WHEN Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck finally married two years ago, 20 years after their previous engagement, it was like the fairytale ending to one of her rom-com films.
Yet now, months of rumour that Bennifer 2.0 is heading for the cutting-room floor, and J-Lo for a fourth divorce, is now at fever pitch.
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In the strongest sign yet that all is not well at home, J-Lo has called off her This Is Me . . . Now summer tour of the US just weeks before it was due to start, telling fans she is “taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends”.
And Gone Girl star Ben was pictured with his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner, in Santa Monica, California last Saturday taking their son Samuel, 12, to basketball practice.
The next day J-Lo arrived to see Samuel play a match in the city and shared an awkward-looking kiss with Ben which fans fear was staged for the cameras.
Amid her relationship turmoil, she has since reportedly warned Ben’s ex to stay away from him.
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Ben has repeatedly been seen without his wedding ring of late, and he and J-Lo are believed to have put their £45million Beverly Hills marital home on the market.
It was revealed last month Ben had moved out of the 12-bedroom mansion and into a £78,000-a-month rental home in Los Angeles suburb Brentwood, while J-Lo has been photographed house-hunting without her husband.
The Hollywood couple met on the set of 2002 film Gigli and got engaged later that year before calling time in 2004, only to then get back together and marry in July 2022.
But now Ben, 51, and J-Lo, 54, have reportedly been living separate lives for some time.
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J-Lo now appears to be preparing for the worst after it emerged she has hired a crisis PR team.
She also broke her silence over the marriage rumours, blasting “negativity” in the world, while refusing to say all is well with her man.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's Relationship Ups and Downs
An insider has said: “J-Lo is telling everyone that they’re going to get through this, but Ben has checked out.
"It’s pretty clear a divorce is imminent, and J-Lo is taking steps to protect herself.
"She’d love to save things, but if she can’t she’s vowed to at least come out on top.”
Ben has son Samuel as well as daughters Violet, 18, and 15-year-old Seraphina, 15, by Dallas Buyers Club actress Garner, while J-Lo has 15-year-old twins Emme and Maxi-milian by singer-songwriter former husband Marc Antony.
But J-Lo has been candid about how tricky she and Ben have found playing “blended” families, and cracks quickly appeared following their 2022 nuptials.
Ben, a recovering alcoholic, is said to prefer a quieter life these days, while J-Lo loves the limelight.
A source told The Sun last year: “Ben wants to slow down a little. He needs that, but it’s not really how Jennifer does things.
"She’s an all-or-nothing type and has more energy than Ben.
"There’s no off-switch and this is just not somebody who is down for Netflix and chill.”
In February last year J-Lo scolded Ben for not looking “friendly” or “motivated” at the Grammys, but she tried to make light by captioning a picture of a bored-looking Ben: “My husband’s happy face.”
Three months later they were spotted seemingly bickering in their car.
They’ll never stop loving each other but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her
Bennifer insider
Ben later escorted his wife to the passenger side before then slamming her door shut in a clip that went viral.
A few days later they looked tense at the premiere for Jen’s Netflix film The Mother, as J-Lo gesticulated at Ben while he looked annoyed.
She has also revealed they have clashed over her revealing outfits.
She admitted: “He’ll joke with me sometimes . . . he’ll say things like, ‘Where’s the rest of that shirt?’ I’m like, ‘Oh, this one doesn’t have anything else’.”
J-Lo’s recent docu-film The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which was released in February, tells the story of her latest album This Is Me . . .
Now which was released the same month, as well as her and Ben’s love story.
But it shows Ben looking uneasy about how a book of love letters he sent her had been used as inspiration for the album.
There has been wedding ring drama, too. Ben was spotted with-out his band last month, at his kids’ school, but days later had it on again when pictured pulling up to his rental home.
Then J-Lo was seen looking for a new home, without Ben.
An insider said: “He’s focusing on his work and kids now.
"He already moved out and they’ll likely have to sell the dream house they spent two years searching for.
“They’ll never stop loving each other but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.”
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She has also been attending events solo and, in another sign all is not well at home, has cancelled her 30-date tour that was to start on June 26.
She announced: “I am devastated about letting you down. I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you.”
Bennifer also reunited recently for Ben’s eldest child Violet’s high-school graduation.
They held hands but Ben looked emotional as he went off alone for a walk during the ceremony.
Also there was his ex-wife Garner, who has helped him through alcoholism troubles.
A source said: “Everyone knows Ben and Jennifer remained very close after divorce.
"He confides in her about everything, even issues with J-Lo.”
And J-Lo reportedly hates this.
The insider added: “She doesn’t want Jen’s input.”
Reports suggest that if Bennifer do split, J-Lo will hire the same lawyer who represented her in her divorce from Marc and mediated Ben’s from Garner.
'A LOT OF PRESSURE'
One of J-Lo’s biggest hit songs is 2000 hit Love Don’t Cost A Thing, but her latest divorce battle could be for high stakes.
J-Lo wed first husband, Cuban waiter Ojani Noa, in 1997 but was divorced the next year.
She then met Ben in 2002 while estranged from her second husband, dancer Cris Judd, and was soon engaged.
Her divorce from Cris was finalised the following year.
But Bennifer’s planned wedding in September 2003 was called off amid huge media attention, and in early 2004 they announced they had split.
J-Lo went on to marry Marc later that year and start a family, only to divorce him in 2014.
Ben said in 2008: “Jen and I made a mistake.
"We fell in love, we were excited and maybe too accessible — I don’t think either of us anticipated the degree to which it would take on a world of its own.”
She said in 2016: “We didn’t try to have a public relationship, and it was like ‘Oh my God’. It was just a lot of pressure.”
In February this year, she added: “I knew in my heart that I wanted to be with him for the rest of my life.
"But it didn’t feel like we were going to make it.
I felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for 18 years
Jennifer Lopez
"So it scared me.
"It was very sad letting go of somebody you truly love.
"You just don’t have the ability at that moment, emotionally, to figure it out. We weren’t mature enough in that way.”
Then in 2022, she said: “Once we called off that wedding, it was the biggest heartbreak of my life.
" I felt like I was going to die. It sent me on a spiral for 18 years.
"But now, 20 years later, it does have a happy ending.
"It has the most would-never-happen-in-Hollywood ending.”
They had sparked relationship rumours when spotted together for the first time in a decade in April 2021, and in the July she posted Instagram shots of them kissing.
They got engaged in April 2022 and married in Last Vegas three months later, with their children acting as witnesses.
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They then had another ceremony at Ben’s £7million mansion in Riceboro, Georgia, in front of family and friends before jetting off on honeymoon to Lake Como, Italy.
On their return, the happy couple they spent months hunting for the “perfect” home — but that dream now looks to have died.
