After months of speculation about the status of their relationship, Jennifer Lopez has officially filed for divorce from Ben Affleck.
On Tuesday, Lopez personally filed divorce documents through the Los Angeles Superior Court without using a lawyer, TMZ first reported and HuffPost can confirm.
The documents confirm that the couple, who married in July 2022 nearly two decades after calling off their first wedding, had been separated for some time.
Lopez’s filings list the date of separation as April 26, 2024.
Court records do not contain information regarding a prenuptial agreement, which could mean any assets the couple accrued during their 2 years of marriage would be split between the two of them.
In the documents, Lopez requested to waive spousal support for both herself and Affleck.
Lopez’s filings come exactly two years after the pair sealed their union with a second wedding ceremony in Georgia following an initial ceremony in Las Vegas one month prior.
The story of Affleck and Lopez’s split was quite the saga.
Reports that the relationship was in rocky territory began to emerge this May, fueled by the fact that the couple once known as “Bennifer” had not been seen in public together for nearly two months.
Around that time, an insider told People that Affleck had not been living at the Los Angeles estate he shared with Lopez.
Amid reports that the two were living separately, the “Hustlers” actor tried to put a damper on the breakup speculation.
When she was asked about the reported relationship strife during an event promoting her film “Atlas” in Mexico City on May 22, costar Simu Liu stepped in.
Chastising the journalist for the question, Liu said: “OK, we’re not doing that.” Lopez added: “You know better than that.”
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Though the two appeared happy together at Affleck’s daughter’s high school graduation on May 30, questions about the marriage intensified when “Entertainment Tonight” reported that Affleck and Lopez had quietly put their $60.8 million Beverly Hills estate on the market in early June. The property hit public real estate listings in July.
Following the home’s initial private listing, Lopez took a solo vacation to Italy, followed by an extended trip to the Hamptons.
In late June, after he’d been spotted several times without his wedding ring, Affleck was seen moving his things out of the couple’s Los Angeles estate.
When their second wedding anniversary rolled around in mid-July, the pair stayed apart on opposite coasts.
Lopez then celebrated her 55th birthday with an opulent “Bridgerton”-themed party that Affleck did not attend.
The couple’s fate seemed sealed when it was reported that Affleck had purchased a $20 million Los Angeles estate on his own at the end of July.
Tuesday’s announcement marks the second close to the couple’s decadeslong love story.
Affleck and Lopez first met in 2001 on the set of the box office bomb “Gigli,” and were engaged the following November.
The relationship buckled amid intense public scrutiny, and in September 2003, they called off their wedding, citing “the excessive media attention” they were receiving.
Two decades later, the “Out of Sight” star would describe canceling their nuptials as the “biggest heartbreak” of her life.
Scott Alfieri via Getty Images
The couple were unable to salvage the union after pulling the plug on their wedding plans, and Lopez’s representatives announced she and Affleck had broken up in January 2004.
That June, Lopez married singer Marc Anthony, with whom she shares twins Emme and Max. The pair divorced a decade later.
Affleck married actor Jennifer Garner in June 2005. They welcomed three children together before separating in 2015 amid Affleck’s struggle with alcoholism. They jointly filed for divorce two years later.
In the spring of 2021, Lopez and Affleck rekindled their relationship in the wake of her split from her fiancé, baseball star Alex Rodriguez.
The end of Lopez and Affleck’s marriage comes on the heels of several professional setbacks for Lopez.
In late May, the “Maid in Manhattan” star canceled her This Is Me… Live Tour following dismal sales of its accompanying album and brutal reviews for the companion film of the same name.
At the time, a representative for Live Nation said in a statement that “Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends.”
