Ben Affleck Breaks Silence On Divorce From Jennifer Lopez, Says The Truth Is ‘Quotidian’

Ben Affleck reflected on his most recent failed marriage after a very public romantic rekindling with Jennifer Lopez, which ended in divorce in January.

During a new cover story interview with GQ, the 52-year-old actor discussed his participation in the 2024 documentary about their marriage, which was called “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.” Fans at the time were surprised Affleck agreed to it, considering his aversion to being in the spotlight.

“Part of it was, ‘Okay, if I’m going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that’s interesting.’ Because I thought it was an interesting examination,” the two-time Academy Award winner told the outlet. 

“There are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer among them,” he added. “My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers. As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things. And so I thought, ‘Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that?’”

Affleck went on, saying, “I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that. And I think the thing that I said in that documentary or the piece that they used was where I said, You don’t marry a ship captain and then say, ‘Well, I don’t like going out in the water.’ You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship. And I think it’s important to say that 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.’”

At another point during the conversation, Affleck said he “[doesn’t mind]” talking about his “personal life a little … as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated, which I hope I was clear that really [Lopez] is somebody I have a lot of respect for.”

The actor said he understands the idea of “wanting to divine or explore the kind of differences in perspective that we have in terms of how a person feels comfortable approaching the line between public and private life.” 

“There’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly … the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting,” Affleck explained.

“There’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue. The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no, ‘This is what happened,'” he said of their breakup. “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 and Lopez were first engaged in 2002 and broke up in 2004. They started dating again in 2021 and married in two lavish ceremonies, one in Las Vegas and the other in Georgia, the following year. The couple filed for divorce in 2024.