Ben Affleck told J.Lo that he didn’t want ‘a relationship on social media’

Do you consider Jennifer Lopez to be someone who is extremely online? I do not. She’s online a normal amount for a celebrity of her age, I think – she has social media accounts where she posts some personal photos, but most of the time her socials are full of just work stuff, promotional stuff for all of her businesses and projects. She overshares, but she does that in interviews, documentaries and in her art, not really on the ‘gram. Well, when J.Lo and Ben Affleck got back together in 2021, he apparently requested that Jennifer not be extremely online with their romance.

When Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck rekindled their romance in 2021 after nearly two decades apart, the Air star had a request. Lopez has 253 million followers on Instagram — and Affleck didn’t want their relationship to play out in front of prying eyes, he says in her new Amazon Prime documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told.

“Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’” the actor and director, 51, recalls. “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.’”

Despite Affleck’s trepidations, the couple has made it work, getting engaged in April 2022 and tying the knot in Las Vegas that July. In the years since, Lopez, 54, has occasionally shared photos and videos of Affleck to her social media feeds, including a sweet video of them singing Sam Cooke’s “(What A) Wonderful World” in the car in honor of his birthday in August.

“We’re just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise,” he says in the doc.

Lopez, too, speaks openly about the ways in which Affleck is uncomfortable in the spotlight, especially as the inspiration behind her new album This Is Me…Now and its accompanying visual film This Is Me…Now: A Love Story.

“I don’t think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing all of this,” she says. “But he loves me, he knows I’m an artist, and he’s gonna support me in every way he can because he knows you can’t stop me from making the music I made… he doesn’t want to stop me. But that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable being the muse.”

The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which begins streaming on Tuesday, offers fans a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Lopez’s ambitious new project. The doc, directed by Jason Bergh, includes interviews with the star’s inner circle, as well as her producing partners and longtime collaborators. In the documentary, Lopez reveals that Affleck gave her a very special gift on their first Christmas as a reunited couple: a book that included every letter and email they’d ever exchanged over two decades, which he titled The Greatest Love Story Never Told.

[From People]

Yeah, again – even before the Bennifer Revival, she wasn’t super online with her relationships? When she was with A-Rod, she would post some curated photos of their family life, but it was never anything which felt too egregious or TMI? Ben was worried about the wrong thing – Jennifer isn’t a chronic oversharer online, she’s a chronic oversharer in life. But I also think Ben has just softened in general too – he understands how Jennifer is, this is her nature, and hey, they’re both Leos so all of this is their natural habitat.

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Jennifer’s Instagram/On The JLo.

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32 Responses to “Ben Affleck told J.Lo that he didn’t want ‘a relationship on social media’”

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  1. AlpineWitch says:

    I don’t know, I’ve rarely commented about them but it feels like she’s actively trying to be rid of him and doing everything she can to annoy him.

    • Deanie Loomis says:

      Did you watch the documentary? He literally said he didn’t initially want the social media aspect and that it was a place of growth for him. Then he gave examples of being in relationships with people who’s jobs or elements of their work have impact – not recalling the examples he used, but something like if you marry a pro athlete, you can’t avoid going to games. The sound bite feeds a narrative and it’s not even his full thought (nor did he seem especially pressed).

    • Sass says:

      How To Lose A Guy In Ten Days!

    • QueenBee says:

      I am not sure how the documentary would generate this comment. The documentary showed a strong love between the two of them and most importantly JLo learning to love herself no matter what.

  2. KN says:

    They’ve really mythologized themselves and their relationship. “The Greatest Love Story Never Told?” Please.

    • HeatherC says:

      IDK,. it may be a thing? At my aunt and uncle’s 50th wedding anniversary a few years ago, we had a big party for them and their kids and made a little film (pictures with home videos) about their 50 years of marriage and called it The Greatest Love Story Never Told as well. Though yes it’s corny AF

      • WiththeAmerican says:

        But… a 50 year anniversary is very different than a one year marriage. (Or has it been two whole years?)

        “The greatest love story never told” is a lot for an untested marriage. That said, they seem in a good place right now and FX.

      • KN says:

        @HeatherC, It seems much more appropriate for a 50-year marriage! They’ve earned it!

      • Yeah fifty years and I’m guessing normal living circumstances,jobs ,bills,rent nobody praising you as you go along the ordinary-that’s amazing!
        And I’m glad for Jlo and Ben but it’s the greatest for them perhaps but not the only love story never told.🫤

  3. Iris says:

    I just watched the documentary and that man ADORES her. The way he talks to her, the way he looks at her. Ben Affleck is all in, trust

    • Cheshire Sass says:

      Addictive personality – they are by all accounts always all in, until they are not

    • joey says:

      I agree. i saw it as well and he is fully in love with her. they are very cute together and supportive of one another. People just LOVE to hate them and will discount EVERYTHING. It’s actually pretty disturbing how people online go out of their way to create or post hateful vile content about 2 people they dont know.

  4. Chantale says:

    I used to be JLO greatest fan. But now, I found her annoying. I am happy that you find love again, but keep it a little private after it was jeopardized for being so public the last time. JLO is the biggest real housewife on the block reality show. Enjoy your romance, we do not need to know much about it except when you are on the red carpet.

  5. Mcali02 says:

    I love them and don’t get the hate.

  6. Chic says:

    I think they need a spotlight break.. They are always present

  7. Kitten says:

    Yeah everyone is gonna slam them as they always do but this is a sign of a healthy relationship to me. She acknowledges that Ben is different and doesn’t love everything she does but at the end of the day supports her in her artistic endeavors to the point where he agreed to be in TGLSNT. *shrugs* People will project and extrapolate (as we all do in celeb gossip) but IMO they seem to have reached a point of mutual understanding and acceptance that they didn’t have the first time around. IDK…maybe I’m just a Bennifer Apologist…

  8. Tiffany:) says:

    In the beginning of their renewed relationship, she was posting pictures of them together frequently (or their love was the theme). The two of them kissing with her in a bikini, her in bed after their wedding night, etc. There was a lot of social media activity right when they rekindled. It was just as cringe as her movie.

    • Niki says:

      ummmm, are we talking about the same JLo? She shared that one picture of them kissing on her birthday the first year. That was pretty much it.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        The Jlo that posted a shirtless photo of Ben Affleck flexing in his bathroom mirror for a Father’s Day post? Yeah, I’m talking about her.

      • Niki says:

        lol you said she posted pictures of them together frequently in the beginning, and it was 1or 2 pictures the first year. That’s why I replied. And even now, there are just few pics of him on her IG, most of them are from work events (red carpets, premieres), not private pictures

  9. Qtpi says:

    Main thing I got out of this clip in the article is that he kept all the correspondence (and it sounds like maintained contact) with her throughout his first marriage. So this was always going to happen. He was always pining away for JLo. Too bad he didn’t just stay with her to begin with and let Garner find someone else. I’m sure neither regrets the kids they had together. But it would be hard to be the second fiddle.

    • Lens says:

      Well letters to her SHE would have kept not him. Although emails are on his computer. His first wife said he wooed her with emails before they got together as well. So I’m sure he kept those as well. And I don’t think he pined for her during the ten years she was single and he went through many other failed love affairs before getting in touch with her. And not because she was with other men – she was engaged to ARod when he first emailed her early in 2021. Besides married and engaged women don’t stop him since he doesn’t have a moral compass.

      • Niki says:

        Ben literally says in one of JLo’s new songs “I love you. I always have.” If that doesn’t scream pining, then I don’t know what does.

  10. Flamingo says:

    I wonder if during their 20 year ‘break’ they didn’t sneak around on their previous spouses. And hooked up over the years.

    It was all just a little too fast and seamless after she split from ARod. She was back with Ben, engaged and married. All over him sending an email.

    I mean, maybe there is more to the story. But for someone who doesn’t want to exploit their relationship again. They are doing an excellent job of exploiting it.

    • Lens says:

      Well she was MARRIED to Marc Anthony 5 months after she broke up with Ben in June 2004 so maybe she was cheating on Ben with Marc because that was pretty fast and seamless as well. The documentary just was a bridge to far and now they’ve both veered into too too TMI territory.

  11. Niki says:

    The documentary was Ben’s idea. It was his company that produced it, not JLo’s. And he comes off extremely well in it. I’m sure he is more than fine 😉

  12. lucy2 says:

    I haven’t watched it, don’t think I will, but I find it odd to say “I don’t want too much of us online” and then to do a documentary about all of it. But whatever.

  13. Amberil says:

    Jlo and Arod were definitely online A LOT, i think she deleted it now but they were constantly posting photos together and as a family on instagram, doing tiktoks, Instagram lives, etc I guess it was what Ben didn’t want .

  14. Carolnr says:

    I think that was a huge compromise for Ben. He totally stepped out of his comfort zone. I just hope this is a give & take relationship & not just take.
    This would have been fine if there was not any children involved.
    I am sorry but when there are children ( his & hers) involved, I think you need to think about them first not what YOU need. Great way to make the children feel that their mom or dad was just a place holder to the entire world! I can’t
    believe Ben went along with this…he
    needs to grow a set of balls!!!

  15. Katie Beanstalk says:

    I want to have a relationship with Ben.

  16. Pajala says:

    Alas, I find them both insufferable in equal measure.