Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck, US media reported on Tuesday, two years after the Hollywood power couple officially gave love a second chance by tying the knot.
The pair, who were nicknamed “Bennifer” when they first dated in the frenzied tabloid celebrity days of the early 2000s, had rekindled their relationship almost two decades later.
However, Lopez on Tuesday filed divorce papers at a Los Angeles court, Variety magazine and celebrity gossip Web site TMZ said.
Photo: Reuters
A representative for Lopez declined to comment. Affleck’s publicist did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It was the fourth marriage for pop singer-turned-actress Lopez, 55, and the second for Oscar-winning movie star and director Affleck, 52.
The pair first met in 2002 on the set of the widely panned movie Gigli. They became a media sensation as they started dating and announced their engagement, but they postponed their planned 2003 nuptials, and announced their relationship was over in early 2004.
“Bennifer” set the Internet alight again in 2021 when photographs of them together again began circulating.
“It’s a beautiful love story that we got a second chance,” Lopez said in an interview around that time.
Yet rumors of marital troubles emerged in the entertainment press and on social media earlier this year. Fans noted that Lopez celebrated her 55th birthday without her husband last month, and TMZ said they had sold their joint home, with Affleck moving into a luxury bachelor pad.
People magazine said relations became strained because of their different approaches to celebrity.
“She likes to open her heart to her fans and to the world,” the magazine quoted an unnamed source as saying. “He is more introspective and private. This has been difficult day-to-day.”
Divorce papers listed the couple’s date of separation as April 26, and the pair are no longer on speaking terms, TMZ reported.
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