Ben Affleck has opened up about his divorce from Jennifer Lopez, describing the end of their marriage as far more ordinary than tabloid speculation suggested.
In a wide-ranging cover interview for the April 2025 issue of GQ, the Accountant 2 star addressed the breakup, his participation in Lopez’s 2024 documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, and the reality behind their split.
Affleck, 52, said he wanted to approach the documentary honestly. “Part of it was, ‘Okay, if I’m going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that’s interesting,’” he explained. “Because I thought it was an interesting examination.”
He praised Lopez, 55, for her ease with fame while contrasting it with his own personality. “She has handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have,” Affleck said. “My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers.”
The two-time Oscar winner acknowledged their differing views on public life but downplayed any notion of it causing a major rift. “As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things,” he continued. Recalling a conversation with Lopez, he shared a metaphor: “You don’t marry a ship captain and then say, ‘Well, I don’t like going out in the water.’ You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship.”
Affleck was clear that these differences were not the cause of their separation. “And I think it’s important to say that wasn’t the cause of some major fracture,” he added. “It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.’”
He expressed ongoing respect for his ex-wife, saying he doesn’t mind discussing his personal life “as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated.” Affleck emphasized that Lopez “is somebody I have a lot of respect for” and that he has “nothing but respect” for her.
On the reasons behind the divorce, Affleck pushed back against dramatic interpretations. “There’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly… the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting,” he said. “There’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue.”
He added, “The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no, ‘This is what happened.’ It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do.”
Affleck and Lopez first dated in the early 2000s, got engaged in 2002 and split in 2003. They rekindled their romance in 2021, married in 2022 with ceremonies in Las Vegas and Georgia, and collaborated on multiple projects including the film This Is Me… Now: A Love Story and its documentary. Lopez filed for divorce in August 2024, and the divorce was finalized in January 2025.
For her part, Lopez later reflected on the relationship in her October 2025 Interview magazine cover story, saying she has “not one second” of regret. “That doesn’t mean it didn’t almost take me out for good,” she shared. “But now, on the other side of it, I think to myself, ‘F—, that is exactly what I needed.’”
Affleck’s full GQ cover story is available now.
