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It’s been just over a year since Jennifer Lopez’s documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, was released on Amazon. The film gave fans her perspective on love with then-husband Ben Affleck — they got a second chance with their relationship. Oops! We know how the rest of 2024 played out, and it felt like the documentary was the catalyst for their downfall.
Now, Affleck is clearing the air and letting everyone know that they shouldn’t blame the film in a new interview with GQ. But let’s refresh your memory first. It was pretty evident that the 52-year-old actor was not “very comfortable” spilling his guts about his personal life to the cameras. Still, Affleck talked about his hesitancy in getting back together with J.Lo and it had everything to do with the press.
“When Jen and I broke up before, the catalyst for that was this massive amount of scrutiny around our private life. I had a very firm sense of boundaries initially around the press, while Jen I don’t think objected to it in the way I did. I very much did object to it,” he explained in the film. “Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’ and 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.’ We’re just two people with different approaches trying to learn to compromise.”
Their differences were on display for all to see and while the documentary felt like a breach of Affleck’s privacy, he’s telling GQ that it wasn’t Lopez’s pet project that led to their divorce last year. Affleck noted that he helped his ex-wife with the documentary because he “loved and supported” her and considered it an “interesting examination” of how they approached the idea of celebrity differently. Yet their differences went beyond a paparazzi’s camera lens.
What went wrong between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez?
“You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship,” Affleck added. “And I think it’s important to say that [the documentary] wasn’t the cause of some major fracture. It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, “Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.” Let’s just say that the timing of the film just happened to line up with their breakup — don’t blame the documentary for their split.
So, what did happen between Affleck and Lopez? Well, it’s not as dramatic as the headlines made it seem last summer. “Yeah, there’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue,” Affleck divulged. “The truth is, when you talk to somebody, “Hey, what happened?” Well, there is no: “This is what happened.” It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do.”
Affleck sounds like he’s telling fans that he and Lopez were just your average people trying to make a marriage work. Each side had issues, and they weren’t able to work through them — at least from his perspective. “And the reason I don’t want to share that is just sort of embarrassing,” he said. “It feels vulnerable.
Lopez broke her silence about their split to Harper’s Bazaar in October 2024 on how the initial breakup made her feel. “With This Is Me… Now and the project [documentary] that you mentioned earlier, I felt like, whoa, I got here. I’m good,” Lopez shared. “I did all the work and look at where I am, and then it was like my whole f—ing world exploded.”
It was the end of a Hollywood fairytale that was supposed to have a happy ending. Instead, it took an unexpected turn for Lopez and Affleck.
Before you go, click here to see a complete timeline of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s relationship.
