Hollywood stars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are divorcing after two years of marriage. According to court documents obtained by the BBC, Lopez filed for divorce on Tuesday in the Los Angeles County Superior Court
The couple, famously dubbed “Bennifer” by the media, initially tied the knot in a low-key Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022 before hosting a grander celebration in Georgia the following month. Their love story began nearly two decades earlier when they met on the set of the 2003 film Gigli, and they were set to marry in 2004 before calling off their relationship. However, in a surprising turn of events, the couple rekindled their romance almost 20 years later.
Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, had become a symbol of enduring love, with Lopez famously stating after announcing their Las Vegas wedding, “Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”
The court documents reveal that Lopez or her attorney is required to serve Affleck with a copy of her petition to dissolve their marriage. While details of a prenuptial agreement were not listed in the petition, both parties are expected to disclose comprehensive financial information, including their income, expenses, properties, and debts. They have been given specific timelines to provide this information, with potential sanctions for non-compliance.
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Speculation about the state of their relationship had been circulating for months, fueled by reports of their Beverly Hills mansion being put up for sale at $65 million and sightings of the couple not wearing their wedding rings.
In May, Lopez announced on her website that she was “heartsick and devastated” to be cancelling her This Is Me … Live summer tour.
“Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary,” she said, promising her fans that they’d be “together again”.
The tour was to be her first in five years, in support of her first solo album in a decade, This Is Me … Now and its companion film, a fictionalized look at her long love life, and a documentary.
The album, she said, was inspired by her rekindled relationship with Affleck. But the film was more “about your journey as a person, it’s about one person’s journey and what it takes to get from heartbreak back to love. Or a hopeless romantic’s journey in their search for love.” In the movie, she played a character called The Artist who, similarly, had decided as a child what she wanted to be when she grew up: “in love”.
Lopez and Affleck first met in 2001 on the set of the movie Gigli, in which they played criminals stuck on the same job. Their real-life friendship eventually turned into a relationship that caused a media frenzy as paparazzi took to calling the pair Bennifer in tabloids.
By November 2002 they were engaged, but their relationship fizzled out as quickly as it had begun. Their September 2003 wedding was postponed and then the couple officially broke up four months later.
Affleck, a two-time Oscar winner, was previously married to actress Jennifer Garner, with whom he has three children. They divorced in 2015 after a decade of marriage. Lopez has been married four times, including to singer Marc Anthony, with whom she shares twins. She was also once engaged to former New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.
As one of Hollywood’s most famous couples, their separation marks the end of a highly publicised romance that captured the hearts of fans worldwide
