Jennifer Lopez Once Called Jennifer Garner’s Famous Ex ‘A Perfect Boyfriend Person’

Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez are famously romantically linked to Ben Affleck. Garner was married to Affleck for 10 years before they decided to split. As for Lopez, she and Affleck were engaged in 2002 before breaking up. Twenty years later, they gave their romance another go and tied the knot in 2024. Now, we’re looking back at another man with whom the two ladies have crossed paths: Michael Vartan. Here’s what Lopez once said about Garner’s famous ex.

Jennifer Lopez called Jennifer Garner’s ex, Michael Vartan, ‘a perfect boyfriend person’

Jennifer Garner and Michael Vartan are known for their romantic relationship in Alias, which ran from 2001 to 2006. Garner played Sydney Bristow while Vartan played Agent Michael Vaughn. While the actors had a longstanding on-screen romance, their real-life relationship didn’t last quite as long. The actors were briefly romantically linked from 2003 to 2004. After their romance ended, they remained close friends, and Garner still wishes Vartan happy birthdays on Instagram.

While talking to People in 2005, Vartan verified that working with Garner didn’t feel awkward after they broke up. “What most people don’t know is that she and I are best friends,” he said. “We were for three years before our little whatever-you-want-to-call-it, and we still are. There was never that kind of animosity or intensity about it.”

During another 2005 interview with USA Today, Jennifer Lopez discussed working with Vartan. Vartan starred in Monster-in-Law with Lopez and Jane Fonda, and Lopez and Vartan played an engaged couple. Lopez explained why she and Vartan never had a real-life romance despite their excellent on-screen chemistry.

“Our situations were well-defined while we were working together,” she said. “He had a girlfriend at the time.” Despite this, she added that he’s “a perfect boyfriend person — so sweet, genuine, and real.”

The actor was ‘shaking like a leaf’ before working with J.Lo

Michael Vartan told E! News that he was extremely nervous to work with Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda before filming Monster in Law.

“I was shaking like a leaf,” he said.

While the media paints Lopez and Fonda in a particular light, he said he made “a conscious decision not to believe anything” that he read about the two actors.” He thought to himself, ” … just go do your job, and let whatever happens, happens, and you’ll make your own decisions about who these people are. And they made such a concerted effort, right off the bat, to make me feel welcome.”

Vartan added that Lopez and Fonda “didn’t have to” go out of their way to make him feel comfortable, but they did. “[A]nd the fact that they did meant so much to me,” he continued, “and they’re such sweet and human and down-to-earth people that, you know, most people who see them peripherally would never get to see… I was fortunate enough to [be able to] tell you that these are really, really wonderful women.”

Michael Vartan called Jennifer Lopez ‘very humble’ and ‘really driven’

Jennifer Lopez has been accused of diva-like behavior in the past, and some insiders allege that her marital struggles with Ben Affleck in 2024 resulted from her love of the spotlight. However, in 2005, Vartan verified to People that Lopez was “very humble.”

“They’re not these divas going around doing what everyone reads they do,” Vartan said of Lopez and another co-star, Drew Barrymore. “They’re really nice people, they’re hard workers, they’re really driven and they appreciate what they have. It’s not like they just fell from a lucky cloud. What’s a lucky cloud, anyway?”

Jane Fonda also said she “worried” that Lopez would have a diva attitude. However, Lopez didn’t.

“I worried that she’d be a diva, but at least I didn’t see that at all,” Fonda said, according to LiveAbout. “She was professional; she was on time; she knew her lines. She’s very smart. We got along great. I didn’t get to know her super well because shes so busy. The time that she was able to stay on set in between takes we would talk and enjoy each other. It was fun.”

For more on the entertainment world and exclusive interviews, follow Showbiz Cheat Sheet’s Instagram.