Just because we knew this was coming doesn’t make it any less sad to announce: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are getting a divorce.
As first reported by TMZ, and then confirmed through multiple sources to People, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on Tuesday, August 20. The Grammy-nominated singer/dancer filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court and listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024. People reports she filed for divorce herself without using a lawyer and is technically self-represented, and according to TMZ, they do not have a prenup.
The former couple have yet to address the news themselves on social media or through a representative. Ironically, August 20 marks two years since their wedding in Georgia.
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Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck finally made it down the aisle (multiple times) in 2022—nearly two decades after calling off their first engagement in 2004.
However, the positive press came screeching to a halt when Lopez was spotted house hunting in Los Angeles without Affleck by her side in May 14, 2024. One day later, In Touch reported that Affleck had moved out of their shared home, and that the couple was “headed toward divorce.”
By June, their LA mansion was reportedly put on the market and Lopez had canceled her world tour to spend more time with “her children, family, and close friends.” Even so, Lopez spent a bulk of the summer in the Hamptons while Affleck remained in Los Angeles, where he was often photographed with and without his wedding ring.
While many reports have cited Affleck’s distaste for the spotlight as the root of their problems, one source told People that the pair had “deeper issues” than Lopez’s career. “The idea that Ben thinks Jennifer is too famous and that he didn’t know what he was getting into with the attention on their marriage isn’t true,” the source said in July.
In J.Lo’s documentary project The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Affleck described their relationship as “two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.”
“Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’” he said in the doc, per People. “Then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like, you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t like the water.’”
Whatever happened between the two, Lopez is reportedly looking forward to a “fresh start” after turning 55 in late July (at the time, Lopez threw herself a Bridgerton-themed birthday party in July, which Affleck did not attend). A source told Entertainment Tonight that the pop star is “doing her best to stay positive and focus on the great things in her life.”
The source continued, “It has been a hard year with some unexpected realizations, changes, and obstacles, but Jen is trying to view her 55th birthday as a fresh start. She is trying not to let her situation with Ben bring her down.”
