Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez appear to be moving forward with their lives separately, as they spent their anniversary apart and he moved his belongings out of their family home while JLo was out of the country. Despite reports that the separation may be an effort to rekindle their romance, Affleck has reportedly purchased a new home, and while one of the issues with their $60 million mansion was allegedly that it was too far away from his kids, his new abode apparently has quite a major problem as well.
It turns out, according to SheKnows, that Ben Affleck’s new digs are in the Pacific Palisades, which is even further from where Jennifer Garner lives with Affleck’s three children. That’s pretty baffling and seems to suggest one of two things — either the distance from his kids was never that big of an issue or the new house is perfect enough to compensate for the extra travel time.
Either way, the trade suggests that the deal to buy the new five-bedroom home was possibly started even before he and JLo put their estate back on the market earlier this summer. According to TMZ, the two-time Oscar winner dropped $20.5 million on a 5-bed, 6-bath home, and the low number of lavatories alone might be an indication that JLo never expects to move in. (The home they purchased in 2023 has a startling 24 bathrooms, and of the other properties they looked at, one had 17 toilets, one had 13, and another had a measly 11 lavatories. Yes, we are fascinated with counting bathrooms.)
Ben Affleck’s new digs also reportedly include breakfast and dining areas, a separate family room, a den, walk-in closets, a media room, powder room and separate guest house, among other amenities.
One of the first signs that there might be trouble in Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s relationship was when it was learned that the Argo director had been living separately from his wife. His rental home in Brentwood was reportedly closer to his kids — Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
JLo, meanwhile, has also been seen looking at houses, though the official word is that she’s looking for an investment property, not a home for herself. Only time will tell where these two end up setting up camp and whether or not it will be in the same place.
Unfortunately for those of us who were thrilled to see Ben and Jen come back together two decades after initially calling off their engagement, things simply haven’t looked very promising that Bennifer 2.0 will get their happily ever after. In addition to Affleck living in his rental home, JLo canceled her world tour and arrived solo at the premiere of her new movie Atlas, as well as the Met Gala, although Affleck was reportedly unable to see Lopez’s take on the sheer trend due to filming The Accountant 2.
There have also been reports that those close to them — including Ben Affleck’s BFF from before he was famous Matt Damon, Jennifer Lopez's mom and her longtime pal and vocal coach, Stevie Mackey — have all been offering advice on moving forward.
It’s hard to know what’s rumor and what’s truth — especially since the distance from ex-wife Jennifer Garner and the kids doesn’t seem to be as big a deal for Ben Affleck as we first thought. We’ll be keeping an eye on the situation, and you can keep an eye on the 2024 movie release calendar for when to catch JLo and Affleck in their next projects.
