Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck: A Comprehensive Timeline of Those Divorce Rumors

If anyone understands the ups and downs of a great love story, it’s Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

After falling in love on the set of the universally panned film Gigli back in 2001, Bennifer officially called off their first attempt at a happily ever after in 2004. About two decades later, however, the couple rekindled their epic Hollywood romance and eventually made it down the altar in Vegas on July 16, 2022. Lopez changed her name and everything.

Clearly, this was a second-chance love story for the ages, culminating in a follow-up to J.Lo’s 2002 album This Is Me…Then, aptly titled This Is Me…Now. Affleck even went out of his comfort zone to take part in the album’s companion film project, This Is Me: A Love Story, and the accompanying documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told.

“It’s been such a journey. The thing that I think I’ve been wondering about my whole life is, like, Is love real? Does true love exist?” Lopez told Today of the album back in January 2023. “It’s two people kind of coming together and saying, you know, ‘I’m gonna be here no matter what. And we’re gonna get through it together.’”

Unfortunately, just a few months after the film’s release in February 2024, rumors began swirling that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are “headed towards divorce.” But is this really the end or just a third act reconciliation waiting to happen? Or, you know, a total non-story Lopez and Affleck will eventually shut down? Here’s a complete timeline of all those Bennifer divorce rumors with the most recent updates up top.

May 18, 2024: A source tells Us Weekly that Affleck moved out of their shared Beverly Hills home “several weeks ago.”

May 17, 2024: Lopez and Affleck are photographed together for the first time in 47 days. While a source told People that the pair arrived at the school play separately, the pair left the event together and were both reportedly spotted wearing their wedding rings.

May 16, 2024: Ben Affleck is photographed leaving the Brentwood home he has reportedly been staying in “over the past week or so.” He does appear to be wearing his wedding ring in the photo, which was published by TMZ.

That same day, relationship coach Lenna Marsak claims on Instagram Stories that Lopez had “liked” a particularly interesting post about relationships. “You can’t build a relationship with someone who is disconnected from themselves,” Marsak had captioned the post on March 19, which details why it’s difficult to foster a “healthy relationship” with “someone who lacks integrity & emotional safety.”

Per E! News, Marsak shared a screenshot of Lopez’s apparent double-tap, writing, “Just logged on to IG and noticed @jlo liked my post. Jlo or her PR team, I’ll take it.”

Meanwhile, a source tells Us Weekly that the pair are not splitting up, but are “having issues in their marriage.” According to the source, “They started having issues a few months ago as Jen had started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her [This Is Me…Live] tour.”

The source continued, “Jen is very focused on work. They are on two completely different pages most of the time.”

May 15, 2024: InTouch reports that Affleck has moved out of their shared home, and that the couple is “headed towards divorce.”

“Ben already moved out and they’ll likely have to sell the dream house they spent two years searching for. They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted,” the source said. “They waited almost two decades to get back together, but in the end, they just couldn’t make it work…. They both said they’d matured and learned from their mistakes, but some of the bigger issues that tore them apart the first time remained the same.”

May 14, 2024: Lopez seemingly goes house-hunting in Los Angeles without Affleck.

Jennifer Lopez is seen on May 14, 2024.

Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin

May 12, 2024: Lopez is seen in Beverly Hills on Mother’s Day. People later reports that she and Affleck did not spend the holiday together.

May 6, 2024: Lopez attends the 2024 Met Gala in NYC without her husband.

Jennifer Lopez on May 06, 2024 in New York City.

Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

May 5, 2024: Ben Affleck attends The Roast of Tom Brady in Inglewood, CA.

Tom Brady and Ben Affleck on May 05, 2024.

Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images

March 30, 2024: Lopez and Affleck are photographed together for the last time until the divorce rumors kick up. Later, People reports that Lopez remained in New York City to film Kiss of the Spiderwoman and promoted her Netflix film, Atlas, while Affleck returned to LA to work on The Accountant 2.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are seen on March 30, 2024 in New York, New York.

MEGA

February 27, 2024: In The Greatest Love Story Never Told documentary, Affleck says he and Lopez are “two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.” One early sticking point was how much of their relationship to share with the public.

“Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’” he says in the documentary, per People. “Then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like, you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t like the water.’”

For her part, Lopez acknowledges that Affleck may not be fully “comfortable” with his role in her work. “I don’t think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing all of this,” she says. “But he loves me, he knows I’m an artist, and he’s gonna support me in every way he can because he knows you can’t stop me from making the music I made…he doesn’t want to stop me. But that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable being the muse.”

This post may be updated. For everything that happened before this point, check out Bennifer’s complete relationship timeline here.