Ben Affleck Didn’t Try to Impress Jennifer Lopez When They First Met
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez met on the set of the film Gigli. They announced their engagement within a year, and their love story was a subject of national attention. Though their romance moved quickly, Affleck and Lopez said they had no intention of entering into a relationship when they first met. At the time, Lopez was married to dancer Cris Judd, so Affleck claimed he viewed her as off-limits. Because of this, he didn’t make any attempts to impress her.
Ben Affleck said there wasn’t much pressure on him when he met Jennifer Lopez
When Affleck and Lopez met, she was in a new marriage to her second husband, Judd. Because of the tight time frame between the two relationships, Lopez acknowledged that people may have questions about whether or not there was overlap.
“I think people will inevitably wonder,” she told Access Hollywood in 2003. “The truth is that when we did start working together we got along great. I mean, we really did become friends, really good friends … We talked a lot and that’s the thing. There was no kind of idea that we would be together in the future, so it was one of those things where you kind of like say too much.”
Affleck said that while he liked Lopez, he felt little pressure to impress her in the way he would with a potential romantic partner.
“Because you know when you aren’t trying to impress someone cause you don’t think that you’re going to be dating them it’s like, oh this doesn’t matter, I don’t have to impress her,” he said. “You’ll kind of admit to things.”
Lopez agreed. She believed she got to know Affleck better this way.
“He wasn’t trying to impress me,” she said, adding, “He’s a real person, he wasn’t trying to rap to me.”
Ben Affleck said his friends were very impressed by his relationship with Jennifer Lopez
Though Affleck wasn’t trying to impress Lopez, he inevitably did something right, given the couple’s very public relationship. When the couple told people about their relationship, people in Affleck’s life were stunned. When asked how the people in his life reacted, Affleck said he heard from people he hadn’t spoken to in years.
“‘I got you bro. Listen I don’t mean to get in your business or nothing, but are you really with J.Lo? Tell the truth? Did you have sex with her? Did you tell me the truth? Don’t lie to me,’” he said, affecting a Boston accent. “I got a couple of guys that haven’t heard from, you know, 10 years from Boston. You were never impressed with anything I’ve ever done in my life until they were like, no sir, Affleck. It can’t be true.”
He said that people saw this as a bigger achievement than his Oscar.
“So I made good in Boston,” he said. “That was my crowning achievement.”
The couple reunited after nearly 2 decades apart
The constant attention the couple received began to wear on them and, just days before their wedding, they announced they were postponing the ceremony. Not long after, they announced their split.
In 2021, nearly two decades later, Bennifer made headlines once again. They began spending time together in Los Angeles and quickly rekindled their romance. In 2022, they married in Las Vegas.
