It’s really cracking me up that Ben Affleck looks like this now. He spent a huge chunk of the past five years looking like bloated Botoxed ass and now suddenly he’s looking fit, groomed, casually rumpled and generally well put-together. Jennifer Lopez has finally worked it out – she usually goes too far with her man-remodels and they turn into preening orange gym rats. But she’s perfected the J.Lo Man-Glow with Ben. They coordinate but don’t match. She let him keep some of his old “dude” clothes, but she got him to add some upgrades. She’s clearly in charge of his hair though! I don’t hate it.
Anyway, these are photos of Ben in LA yesterday. These are solo pics, but earlier in the day, he was driving around with J.Lo as they were once again house-hunting. TMZ had some tea:
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were on the hunt Tuesday for a house, and there are real signs they’re looking to buy something together. J Lo and Ben were all over the L.A. area, and one of the homes they looked at is eye-popping. It’s a Beverly Hills estate listed for $85 million, and it’s incredible.
The main house is 38,000 square feet and has 12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, an indoor sports complex complete with a basketball court and boxing ring, a massive pool, and on and on. There’s also a “guest penthouse” and a caretaker’s house. There’s also a 2 bedroom guardhouse. It has parking for 80 guests.
Our sources say it looks like this is a house not just for Jen but for them.
The couple then went over the hill to the San Fernando Valley, where they looked at the former Bob Hope estate in Toluca Lake. The house is currently owned by tycoon Ron Burkle and is listed for $40 million. It sits on 5 acres and even has a 1-hole golf course. The fact they’re looking at massive homes — especially the one in Beverly Hills — is further evidence they are going to move in together. Jen has a home in Bel-Air which she loves, so the only reason for moving is more space. Ben has a home in Pacific Palisades.
They’ve been looking together for a while now, and all signs point to a blended family in their future.
A month ago, I would have said no, the house-hunting was for J.Lo only and they’re not looking to move in together. But now I kind of think…maybe? Probably? It’s clear that they really are thinking about their future together. We were the ones saying “this won’t last but let’s have fun with it while we can.” They were saying “no, this is the real deal, we’re in it for the long-haul.” I say this with all sincerity: I hope they are. I genuinely want this to last for a while.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid.
I keep posting that he looks great. So much crap dumped on him in this group. If a woman was spoken about as Ben has been, aallrthe people dumping in him here would be up in arms. Such bs
If a woman had done what Ben has done, she’d have gotten the same comments. Any news item here shows that.
A woman that behaved like him ( alcoholism, non stop cheating ) would be completely burned in hollywood, there would be zero way back from that, so the crap that gets dumped on him in this group is NOTHING and if anything well deserved.
Alcoholism isn’t a behaviour. It’s a disease.
I think JLo receives more hate than him here, despite the fact that she hasn’t done anything bad nor come close to the level of f*ck up that Ben has. That said, Ben does look great. He actually looks fit and healthy. I hope he overcomes his demons and refrains from self sabotage.
I disagree with those who say he looks terrible—he’s 48 years old, here he looks trim and far better than most men that age. Being with JLo agrees with him.
On the contrary @ Calibration Ben still has his fans here rooting for him despite dumb lies, past gross behavior and the sexual harassment allegations against him being at the very least as bad as Cuomo’s. I still kinda can’t believe JLo forgives him his terrible past treatment of her (ARod was not worse) but it seems women forgive him everything. Eventually.
Give me a break. No one, especially me, is giving him a behaviour pass for the last 20. Show me exactly where I said that? This is about how he looks only. he’s been dragged here in this group for being bloated, now he’s being dragged for being drawn, looking too thin and old. Frankly he looks pretty healthy which is all I’ve said. If a woman was described like that people would be on her like you’re doing to me.
Didn’t she do that with ARod too?
She does it with all of them cuz she aleays need to make sure she looks her best and her accessories also need to look their best.
Ahah this comment is FIRE
Buying a house together at this early stage in their relationship although they’ve been together to me smells like someone lacks confidence. *cough*jlo*. She can make it apprea like its a shared investment – it is – but deep down, we know she wants her men close
So she can keep an eye on them and avoid them embarrassing her. Ben is just whatever. Jen feels to me, very clingy and needy and too look-at-meee, I-want-u-2-want-me, forever-meeee, it would drive me absolutely Ko-ra-zy after about a long weekend max.
Ben is looking GOOD, love to see it. He’s a complicated individual but I’m low key rooting for him.
I’m not even surprised bennifer is certainly gonna get a house together, they are in this crazy honeymoon phase at the moment. Don’t know how long it will last but I’m enjoying the ride
+1 he looks great, she looks happy, I hope it continues to work for them.
Next month they will go filming in different locations for months. Long distance relationship will be a real test for them.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: as messy as they both are, they really are each other’s best and only chance at something that lasts. They know the good/bad/ugly of each other and they’re walking into it again. It just remains to be seen if they’ll be willing to do the hard work that neither of them have historically been willing to do.
Co-signed,
Tom
Co-sign as well! There’s all this talk too, of them rushing, but they were together for years and engaged–it’s not like they’re just getting to know each other and rushing into things. It sounds like they kept in touch with one another over the years, too, so it’s not like they’re unaware of what the other person is like twenty years later and is going to be blindsided like they are the British Royal Family. Like, they can be messy and imperfect and still be in love and happy with one another. Why does it have to be textbook perfect to work? We’re just able to see more of the imperfections because they are so public. I’ve seen some comments about how Ben needs to find his “Amal,” but like, would someone who loves attention like he does want to be with an “Amal,” and like it would be this fantasy woman’s job to make him “better”? Anyway, I am rooting for these two, and hoping they can find peace and contentment with one another ’cause I’m an old sap who loves a second chance at love as well as all the lighthearted gossip this is bringing this summer!
@Scrambled eggs 👌
I couldn’t have say it better!!
yes agree with you. Bennifer is super different from George/amal.
George may have been a consummate bachelor but he wasn’t messy like Ben. He had long term relationships with women who weren’t always in the massive limelight. he used the occasional pro (trust me) but did it above board and in a chill manner.
when he met Amal she was not interested at first and he wooed her HARD because of her disinterest (and he fell in love obvi). their first year together was indeed a magical fairytale whirlwind.
no one is perfect but people comparing the Cloon to Batfleck is not even in the ballpark of accurate.
Jlo and Ben I think have a lot to work out but they seem very well matched for one another.
I get the sense that if the two of them think that if they can control the paparazzi/press attention that they are getting now that they avoid that particular pitfall that led to demise of their relationship the first time around. The buzz around them this time does have a different feel; more gentle and full of nostalgia, but they seem to be playing along with it more. It’s attention-whorey, but maybe that’s the game: Give them just enough and they won’t be too hungry (it helps that this is a second time around).
I clearly need to catch up. Didn’t she always have a house in LA? Where did she live when she was with ARod? Were they in Miami? Did they have separate houses?
She has a house in L.A. but primarily lived in Miami with A-Rod and near Marc Anthony, her childrens’ father. That’s where her children were in school. Now she wants her and the childrens’ primary base to be L.A. It seems she has found them a school in L.A. and she is looking for a new home, either for just herself/the kids or to share with Ben too.
Apparently, she/they need a bigger house now with more space if they’re going to live together…. But 38,000 square feet? Just in the main house? 12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms? I’m just thinking about the air conditioning bill and how much energy a house like that uses. Is her current house really that small? Does she honestly have a 3-bedroom house right now, one for her and each of her kids (please correct me if I’m wrong about how many children she has) and there’s just no room for Ben’s children when they stay with them? If she was with A-Rod and he had his own children, and they lived together, then shouldn’t she already have enough space?
I know that a lot of this is about having the acreage to have privacy and security. And that a house that comes with the kind of security you would want and need as an A list celeb couple (or a royal couple like the Sussexes, or a tech couple, etc) is probably going to be huge because if you need that much security, you’re likely wealthy and can afford it, and if you can afford it, you’re going to be used to and want to live in a really nice place, ans that’s what builders will assume and realtors will offer you. But I wonder, with global warming and the new UN climate report that just came out, if there will be a new trend towards smaller celebrity homes that are still on a large plot of land, highly secured, and with a separate space for security (like this one comes with a guard house). These massive houses shouldn’t be the only option if you need security and land space but still want to live in or around LA. This particular house is literally 22x bigger than my 2 story+finished basement, 3 bedroom, 1 bath house with separate living room, dining room, and kitchen, closets in all the bedrooms and the bathroom, separate office/den area in the finished basement, and full utility room with laundry area—so it’s not like I’m in a tiny apartment. If I were very rich I definitely would want a house that was bigger than this one, with maybe an extra bedroom or 2 for guests, more bathrooms, a larger kitchen, a larger back entry way with a mud room that had a sink in it, and I might like a studio/art room. But I think I’d mostly spend the money on things outside like a pool, a nicer garden, a larger covered patio, a big front porch, and a garage that was big enough to park both cars and still have some space to move around and do projects in. But even with all of that, I’ve *maybe* only doubled the size of my house and I’d still be living really comfortably but without having to spend 22x the energy to heat and cool and light the house. Do they all have solar panels? Grey water systems? But even then, the energy and materials needed to build and maintain and update and decorate a house that large is a lot.
They should get the BH house. Then they can have bedrooms at different ends of the house and continue to just date. They could go for days and not cross paths in that massive thing.
It does kind of feel like she wants to rush him to the altar before he changes his mind again. Lol. Marry in haste, repent in leisure, as my old granny used to say.
My mom used to say that too. Way back when, I thought that Ben and Jen Garner’s marriage seemed way too hasty. After He broke up with JLo, JG broke up with her fiancée and BenJenG were married in a head spinning flash.
IMO, he never looked as happy with her as he did with JLo.
Lol. Kind of off topic, but okay. In my opinion, Jlo will be the one to repent.
Jen Garner got pregnant explains the speed that they got married. JG was keeping quiet and non-tabloidy back then. She was showing and they had a beach wedding off on a island with no guests. I always wondered if JLo was thinking, damn I should’ve tried that!
They started dating during Electra filming in July 2004 & married about one year later. Fast but no more than Brangelina and TomKat. But they didn’t go public together until October 2004 and even after that kept it really private. I always thought it was in reaction to the JLo fallout (his part was even cut from the final movie because of his overexposure). She did an interview after the wedding saying they stayed in for months playing scrabble and hiding from the paps.
Lol. Still not on topic, but sure.
For me, buying a house together means they’re really serious about this relationship. It may not be marriage but it does look like that they’re in it for the long haul. I’m loving it.
“The main house…has 12 bedrooms, 24 bathrooms, an indoor sports complex complete with a basketball court and boxing ring, a massive pool, and on and on….Our sources say it looks like this is a house not just for Jen but for them.”
Does anyone else find this hysterically funny: “Not just for Jen.” Like she-plus-kids couldn’t possibly require 12 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms all by themselves, but with Ben-plus-kids added in, yeah, that kind of space & amenities makes sense. 12 bedrooms. 24 bathrooms. I guess they like to have company stay over? Hahaha killing me.
Yes! I commented above before I read yours. But lol. Of course with the addition of 4 extra people, they can definitely utilize and need all of those 12 bedrooms and 24 bathrooms and 38,000 square feet. Just the way that it’s written, like “of course no one woman and her kids would need that, but if Ben is going to live there, then it’s obvious that they need all that extra space” makes me imagine that Ben is a giant and they’ll need to knock out the walls between 9 of the bedrooms just so they can fit his 60 foot bed in there. And he’ll take up at least 20 of the bathrooms each time he bathed because he’s just that big that he has to wash one hand in one tub and the other hand in another tub, and one foot in another tub, etc, etc.
But please don’t tell me he’s given up Dunkin ice coffees. I don’t think I could take it.
This is gossip gods giving and giving. #gratitude.
+ 1!
I have to catch up as well! Didn’t JL buy a house with Arod in FL& I believe AR had Cip & Joanna Gaines design it for them for one of their dating anniversaries or was it her birthday? I don’t recall.
Isn’t she also in multiple businesses with AR? I would think she would need / want to sell that home & wrap up these business deals before buying another house with another man for legal not monetary reasons.
I don’t believe there has been anything mentioned publicly about the selling of that home in Miami or am I wrong?
And what house was JL touring the construction of? I think these two are playing mind games with the media.
Someone take the cigarettes away from him.
She’ll have him Vaping in no time. No smell and all the nicotine his little heart desires.
I want them to work. All that said, I am not a fan of his dye job. I wish he could stay salt and pepper or whatever he is right now. I hate jet black hair on men over 45.
Hahaha! I agree. I saw my optometrist a few weeks ago and his hair is darker now than it’s been in the 15 years that I’ve known him. Someone joined the hair club!
Yes, I love naturally graying hair on men, I find it very attractive.
24 bathrooms and parking for 80! That’s not a house, that’s a conference center.
I know!! Or a hotel, or a cozy rehab, like Prive Suisse…
Funny TMZs ‘sources think’ means the paps they pay to follow them around (easy they keep their windows open) want it to be so and so you all believe it. This came up less than a month ago and a Ben source laid it out to E that he’s just accompanying her on her search and he’s happy at his home near his kids. Now JLo would like everyone to believe they’re moving in together, so maybe she’s spreading this. To CarolNR I think she lived in ARod’s beautiful home in Miami (just saw it on AD) but they supposedly bought a couple of houses in LA together plus one I think in New York. There was one in Malibu that they flipped with Joanna Gaines and another smaller one but both turned out to be just her purchases although it was said at the time they bought them together. So it seems history may be repeating here
Consistency, thy name is JLo.
Seriously. This is definitely part of a well thought out comms plan. They’ve probably got one or two more ‘house-hunting’ trips in them before Jennifer either buys another house and we’re treated to a week of ‘who owns the house???!!!’ coverage or they drop the whole thing. I’m a little weirded out that people are so invested in this obvious sham, but to each their own.
He began his transformation in 2020 during the Ana De Armas era, particularly in the second half of that year/relationship. He doesn’t look that different to what he does now. Ana primed Ben for the JLo glow-up.
That’s true. I wonder if that drives Ana crazy? He definitely looked great when he was with Ana. I’d have to study side by side photos to see if he looks that much better now. And I’m not that motivated. I think he has continued improving his fitness though.
The JLo Effect as the New York Times put it, I think they are just made for each other and I hope they go the distance!
I literally just want one big Hollywood couple to last all the way. Just one. Please.
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson
Sting and Trudie Styler
Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick
Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russel
Felicity Huffman and William Macy\
SJP and Matthew Broderick
David and Victoria Beckham
Wil and Jada Smith
Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne
to name a few
Based on what I’ve seen of this kind of lifestyle, here is how the bedroom thing breaks down:
1 master, but maybe also his and hers bedrooms (very Victorian)
1 for each kid (so, is that 5 total between the two of them?)
easily 2 live-in staff
That’s already up to 8-9 bedrooms. Add more live-in staff and you keep needing more. Then my guess is that JLo would need to turn a whole bedroom into an additional wardrobe room, plus maybe you want dedicated grandparent guest rooms or just open guest rooms for family and friends. If there is a poolhouse/guardhouse, those could be guest suites but could also be where security or personal assistants sleep, or they could use the suites in the house.
I know it’s insane, but trust me, when people have a lot of kids and live-in or even full-time staff, the bedrooms go fast. Not saying it’s practical or environmentally sound, but people really do use them. That’s IF they live there, of course–so many celebs have enormous empty houses scattered around the country.
When I think back to their yacht vaction, I realized something interesting. Other celebs are on yacht vacations and they are all swimming in the ocean or jet-skiiing, etc. Heidi Klum is one that comes to mind. Charlize Theron and family. Carefree, fun in the water and sun. J-Lo and Ben, nada. They just had all kinds of photo-ops on deck and their camera person and makeup artist along for the ride.
Think they just managed what we saw, they weren’t photographed by paparazzi everyday. Her friends on the trip posted pictures swimming at the Faraglioni in Capri, and there were some fan photos of Bennifer on a small boat in outfits we didn’t see in paparazzi photos.
To be somewhat fair, he didn’t just start looking like this with JLo. He thinned out quite a bit and started looking generally better and more like his old (or younger?) self around the time he got with Ana de Armas.
He started looking better in 2019, when he was mostly sober.