By JOCELYN NOVECK and ANDREW DALTON, Associated PressLOS ANGELES (AP) — After a relationship that spanned two decades, two engagements, two weddings and headlines too numerous to count, Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck.The filing Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court brought to an apparent end a celebrity coupling — or at least the second installment of it — that dazzled from the very heights of the pop culture firmament and emblazoned countless tabloid covers. They became known, even before such power-couple portmanteaus were ubiquitous, as “Bennifer.”The filing was first reported by the TMZ website. TMZ said Lopez listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024. It added that she did not mention any prenuptial agreement.After meeting, falling in love and getting engaged in the early 2000s — and starring together in 2003’s infamous “Gigli” and 2004’s “Jersey Girl” — the couple parted ways, blaming in part the pressure of the public eye.But to the delight of many and perhaps the skepticism of others, they reunited two decades later and married — twice — in 2022.HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 12: (L-R) Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez attend the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Studio’s “The Tender Bar” at TCL Chinese Theatre on December 12, 2021 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
US actress Jennifer Lopez and actor Ben Affleck arrive for a special screening of “Marry Me” at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) in Los Angeles, February 8, 2022. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
FILE – Cast member Jennifer Lopez, right, and Ben Affleck attend a photo call for a special screening of “Marry Me” on Feb. 8, 2022, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
SAN MARINO, CALIFORNIA – OCTOBER 13: (L-R) Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck attend the Ralph Lauren SS23 Runway Show at The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens on October 13, 2022 in San Marino, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MARCH 27: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck attend Amazon Studios’ World Premiere Of “AIR” at Regency Village Theatre on March 27, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – MAY 10: (L-R) Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez attend “The Mother” Los Angeles Premiere Event at Westwood Village on May 10, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)
US actors Jennifer Lopez (L) and Ben Affleck arrive for the world premiere of “The Flash” at Ovation Hollywood in Hollywood, California, on June 12, 2023. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 04: (L-R) Ben Affleck, wearing Gucci, and Jennifer Lopez, wearing Gucci, attend the 2023 LACMA Art+Film Gala, Presented By Gucci at Los Angeles County Museum of Art on November 04, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Presley Ann/Getty Images for LACMA)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – NOVEMBER 17: Jennifer Lopez (L) and Ben Affleck attend the 2023 Eastern Congo Initiative Poker and Blackjack Tournament hosted by TAO Group Hospitality at LAVO Restaurant & Nightclub at The Palazzo at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas on November 17, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Mindy Small/Getty Images)
TOPSHOT – US singer and actress Jennifer Lopez and husband US actor Ben Affleck arrive for Elle’s 2023 Women in Hollywood celebration, at Nya Studios in Los Angeles, California, on December 5, 2023. (Photo by Michael Tran / AFP) (Photo by MICHAEL TRAN/AFP via Getty Images)
US actress Jennifer Lopez (R) and US actor Ben Affleck attend Amazon’s “This is Me… Now: A Love Story” premiere at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California, February 13, 2024. (Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
US actress Jennifer Lopez (R) and US actor Ben Affleck attend Amazon’s “This is Me… Now: A Love Story” premiere at the Dolby theatre in Hollywood, California, February 13, 2024. (Photo by Robyn BECK / AFP) (Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images)
FILE – Ben Affleck, left, and Jennifer Lopez arrive at the premiere of “This Is Me… Now: A Love Story” on Feb. 13, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – Jennifer Lopez, right, and Ben Affleck kiss at the premiere of the film “The Last Duel” during the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on Sept. 10, 2021. (Photo by Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP, File)
Show Caption1 of 14HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – DECEMBER 12: (L-R) Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez attend the Los Angeles premiere of Amazon Studio’s “The Tender Bar” at TCL Chinese Theatre on December 12, 2021 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Expand“Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” wrote Lopez, announcing their first, quickie Las Vegas wedding that July, and signing off as Jennifer Lynn Affleck.“Stick around long enough and maybe you’ll find the best moment of your life in a drive through in Las Vegas at 12:30 in the morning in the tunnel of love drive through with your kids and the one you’ll spend forever with,” she wrote in her newsletter.The couple had flown to Las Vegas, stood in line for their license with four other couples and were wed just after midnight at A Little White Wedding Chapel, where Lopez said a Bluetooth speaker played their brief march down the aisle. She called it the best night of the couple’s lives.A month later, they had a much grander wedding at Affleck’s house in Georgia, in front of friends and family.Both of them had been previously married. Affleck, 51, married Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children, in 2005. They divorced in 2018.FILE – Actors Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck arrive for the 75th annual Academy Awards in Los Angeles on March 23, 2003. (AP Photo/Kim D. Johnson, File)Lopez, 54, had been married three times before. She was briefly married to Ojani Noa from 1997-1998 and to Cris Judd from 2001-2003. She and singer Marc Anthony were married for a decade, having wed in 2004, and share 14-year-old twins. She started dating former baseball player Alex Rodriguez in 2017, but the couple called off their engagement in 2021.All along, it had been Lopez who was more vocal in describing her and Affleck’s journey. When asked earlier this year whether she was harder on herself because her relationships had been so high-profile, Lopez agreed.“Oh yeah. 100%. It’s made me doubt myself and really feel bad about myself at times. Made me feel like I wanted to quit at times. But at the end of the day, I feel like you kind of have to do this thing where you learn how to navigate it,” she told The Associated Press. “You take the things that could be constructive about that and use it, and the rest you kind of just throw away as kind of like haterations or, you know, other things like that and just be like, ‘Whatever. I know who I am, I know what I want to do.’ ”Affleck himself expressed admiration for her self-possession, telling the AP last year that he agreed with the observation that Hollywood was unsure how to capitalize on her wide-ranging talent.FILE – Ben Affleck, left, and Jennifer Lopez appear at the premiere of their film “Gigli,” in Los Angeles on July 27, 2003. (AP Photo/Rene Macura, File)“I think she’s in her prime,” Affleck said then. “She’s doing extraordinary work in large measure because she’s taking that step to take responsibility for what she’s doing rather than say, ‘This is what I’m being offered.’ ”Lopez is starring in the upcoming “Unstoppable,” under Affleck and Matt Damon’s Artists Equity banner.In May, she starred in the Netflix movie “Atlas.” At the end of the month, she suddenly canceled her 2024 North American tour, saying she was “heartsick and devastated” to be letting fans down but the move was necessary. “Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends,” organizers said in a statement.The tour was to be her first in five years, in support of her first solo album in a decade, “This Is Me…. Now” and its companion film. a fictionalized look at her long love life, and a documentary.“When I was a girl they’d ask me what I’d be. A woman in love is what I grew up wantin’ to be,” Lopez sang on the title track.The album, she said, was inspired by her rekindled relationship with Affleck. But the film was more “about your journey as a person, it’s about one person’s journey and what it takes to get from heartbreak back to love. Or a hopeless romantic’s journey in their search for love.” In the movie, she played a character called The Artist who, similarly, had decided as a child what she wanted to be when she grew up: “in love.”But the road was rocky. In an early scene, The Artist is on the back of a motorcycle, riding across a beach, with a hunky man, face shielded. Then the motorcycle crashes.“Not all love stories have a happy ending,” she says.Jocelyn Noveck reported from New York.
Originally Published: August 20, 2024 at 7:26 p.m.
