Jennifer Lopez Set to Reunite With Estranged Husband Ben Affleck’s Friend Matt Damon Amid Divorce
The show must go on. While Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck worked together on their new movie Unstoppable, she won't be promoting it with her estranged husband. Instead, J. Lo will reunite with his best friend Matt Damon at the movie's world premiere at the Toronto Film Festival.
Ben, 52, and Matt, 53, produced the sports drama and Jennifer, 55, stars in a supporting role. The latter two will be on hand for the September event to support the project, with Ben skipping the festivities, an insider told People on Friday, August 23.
The "Waiting for Tonight" singer filed for divorce from her husband of two years on August 20, which was the second anniversary of their lavish wedding at Ben's Georgia estate. The duo originally eloped in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022.
Jennifer filed her divorce paperwork with the Los Angeles County Superior Court pro per, meaning without an attorney. She listed their date of separation as April 26.
The former couple last appeared on a red carpet together for This Is Me... Now: A Love Story on February 13. Jennifer self-financed the $20 million multimedia project about her journey to find love. It coincided with the release of her first new album in 10 years, This Is Me... Now, which was devoted to her love story with Ben.
The Argo actor revealed in his estranged wife's Prime Video documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, that he was uncomfortable with how public she made their relationship. The doc about their two-decade love story premiered on February 27.
“Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media.’ Then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of, like, you’re going to marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t want the water.’ We’re trying to learn to compromise,” the Air star admitted.
Jennifer confessed in the documentary, “I don’t think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing this, [but] he doesn’t want to stop me.”
In Touch exclusively reported on May 15 that Ben had moved out of the Beverly Hills mansion he and the Enough star purchased together in May 2023 and that a split was imminent.
“The writing is on the wall – it’s over,” the insider revealed. “They’re headed for a divorce – and for once, [Ben’s] not to blame!”
The source added, "They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.”
Ben moved into a $100,000 per month rental home in Brentwood, California, in May. He and Jennifer publicly listed their mansion for $68 million on July 11. The Oscar winner went on to purchase a $20 million bachelor pad in Pacific Palisades, California. Escrow closed on July 24, which happened to fall on J. Lo's 55th birthday.
Ben's marital woes with J. Lo impacted his friendship with Matt, an insider told In Touch exclusively on June 19.
“When it comes to couples’ time, there’s just a lot less drama for Matt and [wife] Lucy [Barroso] when they’re hanging out with Emily Blunt and John Krasinski than during the increasingly rare times that they get to sit down and hang out with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez,” a source close to the situation explained. “Just because of the way Jennifer conducts herself, even around her friends, she’s a very hard person to let your guard down around, whereas John and Emily are the definition of easygoing.”
"He’s under no obligation to be part of Ben’s personal pity party over whatever problems he’s having with Jennifer or his kids,” the insider added about the Oppenheimer star. “Ben has to deal with that stuff himself, and that’s always been Matt and Lucy’s position, even during the best of times.”
