therapy after a while.
“For one thing, you start going, ‘OK, clearly this person has got these issues. Clearly they have these issues'.”
He also explains the reason behind his silence, as he admitted: “And the reason I don’t want to share that is just sort of embarrassing, it feels vulnerable.”
Jennifer previously released a documentary titled, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which focused on her journey to self-love.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck relationship timeline
JLo and Ben were first linked together in 2002 and became engaged later that year. However, they called off the wedding just two years later. They rekindled their romance in 2021 and finally got hitched in 2022 before filing for divorce this year. Here is a timeline of their love story:
- June 2002 – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck met on the set of Gigli and JLo divorced from her second husband Cris Judd
- November 2002 – Ben proposed to JLo with a six-carat pink diamond ring
- September 2003 – JLo and Ben called off their wedding and blamed it on ‘excessive media attention'
- January 2004 – The celebrity couple announce they are heading separate ways
- July 2021 – JLo posts an intimate photo of herself beside Ben and they begin dating again
- April 2022 – Ben proposes to JLo for a second time
- July 2022 – The celebrity couple officially celebrated their nuptials in a Las Vegas, Nevada, ceremony
- August 2022 – Ben and JLo have a second A-list wedding at their $8.9million George estate
- February 2023 – Ben and JLo go viral after she is seen appearing to scold him at the Grammy Awards as the camera swung by their table, while photos often showed him looking exhausted and miserable on outings with his wife.
- May 2024 – Divorce rumors began to swirl with sources alleging they were not compatible and Ben was sick of marriage.
- July 2024 – The pair publicly listed their new marital home for $68 million and it was reported they were living separately in new properties.
- August 2024 – JLo finally filed for divorce on their second wedding anniversary on August 20.
She reflected on her 20-year career as she independently produced a new album, This Is Me… Now.
After the release of the film, Ben reflected on his relationship and the different ways they handled life in the spotlight.
He explained: “There are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer among them.
“My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers. As happens inrelationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things.
There are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer among them.
Ben AffleckBritish GQ
“And so I thought, ‘Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that?' Because exactly what you said is true.
“I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that.
He added: “You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship.
“And I think it’s important to say that wasn’t the cause of some major fracture.”
