Rumours have been swirling for months now that Hollywood golden couple JLo and Ben are on the rocks, but a clean break would never be easy with their family lives so heavily intertwined.
The couple are parents to five children – Emme Maribel Muñiz and Maximilian Muñiz from Lopez’s previous marriage to Marc Anthony, and Violet Affleck, 18, Fin Affleck, 15, and Samuel Affleck, 12, who Affleck shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Lopez and Affleck had seemingly mastered the blended family, forming close bonds with each other’s children and often pictured in public sharing special family moments – making their rumoured split all the more complicated.
The A-list couple’s reunion was a fairytale ending to a romance that spanned decades. But the spark that brought them back together appears to have soon dwindled, with those close to the couple telling Us Weekly that Ben is ‘worn down’ by the relationship and the ‘honeymoon phase has worn off’.
Despite being married for less than two years, the couple has decided to take some time apart to assess whether their marriage is ‘right for both of them’, an insider told the publication.
Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck and his daughter Violet Affleck enjoy a shopping trip together in the Hamptons
Jennifer Lopez and Violet Affleck embrace during a family trip to Paris for Lopez and Affleck’s honeymoon in July 2022
Affleck, 51, enjoys a day out with his children Violet (L) and Fin (R) as well as Lopez’s child Emme (FR)
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have maintained a close bond since their split with his current wife, Lopez, and ex-wife reportedly getting on well
It’s thought that the pair are now living separately in LA, with Affleck moving into a $100,000-a-month property in Brentwood earlier this month (May), while Lopez has stayed in the couple’s $60 million ‘dream home’ in Bel Air with their children. The couple are still putting on a united front despite their difficulties, keeping their wedding bands on despite living apart.
Most recently, Affleck and Lopez attended a High School graduation party together on Thursday (30th May) to mark the occasion for Ben’s daughter Violet, whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, in LA.
Considering the close bond JLo has with Affleck’s children and his ex-wife, who according to a source from US Weekly is ‘encouraging Ben to work on his marriage’, it’s no surprise that the singer and actress would want to share this important milestone.
Lopez, 54, and Affleck, 51, rekindled their romance in 2021 – much to the delight of original ‘Bennifer’ fans in the ’00s – and tied the knot in 2022 in Las Vegas, 20 years after they first met.
Getting together later in life, both with previous marriages and children in tow, meant that Bennifer became one big blended family – with Lopez embracing the role of stepmother wholeheartedly.
The global superstar wasted no time getting to know Ben’s three children, Violet, Fin and Samuel and gushed over their idyllic family life, calling her five children ‘blessings’ while speaking with Extra in early 2023.
‘It’s going really, really well; it’s amazing. We have five beautiful, beautiful children, blessings,’ Lopez revealed to a reporter on the red carpet while promoting her new film Shotgun Wedding.
‘We dropped one of them off at school today and we were just kind of thinking about what our lives have become and just feeling so blessed and grateful for where we wound up in our lives.’
The Hollywood couple rekindled their romance in 2021 much to the delight of original ‘Bennifer’ fans in the ’00s
Lopez, Affleck and his son Samuel Garner Affleck attend a basketball game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors at Crypto.com Arena earlier this year
The couple looked happy and relaxed, holding hands and watching the game with Samuel
The whole family are big basketball fans, with Jennifer Garner enjoying a game with son Samuel the previous year
Ben also became a stepfather to JLo’s twins Emme Maribel and Maximilian and the couple moved the five children into their Bel Air mansion.
Cue heartwarming snaps of family days out and what seemed like the perfect blended family, with Garner, whom Affleck is famously on good terms with, still firmly in the picture.
The couple even brought along their five shared children to France to celebrate their honeymoon in July 2022, with pictures emerging of the whole brood enjoying a peaceful river trip together.
Affleck and Lopez looked relaxed, chatting to the children as they enjoyed games on the deck and soaked up the sunshine.
Lopez described becoming a stepmother as an ’emotional transition,’ but also ‘all your dreams coming true’.
Speaking on the TODAY show last year, Lopez said, ‘We moved in together. The kids moved in together. It’s been, like, a really kind of emotional transition, but at the same time all your dreams coming true.
‘It’s just been a phenomenal year. Like, my best year I think since my kids were born.’
The couple even brought along their five shared children to France to celebrate their honeymoon in July 2022
Lopez chatted to Emme and Fin during the relaxing river boat ride along the River Seine
The couple’s respective children Seraphina, Violet, Maximilian, and Emme joined them during their honeymoon in Paris
(L-R) Violet Affleck, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez leave their hotel in Paris
Lopez has spoken previously about the importance of being a support for Ben’s children, telling Vogue in 2022: ‘What I hope to cultivate with our family is that his kids have a new ally in me and my kids have a new ally in him, someone who really loves and cares about them but can have a different perspective and help me see things that I can’t see with my kids because I’m so emotionally tied up.’
While Affleck told the publication that when it comes to his wife: ‘There is something innately, magically kind and good and full of love’.
Before adding: ‘That’s exactly the person I remember from 20 years ago. Maybe she sees all the changes she’s made, whereas when I see her, mostly I just see someone who has retained, against the odds, the thing about her that always made her the most incredible to me: a heart that seems boundless with love. She is my idea of the kind of person I want to be.’
Fin Affleck and Emme Maribel Munniz have also struck up a close friendship since the families moved in together.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck‘s 15-year-old Fin, formerly known as Seraphina Rose, and Emme, 16, have been regularly spotted strolling around Los Angeles, sometimes hand in hand.
Fin Affleck and Emme Maribel Munniz have also struck up a close friendship since the families moved in together.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck ‘s 15-year-old Fin, formerly known as Seraphina Rose, and Emme, 16, have been regularly spotted strolling around Los Angeles hand in hand
Ben’s ex took Fin and Emme to Disneyland earlier this month (May)
Last year the step-siblings were pictured enjoying the rides at Disneyland with Ben’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner, who is regularly pictured spending time with Lopez’s children.
Garner is thought to be in full support of Lopez and Affleck working on their marriage, despite telling Vanity Fair that Ben was still ‘the love of my life’ in 2016 after the couple had separated.
A source told US Weekly: ‘Jennifer Garner is encouraging Ben to work on his marriage to Jen. She fully supports their relationship and wants nothing more than for him to be happy.’
The insider also said that Garner can relate to how the spotlight of fame ‘can put a strain’ on relationships.
Garner and Affleck have maintained a strong bond despite ending their marriage, both publicly discussing their enduring bond and commitment to co-parenting.
‘He’s the most brilliant person in any room,’ Garner told Vanity Fair a year after their divorce in 2016. While Ben referred to his ex-wife as ‘a superhero mom,’ when speaking to E! Online that same year.
(L-R) Violet Affleck, Ben Affleck, Fin Affleck, Jennifer Garner and Fin Affleck out and about in 2019
