Whatever led Jennifer Affleck and Ben Affleck to separate after less than two years of marriage, the actor himself made it clear he was uncomfortable with the way she publicized aspects of their private life, especially when she turned their great “love story” into a selling point for her music, social media brand and recent documentary.
So, it may come as no surprise that Affleck reportedly was unhappy with one of the ways Lopez handled all the feverish news reports about problems in their marriage. The Daily Mail reported that Lopez actually allowed breakup rumors to “ruminate” as she was preparing to promote her new Netflix film, “Atlas,” last month.
“Jennifer allowed the breakup rumors to ruminate while on the press tour for her new film ‘Atlas’ because if people are talking about you, it can be a good thing for publicity,” a source told the Daily Mail.
So, according to this Daily Mail source, it sounds like Lopez was following the old adage about publicity — negative headlines are better than no headlines.
It’s hard to know, though, whether this means Lopez has been fine with paparazzi following her and Affleck around the past few weeks, snapping photos of them in private family moments, in order to assess the health of their marriage. It’s also hard to believe that Lopez was pleased with the public knowing that Affleck had moved out of their recently purchased $60 million Beverly Hills “dream home” and moved into a $100,000-per-month rental.
But whatever Lopez reportedly expected from the publicity, the more privacy-conscious Affleck “didn’t like” that she either fanned the flames of speculation herself, or didn’t do enough to put them out, the Daily Mail reported.
The Daily Mail source insisted that the couple haven’t fallen out of love, but said they have lost what led them to rekindle their relationship in 2021, some 20 years after they first dated but ended their engagement amid a whirl of intense media coverage.
“She wants to fall in love with Ben again and get back to what got them back together in the first place,” the insider said. “She wants him to feel better about their relationship.”
But to do that, the source said, “They have to work on their communication first and foremost.”
No doubt, tensions arose over Lopez wanting to turn her relationship with Affleck into “a commodity” and “make it part of her storyline and brand,” said Texas-based family law attorney Holly Davis in an email to this news organization. The couple’s relationship is front and center in two behind-the-scenes documentaries films Lopez released earlier this year, especially in the latter film, which carries the rather self-important title, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.”
Lopez released the films to promote and provide context for her “This is Me … Now” arena tour. The national tour was supposed to kick off this month but was abruptly canceled last week amid all the star’s marital drama.
In “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” Lopez is depicted as getting “candid” about her personal growth, her struggle to find a suitable romantic partner and her much publicized habit of cycling through relationships, engagements and marriages. At one point, she acknowledges that people are probably wondering, “What is this girl’s (expletive) problem?”
When Affleck appears in “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” he’s seen supporting Lopez on the set and giving her constructive feedback. But he also explains his misgivings about her way of courting publicity. “Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’” Affleck said in the film.
“For Jennifer, it makes sense to create a movie about what captivated her passion and focus, and doing the same with an album and a world tour would be very natural for her as well,” Davis said.
But Davis said it also could have been a “sore spot” for the couple Lopez ignored Affleck’s advice and invested $20 million of her own money in the project.
“If one person advised their partner against productizing their relationship but the other person didn’t listen, and then the product flopped, there’s a lot of blame and defensiveness to go around,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, if Lopez or her PR team hoped that the divorce speculation would drive attention to “Atlas,” she has been partially successful. This week, the sci-fi film held the No. 1 spot on the streamer’s top 10 list for the second week in a row, making it fourth No. 1 streaming movie over the past two years, Deadline reported.
But critics have savaged “Atlas,” and the film’s global viewership numbers haven’t stopped the public from “relentlessly villainizing” Lopez in the wake of her marital drama, Kevin Fallon, the Daily Beast’s senior wrote in a column that mostly defended Lopez. Fallon also said people online have indulged in some “‘this is what you get’ schadenfreude” for insisting on making her autobiographical documentaries despite Affleck’s unease.
But Fallon is among those who wonder about the timing of the breakup rumors, flourishing in the leadup to her tour, which reportedly suffered from “anemic” ticket sales.
“My personal, unsubstantiated theory is that the breakup rumors were a coverup planted to save embarrassment over the poor ticket sales, the personal issues being used to mask a professional failure,” wrote Kevin Fallon, senior editor for the Daily Beast, in a column that otherwise defended Lopez
Lopez told her fans she was “completely heartsick” about canceling the tour and “letting you down.” Reps for Live Nation suggested that Lopez was canceling for personal reasons, saying she was “taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends.”
But fans went online to express doubts that she canceled the tour for personal reasons or because of marital problems, with some pointing out that Live Nation didn’t mention she was taking time off to be with her husband. “Translation: Jennifer Lopez has cancelled her tour because it didn’t sell any tickets,” one X.com user replied to a headline about the Live Nation statement.
