Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have ditched their wedding rings as whispers of a contentious fallout and looming divorce between the two have ramped up.
Speculation that the one-time lovebirds are no longer on speaking terms after weeks apart has slowly turned into reports of ire pitting the stars against each other.
“He’s humiliated her because she made a big deal that he’s the love of her life,” a purported source told Page Six this week. “They just had two weddings two years ago. This is some kind of a record, they’re not young kids,” they add.
The Academy Award winner has been seen around Los Angeles sporting a faux mohawk and leather motorcycle jacket, but noticeably absent is his wedding band. Some suspect his jarring new look points to the 51-year-old going through a “midlife crisis” or possibly taking on a new movie role. Others only see traces of his highly publicized relationship.
“This man is troubled!” wrote an Instagram user. While a second commenter quipped, “This is NOT it.”
Another person suggested, “We are pretty certain that marrying JLo was the mid-life crisis. This looks like a movie specific style.”
Days before the film star’s new hairdo hit the net, another Ben Affleck-centered story began circulating.
In an Interview published on Aug 4, an Australian TV host told the Sydney Morning Herald that Ben Affleck was “quite high up on the list” of her least favorite interviews. According to the host, the veteran actor was “rude” during an interview she conducted with him and Chris Tucker last year to promote their new film, “Air.”
“He was just rude, not interested, going through the motions,” she told the publication in reference to their sit-down.
“I do not understand his appeal,” a commenter reacted on Instagram. “Ben is totally unhappy with his life period. He just should move out of Hollywood,” said another.
A third person wrote, “He is a rude person I hope jlo rebounds so big!”
One person assumed that the actor needs to take a break, writing, “He seems to hate Hollywood, hate his life, hate his wife, miserable. He needs to move somewhere new and start fresh.”
However, certain fans found the sudden increase in negative press around Affleck suspicious, inferring that Lopez’s team is attempting a PR maneuver to cast her estranged husband in a negative light amid their split.
“I’m convinced Jlo and her team are putting negative stories about him in the press because she’s bitter he left her,” said one commenter. “Midlife crisis? More like a movie role !!!! Leave him alone.”
Another fan echoed the statement, writing, “I think jlo people wanting him to look bad so they find what they can. It’s too embarrassing for jlo to lose him. Just my opinion.”
“Yes lets get it out there jlo,” a fan quipped.
Lopez has been in New York and the Hamptons with friends and her and ex-husband Marc Anthony’s children, twins Max and Emme, after canceling her comeback tour in support of her latest album, “This Is Me… Now.”
The project, along with the film “The Greatest Love Story Never Told,” was released this year as an ode to her and Affleck’s then-fairytale relationship. She celebrated turning 55 and their two-year anniversary without her leading man or any acknowledgement of him online in July.
The “Gigli” actors were last photographed together in May. Around that time, it was reported that they were experiencing a rough patch in their marriage and living separately. The couple reunited in 2021, two decades after calling off their engagement. They tied the knot in a Las Vegas wedding in 2022, opting for a larger ceremony with friends and family months later at Affleck’s coastal Georgia estate.
Now, according to the outlet, the only thing keeping the Hollywood A-listers tethered to each other is their divorce documents that have yet to be filed. The source claims, “He’s very protective of her,” as an explanation for why he has not submitted the filing. But social media users have their doubts that Lopez shares that same feeling.
As the rumor mill spins with reports about the relationship’s demise, neither Lopez nor Affleck has publicly addressed the status of their union.
