Ben Affleck Addresses Jennifer Lopez Divorce, What Did He Say?

Ben Affleck is finally speaking out about his split from Jennifer Lopez, and according to him, there’s far less drama behind the scenes than fans might expect.

Affleck and Lopez’s romance has long captured public attention. First engaged from 2002 to 2004, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez famously called it off before reconciling in 2021 and marrying in a whirlwind Vegas ceremony in 2022, followed by a larger celebration at Affleck’s Georgia estate.

However, on August 20, 2024, J. Lo filed for divorce from Ben Affleck, ending their whirlwind relationship once and for all.

Months later, in his GQ April 2025 cover story, published Tuesday, the Oscar-winning actor and director downplays the public fascination with his personal life, particularly his high-profile relationship and divorce from Lopez.

“If you sat down and talked to me about my life, your eyes would glaze over with boredom,” he said of how sensationalized the headlines have become compared to the reality. “There is no scandal, no soap opera [and] no intrigue.”

Affleck addressed the swirling speculation surrounding Lopez’s 2024 Amazon Prime documentary “This Is Me… Now: A Love Story” and its behind-the-scenes counterpart “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” which many believed revealed the cracks in their marriage. However, Affleck shot down the narrative that the project triggered a breakdown.

“You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship,” he explained. “It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.’”

The “Argo” star acknowledged their contrasting public personas, noting, “I’m a little bit more reserved and private than some people. I don’t love a lot of attention.” That difference in how they approached fame was something the couple had to navigate.

Still, Affleck said he took part in Lopez’s film “to love and support” her.

Even with their romance now behind them, Affleck was full of admiration for the 55-year-old singer and actress.

“I have nothing but respect [for her],” he said. “I guess there’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly, like I said, the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting.”

He went on to explain the split with a sense of grounded honesty. “The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no ‘This is what happened,'” he said. “It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do.”

“There is no ‘So-and-so did this’ or ‘This was the big event,’” he added. “It sounds more like a couple’s therapy session. […] You start going, ‘OK, clearly this person has got these issues. Clearly they have these issues.’”

Affleck didn’t delve into specific details, noting that doing so felt “sort of embarrassing” and “vulnerable.” But he made clear the breakup was anything but dramatic.

“We used to have a thing, my ex-wife and I, when they would see something on a supermarket stand, we would say, well, ‘You know this isn’t always true because if it were, you would have 15 brothers or sisters or whatever the number of stories is where they said that your mom was pregnant,’” he continued, referencing his children with Garner (Violet, 19, Seraphina, 16, and Samuel, 13.)

“And I’m really lucky that I have a really good co-parent and partner in Jennifer Garner, the kids’ mom, who’s wonderful and great and we work together well,” the actor said before he described that dealing with the constant rumors about his life is a “headache more than anything else.”

Lopez, on the other hand, seemed to embrace her independence following the split. In an Interview magazine feature published in October 2024, she reflected on navigating life as a single woman again.

“Everything that I’ve done over the past 25, 30 years, being in these different challenging situations, what can I f-cking do when it’s just me flying on my own?” she said.

While the romance may be over, both Affleck and Lopez appear to be focused on self-reflection, not scandal.