![Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez stand in front of a sign for her film 'Marry Me.' He embraces her.](https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Ben-Affleck-Jennifer-Lopez-3.webp)
Ben Affleck Once Said Jennifer Lopez Had a Greater Impact on the World Than Most People ‘Throughout History’
Jennifer Lopez has worked hard to make an impact on the world around her, something Ben Affleck said he greatly admires about her. Affleck, who first dated Lopez in the early 2000s, spoke glowingly about her in interviews that took place around their 2021 reunion. He said he believed Lopez’s impact on the world was practically unparalleled.
Ben Affleck praised the impact Jennifer Lopez had on the world
In 2021, Lopez became Adweek’s Brand Visionary. This award acknowledged “her extraordinary role as an entrepreneur, launching a billion-dollar empire that spans fashion, music, film, and now her own beauty company with the successful launch of JLo Beauty in January” (via Adweek).
Affleck agreed that Lopez deserved the honor. He believed that she had a uniquely positive effect on the world.
![Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck looking at each other and smiling at a movie premiere in 2023](https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/Jennifer-Lopez-Ben-Affleck-1-1.webp?strip=all&quality=80)
“All I can tell you is that I have seen firsthand the difference representation makes because I have seen, over and over and over and over, women of color approach Jennifer and tell her what her example as a strong woman and a woman succeeding and demanding her fair share in the business world means to them,” he said, per Vanity Fair.
He believed that through her work, Lopez had impacted society more than most people ever would.
“I am in awe of what Jennifer’s effect on the world is,” he said. “At most, as an artist, I can make movies that move people. Jennifer has inspired a massive group of people to feel they have a seat at the table in this country. That is an effect few people throughout history have had, one I will never know and one I can only stand by and admire with respect.”
Ben Affleck also admired Jennifer Lopez’s work ethic
That same year, though before they reunited, Affleck spoke about another of Lopez’s admirable qualities. Like many of the people who know her, he has taken note of her steely work ethic.
“I thought I had a good work ethic, but I was completely humbled and blown away by what she was committed to doing day in and day out, the seriousness in which she took her work, the quiet and dedicated way she went about accomplishing her goals, and then how she would go back and redouble her efforts,” he told InStyle. “She remains, to this day, the hardest-working person I’ve come across in this business.”
Though Lopez has been working steadily for years, Affleck believed she began to receive the respect she deserved with the release of Hustlers.
“She has great talent, but she has also worked very hard for her success, and I’m so happy for her that she seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves.”
The couple are reportedly divorcing
Not long after rekindling their romance, Lopez and Affleck married. It seemed like a fairytale ending to their relationship but, just two years later, they are reportedly headed for divorce.
![Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck holding hands and walking together in Los Angeles in 2022](https://www.cheatsheet.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Jennifer-Lopez-Ben-Affleck-1-5.webp?strip=all&quality=80)
“They are not getting back together,” a source told Fox News. “They have no plans to announce that they aren’t a couple right now. JLo wanted to make it work really badly, he’s just a different person to her now.”
While the rumors have swirled for months, neither Lopez nor Affleck have addressed them.