Ben Affleck has a night out with Steve Jobs’ widow Laurene Powell Jobs https://t.co/sl01SzmK1s pic.twitter.com/ZO6R4CLRPu
— Page Six (@PageSix) October 3, 2019
Ben Affleck has been single for a few months, as far as we know, after splitting from Lindsay Shookus in April. A source told People Magazine in June that Ben was hoping “to date someone supportive of his clean lifestyle” and maybe that’s what he’s doing now. He was just spotted out on what could have been a three hour dinner date with Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, who is of course a billionaire. They were photographed by the paparazzi. However sources tell People that they’re old friends and that Ben and Laurene have collaborated on philanthropic projects having to do with his Eastern Congo Initiative.
Ben Affleck was spotted heading to the high-end Italian restaurant Giorgio Baldi on Tuesday night before meeting with Laurene Powell Jobs, who was married to Apple creator Steve Jobs before his death in 2011.
An Affleck source tells PEOPLE, “They have been friends for a long time.”
Affleck looked laid back in blue jeans, a black T-shirt and a leather jacket while Powell Jobs wore a black dress and a gray cardigan. The duo ate and spoke for almost three hours before parting ways at the end of the night.
The two have worked together on Affleck’s nonprofit organization Eastern Congo Initiative since 2010 — Powell Jobs was an early investor in the initiative, which provides grants and international advocacy for community-building initiatives in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
In 2011, Affleck and Powell Jobs spoke at a panel together for the Global Philanthropy Forum about the actor’s initiative.
Page Six is reporting that they’re just friends too. Whatever is going on Ben wanted us to know about it since they went to a paparazzi hot spot. I mean Jennifer Garner was spotted out with John Miller two weeks ago so it’s time for Ben to get some headlines too. It’s unclear if it’s romantic, but if so that’s cool. Laurene is only 55 and it’s definitely not out of the question. I feel like she could do much better though.
Meanwhile Ben is going to make a cameo in the upcoming Jay and Silent Bob movie. He had a falling out with director Kevin Smith and before this they hadn’t spoken for years. We know because Kevin has talked about it so many times and was hurt that Ben never reached out to him after his heart attack. Go here for a recap of their feud. Apparently Ben is playing his character from Chasing Amy, Holden (ugh). Kevin contacted Ben after Ben told journalist Kevin McCarthy he would be open to it. I’m glad they reunited for this and I bet it had more to do with Ben’s sobriety than anything else.
Photos credit: Backgrid, Getty and via Twitter
So, I’ve never actually seen a photo of Laurene – she’s a beautiful lady. I work in tech, and kind of avoid a lot of tech related stuff once I’m out of the door (other than gadgets, love me some gadgets) so I never watched any documentaries on Jobs or anything like that.
I’m glad that Kevin and Ben are working together again. Both have been through some shit health wise, and I’m glad that Ben told a reporter he’d be open to working with Kevin again because he KNEW that would get the ball rolling. It’s probably awkward to directly reach out to someone you’ve kind of cut out of your life, so I think it was a reasonable move given the circumstances.
I know it’s bad, but I would enjoy how much this coupling would make Jennifer Garner twitch.
Me too. But probably won’t happen – by all accounts, they’re just friends.
I thought Laurene was dating someone and had to to go look up who it was… Adrian Fenty, former mayor of DC. Are they no longer together?
By the way I recently read the book Small Fry , the memoir by Steve Jobs’s daughter Lisa Brennan-Jobs who for years he denied paternity of (which is ridiculous because Lisa looks so much like him). Heartbreaking read and it doesn’t make you like Laurene much.
Oh please. Celebs go to that restaurant to be seen. The whole “just friends” bit is BS. Affleck wanted people to see him with her. I think it was a date. Unless of course Ben is trying to make Shookus jealous by going out with “just a friend” like she did with Hamm.
Longtime friends… who’ve never been seen out together before this or even mentioned in the same sentence. Extremely popular pap-friendly restaurant. Ben dressed like James Dean, and the “sources” aka Ken Sunshine were ready with the “friends” line as soon as the photos were taken. Suuuure. Ben is so transparent. Can’t believe he landed this lady. She has all the power and connections and prestige that he’s always wanted. I wonder if he’s proposed yet?
They have been seen together on multiple occasions over the years. She was one of the founding investors in his foundation, travelled with him to the Congo ten years ago and interviewed him on stage at the Global Philanthropy Forum in 2011. He has supported her activism around Dreamers on his facebook page in the past.
Yikes, what hole did he crawl out of?
I think Ben would be a bad influence on her, in one way or another. WTF would she want with him anyway?
He is not looking particularly sober in this photos. He seemed to make some positive changes in his life this year, and I hope he is continuing on a healthy road, but, based on these photos, I am guessing not.
This would be ridiculously good for gossip. Probably too good to be true, although a three-hour dinner at Giorgio Baldi seems pretty intimate for a business/philanthropy meeting.
There’s a new paparazzi video of Ben at his younger kids’ school. He’s there as the school lets out, walks with them back to his car, but they actually leave with the nanny. No doubt Daily Fail will have this story up as if he picked them up after school when actually he was basically just there to be seen/photographed with them. Everything this man does is calculated and for the paps/press. As was this date with Powell Jobs. Whether they are officially dating or not, he clearly wants people to think they are.
Yep, same as Jen appearing at Giorgi Baldi two weeks ago with John Miller. Both of them are calculated pap outings.
I wonder who will be Ben’s new lady..
He is very secretive or at least tries to be.
Publically he hasn’t been with anyone but who knows. I don’t think Jennifer will ever be 100% ok with him being involved with anyone. That’s going to be an issue down the road unless Ben puts up some boundaries. Either one of them dating does not make them bad parents.
Steve Jobs had his issues and he was an imperfect man (i.e denying paternity of his first daughter), but he was considered intelligent business-wise. She’s considered intelligent too. I can’t really picture someone like her being interested in Affleck. It doesn’t compute for me. If he looked like he used to, I might get it. But not in his current incarnation where both his looks and his personality are sort of….not what they used to be. I don’t think Affleck is dumb, but he is prone to vanity and self-absorption like all Hollywood stars, and none of these tech billionaire wives strike me as vain. (I’m not counting Miranda Kerr.)