Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were seen at brunch with their blended family, almost a month after Lopez filed for divorce. Photo / Getty Images
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez were seen at brunch with their blended family, almost a month after Lopez filed for divorce. Photo / Getty Images
THREE KEY FACTS:
Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck on August 20, citing irreconcilable differences.
The couple reunited in 2021 after calling off their first engagement in 2004.
They were reportedly “holding hands” during an outing with their blended family over the weekend.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have reportedly been spotted “holding hands and kissing” during a weekend outing with their children — almost a month after Lopez filed for divorce from her husband of two years.
The on-again, off-again pair were snapped heading to brunch with their children at the Beverly Hills Hotel in Los Angeles on Saturday (local time); Lopez with her 16-year-old twins Emme and Max who she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Affleck with Seraphina, 16, and Samuel, 12, his children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
“Ben and JLo are currently at the Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel holding hands and kissing. The kids are with them, but at a separate table,” a source exclusively told Page Six. Representatives for Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, did not immediately respond to the outlet’s requests for comment.
The duo were also photographed having what appeared to be a heated conversation in a car parked outside the hotel.
In a surprising move, the Can’t Get Enough hitmaker was pictured wearing her engagement ring on her little finger, while a “Jennifer” jewellery piece occupied her ring finger.
Garner also made a brief appearance at the end of the outing to pick up Seraphina and Samuel.
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, pictured at the Golden Globe Awards in January, filed for divorce two years after their wedding ceremony. Photo / Getty Images
The sighting comes almost a month after Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck on August 20. According to outlets who obtained the papers, Lopez had listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024, and cited irreconcilable differences as the reason for the split. The documents did not specify whether a prenuptial agreement was in place, with reports suggesting the two hadn’t signed a contract before their marriage.
The high-profile couple tied the knot in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022, but held a more traditional wedding in Georgia on August 20 that year — meaning the divorce papers were filed on the second anniversary of their lavish ceremony.
Speaking to the Herald in February, Lopez had shared she had finally found happily ever after with Affleck, saying at the time: “I felt like, ‘Oh, wait, some things do last forever. True love does exist. Oh, holy s***’.
“[Affleck] helped me feel that it was okay and that I was safe and that I was loved, and that I could look at those parts of myself that I wasn’t so proud of, of things that I had gone through, and accept them.”
Last month, Lopez also asked a judge to revert her legal name to Jennifer Lynn Lopez, having taken Affleck’s surname when they eloped two years earlier.
According to reports, Affleck moved from their Beverly Hills mansion — which they put up for sale for US$68 million ($110m) in July — to a US$20m home in the Pacific Palisades, while Lopez has also been busy house-hunting. The couple had purchased the 12-bedroom, 24-bathroom California property only last year.
In a follow-up report People, citing an insider, said Lopez and Affleck are “still moving forward” with the divorce despite the claims they were kissing at brunch with their blended family.
“They all came together for a fun lunch so the kids could hang out,” a source told the outlet on Sunday. “[Lopez is] trying to be friendly with Ben. They are still moving forward with the divorce, though.
“They are working out financial details amicably.”
The A-listers were first rumoured to be living apart in May after they were spotted without their wedding rings. In August, several sources claimed that despite attempts to save their relationship, the pair had made the call to separate for good.
Lopez and Affleck rekindled their romance almost 20 years after first dating in 2002, a relationship that ended with a broken engagement in 2004.
Lopez this month indicated she was feeling “unbothered” and “at peace” amid the divorce with a carousel post to Instagram captioned: “Oh, it was a summer.”
An insider previously told People Lopez knew it was time to “move on”, explaining to the outlet: “[She knows] it’s time to move on for various reasons ... She’s very disappointed and sad, but Ben hasn’t given her any signs that he wants to continue their marriage. He hasn’t shown any commitment and interest in making their marriage work. It’s gotten to the point that she just needs to look out for herself.”
