Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez continue to “blend” their families gradually. Just before Independence Day, Ben and Jen went to Universal Studios with Max and Emme, plus Samuel Affleck. Reportedly, everyone got along well and everything is fine. So it’s charming to me – yes, I’m using that word – to see Ben Affleck on dad duty and presumptive stepdad duty. Ben was out on Sunday with his youngest, Samuel. Emme Anthony was there too! Emme is the one with the blue hair, the little punk rocker. Ben was full-on dad mood, taking the kids out to Wetzel’s Pretzels and going along the Universal CityWalk. He seemed stressed but fine. Warm soft pretzels… whew, I’m glad I don’t have a pretzel shop close-by because I would need one every day. Surprised he didn’t take the kids to Dunkin Donuts. As for the longer-term prospects of blending their families, well Entertainment Tonight had this piece:
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are continuing to move forward in their relationship! A source tells ET that amid their rekindled romance, their “friends wouldn’t be surprised if they move in together and ultimately end up together.”
“They’re spending all of their free time together and making each other a priority. J.Lo falls hard and has certainly done the same with Ben again this time around,” the source says. “Ben is a guy’s guy and does his own thing, which J.Lo loves. He has his own life and is famous in a different way than she is and is not trying to compete with her by any means. They just support and love each other.”
“When Ben reached out to J.Lo, she was really excited at the possibility of them rekindling their relationship. J.Lo has always had a love for Ben,” the source says. “Back in the day, Ben broke up with J.Lo because he was overwhelmed by the constant media attention and fame that the relationship brought, but now they are in an amazing place and have really learned what works for them as a couple.”
The source additionally notes that Lopez and Affleck’s relationship “is not a big deal to either sets of kids,” adding that the little ones “aren’t super sensitive to the situation.”
While I know that “not all kids get along even if they’re the same age,” I bet the vibe between Max, Emme, Samuel and Seraphina isn’t that weird. They are close-ish in age and Emme in particular strikes me as an outgoing, confident kid who can make friends with anyone. As for moving in together… sources close to Ben told E! News last week that he’s not into that idea at all. He wants to maintain separate spaces. This feels like J.Lo telling him “I love that you’re into having your own space, you can do that when we move in!!”
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
Ben’s looking real good here, the best he’s looked in a while, I think.
Yep. He’s slimmed down a bit. I don’t normally find him hot but… those pants are a *really* good fit.
Sobriety looks good on him.
I wonder what all the kids involved think of this. I had friends whose parents (both the mom & dad) went from relationship to relationship and they kinda hated it. Add in the fact that your parents’ love lives are online and in tabloids, I kinda feel bad for them. I wonder if they’re embarrassed at all.
Hopefully, they have kinda just accepted the situation and don’t get super embarrassed anymore. It’s not exactly going to change. Marc Anthony and Jennifer Garner seem to be much more careful about everything. So, the kids get some stability.
It’s terrible modeling for the kids. It implies that people you fall in love with are quickly replaceable, that people should be discarded rather than problems worked through.
(This isn’t just divorce because of major issues, but serial monogamy.)
Ben and Jen are not going to stop this pattern after they inevitably break up.
Good points. I remember ellen explaining her parents divorce, they never fought in front of her just one day they said they were divorcing so she thought is this just what happens people come and go no fighting no warning etc. Things can be bad with no signs youre innthe dark. It makes you feel insecure in relationships
I don’t know if the other parents are that different. Marc Anthony has been married and divorced since JLo. Ben and Jennifer Garner both introduced their kids to one partner (Ana, John Miller) where it didn’t work out.
What does “he’s not trying to compete with her” mean? That line stuck out for me. So he broke up with her the first time around because he wanted a wife at home who didn’t overshadow him?
Moving on, no one needs to tell us that Ben does his own thing. We all know that. He makes sure to let us all know that.
Ben doesn’t want to be suffocated, and he looks fit & healthy. He is spending plenty of time with the children, and doing his best. This entire narrative of he wants his own space, is very telling. Ben is setting the ground rules early, and J-Lo is not going to dictate his life.
And Lauren, you think he’s setting the ground rules between himself and his gf using the media as a conduit?
I think that line was more JLo throwing shade at ARod who clearly did fight her for the limelight and attention.
Those comments are so premature like “they have learned what works for them as a couple” it has been a couple of months… ummm… this definitely comes from jlo’s side – that is how stupid she can be. Ben is not crazy – or not that crazy – when he’s in a relationship.
I agree. What is their big hurry? She was engaged to another man just… what… two, three months ago. He can barely stay sober more than a few months at a time.
“When Ben reached out to J.lo, she was really excited excited at the possibilities of them rekindling their relationship.” I thought she was engaged to another man. Now I. Wondering was Alex cheating, at that time or…. Was JLo cheating on Alex and then put it out that Alex was cheating to “get it out there” to blamed him for cheating on her. JLo knew Alex was a cheater like everyone knew, yet she got engaged to him. Something just does not add up with her and Ben’s relationship. Were both of them cheating on each other at the same time. I cannot understand how you can be in love and engaged to a man, take his children in your home as a family, then in two months has another man and his children blending with your children as a happy family the next month. IMO, I believe she was with Ben before she dumped Alex and his girls, JLo.
It was very public that Arod was slipping into *at least* one woman’s DMs. So, yes, he was cheating on some scale & they publicly broke up.
The line that JLo dumped Alex’s girls is dripping & so layered….
People probably don’t understand it because it’s not their life, but they obviously want to paint it all with blame & hatred towards the woman involved in the men’s crap. Okay, Jan.
Did you forget JLo cheated on husband #2, Chris, with Ben. JLo is not above cheating herself. Btw, “Casper” cheated on her several times and she took him back, and she said her children was very close to him to.
Trying to demonize her is a weird pastime, and this comment is still on par with the “paint it all with blame & hatred towards the woman for the men’s crap.”
Maybe it’s just me, but this Bennifer2.0-coverage is getting a more and more desperate vibe.
@agnes That’s my thought too. It feels desperate. It’s really “in our face”, these pap walks.
There’s no doubt it’s their doing. Whyyy? Why can’t they just date and shut the h$ll up?
The pap walks with the kids is weird.
Ben looks older and too thin.
J Lo has not aged. She looks magnificent.
I just don’t understand why we need to know that she’s wanting to relocate from Miami and is looking at schools in LA. Like geez slow the F down. This cannot be healthy for your kids.
Watch jennifer garner getting papped next with all kids + dog(s) after this shot. She always does it after there’s a pic of Ben & kids to show she’s there, busy with all kids and doing a gazillion things at the same time
If Ben is “a guys guy & likes doing his own thing” during this ” honeymoon” phase, girl better buckle up, it is going to be a wild ride!
Right? I was thinking how much is she going to love him doing his thing… when he starts ‘doing his thing’.
It is so crazy, this whole thing. But I am loving the gossip, many a chuckle reading peoples comments.
Seeing Ben out with the kids definitely kills A Rod’s narrative of three empty chairs at the dinner table.
Max and Emme don’t seem to miss them or A Rod. If some jerk like that had cheated on my mom, then made a show of his “sadness” and missing all of us, I would be very happy to be photographed looking happy with the new/old guy that pursued her. I’d care about her pride.
I am certain Jennifer’s children are delighted to have a new Daddy and new siblings. What happened to the other new Daddy and new siblings? Might as well be dead.
You can’t ask kids to form deep attachments to people and then drag them away from those people. There are consequences for that. This pushes buttons for me. The selfishness is breathtaking.
You said it Merricat! This pushes my buttons too. It is selfish and the kids will likely resent it at some point.
As someone who works with children and has personally seen the damage this kind of behavior does to kids…..I find it extremely selfish.
It is so desperate and strange to me, JLo has has hit new tragic lows which is so crazy, she is doing great in some ways which are shallow compared to how this affects the kids unless they …, no, never mind, there is nothing normal and good about this.
100%! A close family member did this several times with his children, and the consequences are deep. Like JLo, he fell hard and fast for new girlfriends. They would introduce the kids very early on; mostly because it was convenient for them. When a breakup would happen, the children would just be expected to move on from the friendships they formed. It led to a lot of trust issues for them, and eventually they stopped forming those friendships to spare themselves the hurt and disappointment. I’m all for rekindling a romance between these two, but it’s infuriating to see them involving the kids this early on in the relationship.
Ben is an overgrown man-child.
He spends time with her kids as if he deserves a flipping medal for doing it.
That truly bugs me. Lots of fathers do this, as if they are babysitting their kids.
Parenting! It is being a reliable, loving Dad.
Bennifer 2.0 is nothing more than PR. They both love attention and fame, fame, fame.
JLo needs to realize she could live without a man in her life. But, how will she ever learn this? She goes from one to the next, for years.
Emme Muniz*, not Anthony 🙂
Ben is starting to look good again. JLo magic.
He was looking great with Ana. Ben’s face right now is looking sunken in. Too much weight loss? I don’t know. He looks good, in shape, but IMO his face is looking too gaunt.
It’s what happens when you’re nearing 50 and have lost a lot of weight. He doesn’t seem to be doing filler and Botox anymore. This is what an aging middle aged man’s face looks like naturally (cough cough Brad Pitt). It’s so effed that without cosmetic interventions he looks haggard to us.
@queen- disagree completely. I know plenty of men 50’s and up, and they do not have the haggard look when they lose weight. And they don’t use plastic surgery. They look- healthy. Ben is a known addict, it’s far more likely this is part of it.
I say this based on absolutely nothing but my own personal narrative, but I feel like his eldest Violet wants nothing to do with his BS pap walks. I feel like she’s probably most aware of her dad’s addiction issues and how he’s treated their mother.
Same here. Maybe I’m projecting, but eldest daughters are often quite close to their moms. If Violet is intuitive or compassionate at all, she probably has a rough idea of what’s gone on and isn’t impressed.
Agree. Especially if she knows about his cheating on her mother. Wonder if jlo was one of his lovers during the marriage.
@ Carousel
Jen was quoted as saying that Violet was her roommate when she was interviewed in the vanity fair article. They seem to have a great bond! Violet is old enough & mature enough to have a voice & not want to papped with JL.
I think Ben would respect her wishes, as well!
From pictures, it looks like Violet has a good relationship with both parents. I doubt Ben’s addiction issues are a reason she wouldn’t want to spend time with him. He’s her dad and it’s a disease! He mentioned in the Diane Sawyer that he doesn’t want his kids to worry about him, which is heartbreaking and often does happen to children of addicts.
He made it clear he had no intentions of moving in with her and yet she’s still pushing that narrative. So embarrassed for her LOL
Honestly, it’s my opinion that this relationship is about sex: the need for sex, the need to feel desirable, the need for sex and desirability as evidence that aging isn’t changing their power to attract, and the (mostly Jlo) conflation of it with love.
I really just wish that they left the kids out of it.
Excellent observation.
Emme is only 12 but I feel like her big clothing and hair are of her generation, away to be creative and a way to say I am not my mother (who wears tiny clothing and glitz). She is speaking to the world in a way. Part of its normal (my niece is same age and asserts her independence w her look and crazy hair-dos), but I feel like Emme is speaking to us! Like I’ve had enough of mom’s sexy image.
Great observation Barrett! I couldn’t agree more. And I do find it charming that Emme appears to be (granted, she’s a young teen, her phases might change) the punk rock chick. I’ve often wondered how children of famous/infamous people find their own styles that are different from their famous parents. Does one compete and try to be a mini-me or go in the very opposite direction? Interesting discussion.
It seems particularly cruel to push the “blended family” narrative when it’s well-known that J.Lo and A.Rod’s kids were very close and living as a family for years.
Chasing Ben Affleck is a bad bet—and he is right to make clear what he can and cannot do in this relationship.
“Chasing Ben Affleck is a bad bet..”. Agree 100%. Ben is unstable, wouldn’t put all my eggs in one basket. He doesn’t strike me as a relationship type of guy. Not going to last long term. JLo is in love with the Ben Affleck from 17 years ago. He’s not the same Ben. Affleck now. Way too much baggage.
I’m sorry but couples in relationships are not setting the parameters of those relationships through the media. Divorcing couples, yes. Brange, yes. And even that’s just for their own individual brand protection and PR. Their lawyers are sending the REAL messages.
Ben Affleck is not sending messages to Jlo through Star magazine or whatever. The desperation to see Jlo as, well, desperate, makes for some very silly and even ludicrous comments.
lol right, so bennifer is the exception because they are so special. sure jan.
That’s not what I said debbie.
These are famous actors etc. —these two particularly are very aware of public perception at all times. They absolutely have their fingers in all the pies when it comes to press about themselves, their families and careers. Him maybe even more than her.
Oh definitely, but he’s not sending HER messages using the media as a conduit. That’s all I’m saying. And IMO it’s silly to believe otherwise. YMMV
I could see the kids getting along. (Disclaimer: not that I know them…) They’ve all grown up in the mega-spotlight, with their parents constantly in magazines and doing tours or whatever it is that actors and musicians do. It must be nice to hang with people who get it and who are equally part of that crazy world that none of them signed up for.
“Lopez and Affleck’s relationship ‘is not a big deal to either sets of kids,’ adding that the little ones ‘aren’t super sensitive to the situation.'” Meaning, the kids have had this happen a lot, and are starting to realize they can’t count on mom’s/dad’s new partner being around for long.
They put that out there because they both pour over their press and saw that there is a lot of condemnation over exposing their kids to their rapidly changing multiple relationships. Especially with JLo changing their home and schools to follow a new relationship. So they’re going with the it’s no big deal to the kids, they don’t take it seriously. I noticed too that Violet isn’t around but Violet never was around Ben & Ana as much as the younger two. I think she is at an age she gets to decide how much of dad she wants to see. Max is not around Ben that much either, at least the last 3 pap outings. So maybe they all can choose how much ridiculous pap and press attention they can stand. I’d like to think they have a say.
From what I remember they broke up years ago because he had wandering dong issues.
Wasn’t he busted in a strip club in Vancouver? Rumoirs of him cheating on her? People is saying he didn’t like the attention or fame, this seems like BS to me. Rewriting history.
He didn’t like what the attention/mockery was doing to his career and his entourage was whispering into his ears.
I personally think he was in love with jlo but the outside pressure became too strong and he wanted out so he did what he does best, his passive agressive antics with the stripclub, cheating etc to force her to leave him.
Ah, that makes sense. He’s always seemed a bit childish to me.
in the rewriting of history, his wandering dong has turned into him doing his own thing lol and being a guys guy. gotta keep it classy.
I think there were a lot of issues between the 2 of them. If you google pictures of them together from during that period, you’ll see that he would literally have on a face full of makeup whenever they were out together. Ben has never had that before JLo or after her. Jennifer has a history of switching up her man’s style and Ben was no different. She changed his style almost entirely and glammed him up. I don’t think that they’re compatible people.
Yes, and if he is a mans man I’m not so sure about men’s men.
Okay I am an LA resident. Recognizing that Emme is teenager, it’s been a million degrees here. I do not understand wearing a sweater and fricken LAYERS to Universal Studios. It was soooooooooo hot. The governor wants us to cut energy and water consumption. I just cant say this enough it was hot and girl you are positively bundled.
Think of Billie Eilish. Teen girls in the public eye cover themselves to protect from public comments.
Couldn’t give less of a f***, but it’s not about the BRF…. So I’m going to engage
I’m here for you. I’ve been a lifelong BRF lover but I’m so tired of them now. We need more Bennifer 2.0 type gossip!
LOL you have been cracking me up Va.
Hear, hear!
Tell me about it.
If their relationship were a film…
Leaving Las Vegas??
This relationship is a time bomb and they’re both clearly damaged people. Number 1, they both seem to need someone at all times, and number 2, they both seem to be totally cool with any port in the storm in order to not be alone. I just do not at all buy that these two still had any kind of flame burning for one another. This was an issue of two people who take what they can get and conflate lust/attraction with love. There is absolutely a reason that these two are losers at love and relationships, and a huge part of that involves the fact that they’ve done very little to solve the issues that led to their relationships ending in the first place.
Ben looks miserable at all times, and not just because he’s being photographed. In almost every picture I’ve seen of them, he looks dead inside. Those pictures of them on the rides in Universal were kind of jarring; everyone around him is laughing hysterically and he’s got this weak, obviously fake smile on his face. I think he’s got some very serious mental health issues that he should be dealing with, but why bother when you can just hop from woman to woman and ignore those issues instead?
And I know someone will call me sexist for this, but when it comes to Jennifer, she is incapable of being alone and that isn’t normal either. She is a serial monogamist and has gone from almost marrying a man to hopping back into a relationship with another man she once almost married. She’s clearly got some problems also.
Also: I kind of feel sorry for Jennifer’s children, as they were just in an actual family with ARod and now they’re in yet another little family with Ben and his kids in the blink of an eye.
Why do you think he isn’t dealing with his mental health issues? He has said publicly that he deals with depression and anxiety, and has been on various anti-depressants since his 20s. He’s been relatively open about his struggles, not just the addiction stuff.
I agree with you about Ben. He just looks miserable to me – but not about issues relating to JLo. He seems like he has his own internal issues he needs to work out. Not so sure about Jennifer. I think she may have been finished with ARod much earlier than she let on to the public. So to us it looks like she jumped straight from man to man, but in reality there may have been a bit more time between relationships than the rest of us realize.
Also, the power dynamic between Jen and Ben this time around seems slightly different. She was still on the come-up the first time around. You can see the way she looked at him in old pictures. This time around, she’s established and comfortable in her own position as a celebrity, so it seems to be more of a level playing field between them. He may have claimed his time and space to do ‘his own thing’, but he also knows that she wants him, but doesn’t need him. She WILL leave a guy (like she left ARod) if he doesn’t do right by her.
Let’s see how long they last this time around. I’m very curious to see if they can make it work.
He watched the Super Bowl halftime show and was in love again, she was the queen for a day.
If by a “guy’s guy” we mean a drunken, irresponsible cheater, then yes, he’s a guy’s guy.
Am I the only woman that doesn’t find him attractive at all?
NO! He looks like a slob just coming out of gambling all night and need some sleep.
I have never found BA attractive either.
Yes, he is tall. But a very generic white guy.
Minnesota generic farm boys = 6’+, white, good shoulders, in pretty fit shape, blonde or light brown hair. Local Fleet Farm store on a F/S AM or Home Depot, you could easily find 4-5 guys who look similar.
I’ve never thought of Home Depot as a pickup spot but now that you mention it there is a lot of testosterone in the building.
Whenever I’ve exited a relationship for whatever reason, it’s taken me a long time to get back into another romance. I needed the alone time to decompress, digest the problems that led to me leaving and learn from it. I once went 11 years without even a date, and had no issues with that. I cannot for the life of me understand how a 50+ year old woman would fall back in love/lust with a man who cheated on her literally a New York minute after her engagement crashed and burned, and expect her kids to be cool with it. I think it’s selfish and shows that despite being rich, famous and beautiful, she’s insecure as hell without a man, and part of this instant rekindling of her relationship with Ben is more about rubbing A-Rod’s face in it as punishment.