The Heartbreaking Reason Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez Split in 2004
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have reportedly rekindled their romance 17 years after calling off their engagement. The couple known as “Bennifer” has reconnected in the wake of Affleck’s split from Ana de Armas and Lopez’s breakup with Alex Rodriguez.
Why did Affleck and Lopez call it quits back in 2004? The reason is quite heartbreaking.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s reunion began with love letters
According to TMZ, the reunion between Affleck and Lopez began building back in February. Insiders claim that Affleck started flooding Lopez with emails while she was in the Dominican Republic filming Shotgun Wedding.
These weren’t just friendly emails to catch up, either. Apparently, Affleck was sending his ex love letters to let her know he was still interested.
Sources say he wrote to tell her how beautiful she looked after seeing pics of her. This happened before Lopez called off her engagement to Rodriguez, and while Affleck was in Boston shooting The Tender Bar with George Clooney.
They reportedly stayed in touch until filming wrapped
Sources claim that Ben and Jen continued to exchange emails back and forth while she was in the D.R. The Oscar-winning screenwriter reportedly referenced her love of his writing in his emails, telling her that he could “own her heart” with his pen.
The emails continued until filming wrapped in late April.
Then, they reunited very publicly during the first weekend in May when they were both in Los Angeles. The reunion happened just two weeks after Lopez called her engagement to A-Rod.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez hung out together in Montana
After their Los Angeles reunion, Affleck and Lopez were spotted at the Big Sky Resort in Montana near Yellowstone National Park. Not only were they staying at the same resort, but they also drove around together.
He was in the driver’s seat while she rode shotgun. Insiders who spotted them said they looked like they were a couple.
Both Ben and Jen have stated that they remained good friends after their breakup. But the clues are piling up that indicate they are out of the friend zone and back together for real.
The duo flew out of Bozeman, Montana, together back to LA. When they arrived at the Signature Terminal at LAX, they left in an SUV together and drove to her home in Bel-Air.
Why did they break up in the first place?
With Bennifer the Sequel apparently happening so quickly after their respective breakups, many are asking why they broke up in the first place back in 2004.
Affleck and Lopez first met on the set of the infamous box office flop Gigli back in late 2001. At the time, she was still married to her second husband, Cris Judd.
But by the summer of 2002, Lopez had filed for divorce. Just a few weeks later, the world met Bennifer for the first time. By November 2002, they were engaged and Jen was wearing a shiny six-carat pink diamond ring.
Affleck and Lopez started planning a September 2003 wedding in Santa Barbara, but they never actually made it down the aisle. Just days before they were supposed to tie the knot, the couple issued a statement to let fans know they were delaying their big day.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez couldn’t handle the ‘excessive media attention’
“Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date. When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realized that something was awry,” Bennifer said in their statement, according to PopSugar.
They ended up calling things off for good in January 2004. But it wasn’t until 2008 that Affleck opened up about the split. He said that he and Lopez “made a mistake” by falling in love, getting excited, and being “too accessible.”
In a 2016 interview, Lopez echoed that sentiment.
“We just happened to be together at the birth of the tabloids, and it was like, ‘Oh my God.’ It was just a lot of pressure . . . I think different time different thing, who knows what could’ve happened, but there was a genuine love there,” Lopez said.
