Jennifer Lopez has leaned hard into her love story with Ben Affleck in her recent documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. The idea that the couple missed their chance to start their lives together in 2003, go on different paths, and then come back 17 years later seems like a Hollywood rom-com — and that might be one of the dynamic duo’s struggles.
The reality of their lives together is very different from the “fairytale ending” that Lopez wants from their union, according to The Sun‘s sources. “When Ben’s having a problem, you can see it all over his face and he does want to talk about it and hash it out, but it can be exhausting,” the insider shared. “That’s not the world Jennifer lives in most of the day. She’s all about winning, not pain, and she’s still determined to have this fairy tale ending with Ben, at any cost.” Their opposing approaches to the press and the media, especially when it comes to their relationship, appear to be at odds.
Lopez can reportedly step on a red carpet and “fake it” when things aren’t going well behind the scenes while Affleck’s mood is always written all over his face. “When he’s falling apart, everybody around him knows and everybody faces a loyalty test if they’re not comforting and consoling him,” the source added. There’s constant talk about meeting in the middle over their vastly different life philosophies — and that certainly raised a few eyebrows in Lopez’s Amazon Prime documentary.
“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. “Then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like, you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t like the water.’” He described them as “two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.” That hot marital topic also seems to keep coming up from the sources in Affleck and Lopez’s inner circle.
“But he’s still got the weight of the world hanging over his shoulders every day and Jennifer doesn’t, despite the recent bad fortune with her tour and new music,” The Sun source said. “She doesn’t ‘do’ misery, at least not around the people closest to her.” With Us Weekly noting that Affleck moved out weeks ago, and In Touch alleging that they are in couples therapy, it’s hard to see how this will play out in the end. However, a “fairytale ending” doesn’t happen if you don’t put the work in to navigate those perspective differences, let’s hope Affleck and Lopez find a solid resolution that works for them.
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