Jennifer Lopez’s Mom Asked Ben Affleck for Advice on Split From Marc Anthony
When Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony separated, her mom, Guadalupe Rodríguez, reached out to Ben Affleck. Their relationship had been over for nearly a decade, but Rodríguez trusted and respected her daughter’s ex. According to one source, she wanted Affleck’s advice as her daughter’s marriage broke down.
Jennifer Lopez’s mom reportedly turned to Ben Affleck for advice during her divorce
In 2011, Lopez and Anthony announced their intention to separate after seven years of marriage. They finalized their divorce in 2014. At the beginning of their separation, Lopez’s mother reportedly reached out to Affleck looking for advice for her daughter.
“Guadalupe reached out to Ben over email. She wanted advice for Jennifer,” a source told Us Weekly (via Vibe Magazine). “She always liked and trusted him.”
At the time, Affleck was married to Jennifer Garner. Still, he reportedly responded to Rodríguez’s email to offer whatever advice he felt was appropriate.
“[Ben] replied back on email, wished her well, and offered what he could,” the source said.
Jennifer Lopez’s ex-husband said her mom could impact her relationships
According to Lopez’s first husband, Ojani Noa, Rodríguez’s approval was important to the success of Lopez’s relationships. He got on her bad side while they were planning their wedding. He said he tried to step in as Lopez and Rodríguez fought over the wedding venue.
“Jen would be in tears all the time,” Noa told the Daily Mail. “Her mum was calling and yelling at her, trying to get her to change the venue. So I called Lupe and said, ‘You need to stop this.’ That was a big mistake. From then on there was tension between me and Lupe.”
While she might not have been on good terms with Noa, she always liked Affleck. She said she had long hoped for a reunion between them.
“I knew that you would always get back together because I prayed for 20 years,” Rodríguez said on TODAY.
Noa believed Rodríguez’s approval could be a good thing for the couple’s relationship.
“If Ben has Lupe onside then maybe he’s got a chance,” he said.
Ultimately, though, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck this summer.
She said co-parenting with her ex-husband is one of the biggest challenges she faces
Rodríguez may have reached out to Affleck because of how hard the divorce was on her daughter. Lopez explained that the split was incredibly difficult to handle.
“When it comes to work, I never get tired,” she told W Magazine in 2016. “But with personal failures, I have thought, This is too hard. When my marriage ended, it was not easy to find forgiveness. It wasn’t the dream that I had hoped for, and it would have been easier to fan the flames of resentment, disappointment, and anger.”
She said that co-parenting with him is among the hardest things she does.
“Marc is the father of my children, and that’s never going away,” she said. “So, I have to work to make things right. And that is, by far, the hardest work I do.”
