J-Lo & Ben Affleck set for showdown ahead of film Unstoppable – as bosses plot special measures to unify warring exes
JENNIFER Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck — and revealed they separated almost four months ago.
The singer lodged papers in the US on Tuesday, which was the second anniversary of their wedding ceremony.
In the documents, J-Lo listed the date of their separation as April 26, when she was photographed alone looking downbeat in a grey jumper in New York.
But the pair, last pictured together on June 2 at Ben’s son’s basketball game in Los Angeles, are set for an awkward reunion in a fortnight — at the premiere of their new film.
Jennifer, 55, stars as the mother of one-legged wrestler Anthony Robles in biographical drama Unstoppable, which was produced by Ben, 52.
The premiere is due on September 6.
A source said: “Measures are already being worked on for the premiere so that there isn’t an awkward run-in.
“Everyone already knows them being there is going to overshadow it but clearly neither of them will be keen to cross paths.”
The couple rekindled their relationship in April 2021 — 17 years after their first engagement.
They married in July 2022 in Las Vegas and went on to have a larger ceremony in Georgia in August that year.
However, they now face the challenge of a financial settlement after it was revealed they did not sign a prenuptial agreement.
It means that their earnings during their two-year marriage are community property.
During that time, Ben acted in films Air and Hypnotic, as well as producing The Instigators.
Meanwhile Jennifer starred in Shotgun Wedding, The Mother, Atlas and released her album This Is Me . . . Now.
But it was her documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told — about the making of the album — which put a strain on their relationship.
In it, she shared love letters Ben had sent her.
Ben appeared uncomfortable that she was making their romance so public.
He said: “I did really find the beauty and the poetry and the irony in the fact that it’s the greatest love story never told.
“If you’re making a record, that seems kind of like telling it.”
He later added: “Things that are private I always felt are sacred because, in part, they’re private.”
Speaking about their 2004 split, Jennifer said: “For all those years it was really hard because I didn’t just feel like I lost the love of my life, I felt like I lost the best friend that I’d ever had.”
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck relationship timeline
JLo and Ben were first linked together in 2002 and became engaged later that year.
However, they called off the wedding just two years later. They rekindled their romance in 2021 and finally got hitched in 2022. Here is a timeline of their love story:
- June 2002 – Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck met on the set of Gigli and JLo divorced from her second husband Cris Judd
- November 2002 – Ben proposed to JLo with a six-carat pink diamond ring
- September 2003 – JLo and Ben called off their wedding and blamed it on ‘excessive media attention’
- January 2004 – The celebrity couple announce they are heading separate ways
- July 2021 – JLo posts an intimate photo of herself beside Ben and they begin dating again
- April 2022 – Ben proposes to JLo for a second time
- July 2022 – The celebrity couple officially celebrated their nuptials in a Las Vegas, Nevada, ceremony
- August 2022 – Ben and JLo have a second A-list wedding at their $8.9million George estate