Ben Affleck Felt Like He Was Expected to Apologize for His Relationship With Jennifer Lopez

Ben Affleck was well aware that he made a few mistakes in his earlier years when dating Jennifer Lopez. But he wondered if the media wanted him to apologize for their relationship even after they were no longer dating.

Ben Affleck commented on the media’s expectations of his relationship with Jennifer Lopez

The media played a huge role in Affleck’s relationship and subsequent break-up with Lopez back in the 2000s. But Affleck felt at least partially responsible for the headlines he inspired with his ex back then. He wondered if his behavior only contributed to the notion that he was intentionally rubbing his relationship with Lopez in the public’s face.

But that was only one of a few decisions that Affleck regretted. In 2004, Affleck appeared in a Rolling Stone cover that he felt painted him in an unflattering, obnoxious manner. Which led to more mockery.

“Well, for one thing, I saw the f***ing David LaChappelle photos that got taken [for the 2004 Rolling Stone cover] and I was like, ‘I look like the mayor of West Hollywood on Rodeo Week,’” Affleck once told the Rolling Stone itself. “That was the last time I ever went along with anybody. I was like, ‘He’s smart. He knows. I’ll go along with [what] he says.’ People on The Tonight Show just spontaneously made fun of me for that cover. Like, ‘Oh, and another thing, look at this picture!’ Like, a propos of nothing. What a s***head you look like!’ And I had, like, a kerchief around my neck, you know? Oh, dude. It’s the only one I regret. Ever.”

But for the Daredevil star, the bigger issue might’ve been the magazine’s subtle commentary about his past relationship with Lopez. It was one Affleck wondered that others might’ve shared.

“Like, I kinda got f***ed on that cover story, but whatever, that guy’s got a job to do and I’ve gotta take responsibility for myself,” Affleck added. “I did feel like, the fact that the cover story was about Jennifer Lopez – and there’s this, like conventional wisdom that set in that I had something to kind of apologize for because I was with Jennifer Lopez, which is a curious notion, you know?”

Affleck believed that he only reasonably needed to apologize for movies that didn’t meet audience’s expectations.

“I definitely have some things to apologize for in terms movies that didn’t work, and I take responsibility for that, because that is my responsibility,” he said. “You ask people to pay their money, it’s your job to make the f***ing movie work, you know?”

Ben Affleck found it hard dealing with Jennifer Lopez’s fame the second time

Affleck and Lopez tried to make it work when they got together decades later in the 2020s. They even made it down the aisle this time, honoring the vow their younger selves made years prior. But there were certain facets of their relationship that didn’t change. Although the pair didn’t face nearly as much media scrutinty as they did before, Lopez’s popularity still took some adjusting to. Even for a celebrity like Affleck, it could be too much at times.

“We went somewhere with [Jennifer]—I can’t remember because she’s so famous, and she creates this—people love her. And she really represents something important to people,” Affleck recently said on Hart to Heart (via People). “People are like, ‘Hey, I like your movie,’ and then they’re like ‘Ah! J-LO!’ It’s amazing, you know what I mean?”

“We get out of the car, we were going to a play, and I was like, ‘F*** it, babe, we’re going to be late, we gotta walk a block and a half.’ [Lopez] was like, ‘Alright,’ she didn’t say s***,” he added.

This was at odds with the lifestyle Affleck liked to enjoy in his older years.

“I also don’t like a lot of attention,” he said. “This why people see me [and] they’re like, ‘Well, this dude always mad…’ Because somebody has their camera and sticking to my face.”

This had led some to wonder if Lopez’s fame is perhaps partially responsible for their divorce.