THEY broke up just three days before tying the knot after their relationship “crumbled under the pressure”.
Now, two decades on, history may be repeating itself for Hollywood couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck, who are said to have split for a second time after not being seen together for SEVEN weeks.
Affectionately known as “Bennifer”, they reunited in 2021 and got hitched two times a year later — the first at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas and the second at Ben’s £7million Georgia mansion in the US in an A-lister-filled bash.
Fans were thrilled by the couple’s “second time’s a charm” love story.
But on Wednesday a source said they “just couldn’t make it work” — and yesterday insisted: “It’s over.”
It followed claims Ben has moved out of their £47million mansion in Beverly Hills — and Jennifer was photographed house hunting without her other half.
The insider said: “The writing is on the wall — it’s over.
“They’re headed for a divorce — and for once, Ben’s not to blame.
“He’s focusing on work and his kids now. Ben already moved out and they will likely 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.”
The last time they were seen together was during a trip to New York in late March — and according to observers it was a frosty affair.
Despite holding hands, Ben frowned while avoiding the cameras and J-Lo stared at the ground before they grabbed meals at Sadelle’s restaurant in SoHo, and Cecconi’s in Brooklyn.
Perhaps most tellingly, Ben was absent for Jennifer’s big night at the Met Gala earlier this month, where she was picked as a co-chair for the event by fashion guru Anna Wintour.
A source said “everyone just assumed” Ben would be there “by her side on fashion’s biggest night”.
At the time, Ben’s representative said he was unable to attend due to working on the action thriller The Accountant 2.
But a source claimed he had “decided to call it quits” on the marriage.
Despite his supposedly busy schedule, Ben was able to make an appearance at the live recording of TV’s The Roast Of Tom Brady just a day before the Met Gala.
He ripped into the American football legend in a seven-minute speech — but instead of his comedic digs drawing attention, it was claims that he had undergone plastic surgery.
That led to further tension between the couple, according to an insider, who said the actor was “furious” because he was “getting slammed for fillers and Botox that Jen pushed him to get”.
They added: “She’s convinced him that everybody in Hollywood does a little facial maintenance, including his good friends like Matt Damon.”
In the days leading up to the sensational claims, reports claim the couple had struggled to get past issues that plagued their relationship in the past.
It couldn’t come at a worse time for Jennifer, whose North American tour for album This Is Me . . . Now starts next month but has had very little interest from fans, leading to crisis talks about cancelling all 30 dates.
Resale sites are reportedly snagging tickets for as little as £7.90, and large blocks of seats are still available.
A source said: “Promoter Live Nation doesn’t want Jen to feel embarrassed when she goes out on stage and sees empty seats.
“But she has too much pride to cancel the tour.
“They can’t convince her to change course.”
Despite claims that the pair are getting divorced, many of the songs Jennifer will perform on tour are about her and Ben’s reconciliation.
The tracks’ loving lyrics seem to contradict how Ben and Jennifer have appeared together over the past year.
Problems for “Bennifer 2.0” became clear on the release of her Prime Video documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told in February.
Throughout the film, which gave an insight into her love life and new album, Ben seemed uncomfortable.
In one scene he described their private moments as “sacred” and rolled his eyes while Jennifer gushed lovingly about him.
He said: “Things that are private, I’d always felt are sacred and special. So this was something of an adjustment for me.”
Jennifer admitted that Ben felt “uncomfortable” about being her muse and he suggested they wanted to find a middle ground to avoid revealing too much about their romance.
In the doc, he said: “Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media’.
“Then I realised it’s not a fair thing to ask.
“It’s sort of, like, you’re going to marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t want the water’.
“We’re just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.”
Jennifer said: “I don’t think he is very comfortable with me doing this [but] he doesn’t want to stop me.”
The couple last year often seemed to be at loggerheads in public.
In a video that went viral in May, Ben was described as looking “stressed” and “miserable” on a coffee run in LA and appeared to slam a car door after helping Jennifer into the passenger seat.
That same month, footage showed them amid what appeared to be a heated row in a car at a set of traffic lights in Beverly Hills.
Ben pointed directly at Jennifer, who turned away to look out of the window.
And at last year’s Grammy Awards, Jennifer appeared to snap at her husband during a tense exchange which the couple tried to play down.
Ben told The Hollywood Reporter that they hadn’t realised “the cameras were rolling” when he whispered his plan to “slide away” and leave her sat next to TV host Trevor Noah.
He recalled: “She goes, ‘You better f***ing not leave’. That’s a husband and wife thing.”
According to insiders, the couple’s struggles have revolved around Ben’s want for privacy and Jennifer’s love for being in the spotlight.
That same issue cropped up during their first relationship, which began shortly after Jennifer divorced her second husband, dancer Chris Judd.
Ben and Jen became an item in March 2002 and were engaged four months later.
At the time, Ben had gushed: “I’m in love.
“I want to have a family and she’s the only person I’ve ever met who made me entertain the thought of doing that.”
Their relationship hit the rocks the following September and they postponed their wedding just three days before the big day.
In a statement at the time they said: “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’, at three different locations, we realised that something was awry.
“We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised.”
They announced they had split after 18 months together in January 2004.
Jennifer married the singer Marc Anthony six months later yet split up with him in 2014.
Meanwhile, Ben tied the knot with actress Jennifer Garner, but their 13-year marriage ended in 2018. His preference for keeping relationships out of the limelight was made clear again in J-Lo’s documentary this year.
Recalling their split, he said: “The catalyst for that was the amount of scrutiny around our private life.
“I had a very firm sense of boundaries, initially, around the Press.
“While Jen, I don’t think objected to it in the way I did.”
It’s fair to assume Jennifer having a documentary and an album dedicated to their romance would have been far from Ben’s dream scenario.
And now the couple may well have split up for good, with sources claiming they were unable to work past their differences.
An insider said: “They waited almost two decades to get back together — but in the end they just couldn’t make it work.”
By Teresa Roca
JENNIFER Lopez gushed love is “twenty years patient” when she wed Ben Affleck two decades after they called off their wedding in 2002, but now it seems their fairytale wasn’t worth the wait.
JLo, 54, and Ben, 51, had a whirlwind romance when they began dating in March 2002, as Ben proposed just four months later.
But in September of that year, the stars postponed their wedding just three days before, as they released in a statement: “When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate ‘decoy brides’ at three different locations, we realised that something was awry.
“We began to feel that the spirit of what should have been the happiest day of our lives could be compromised.”
They ultimately announced their split in January 2004 after 18 months together.
Jennifer married singer Marc Anthony six months later and welcomed twins Emme and Max, now 16, before their divorce in 2014.
Ben went on to tie the knot with actress Jennifer Garner, who he shares three children with, in 2005. They divorced in 2018.
After a series of relationships, they reunited in 2021 and eloped in Las Vegas at the Little White Wedding Chapel.
They then had a second wedding at Ben’s $7million Georgia mansion.
During their marriage, fans have noticed tension between the couple.
During a coffee run last year, Ben seemed “miserable” and appeared to slam a car door while helping Jen into the passenger seat.
The singer was even caught on camera seemingly snapping at Ben at the 2023 Grammy Awards.
And now the love story appears to have officially ended. Ben has reportedly moved out of their $47million Beverly Hills mansion, as Jennifer was seen house hunting.
The couple hasn’t been seen together in seven weeks and during their last public outing, they appeared tense.
JLo even attended the Met Gala without Ben earlier this month.
