This past Friday, Jennifer Lopez—who has built her 30-year career on the cornerstones of being one of the hardest working people in show business, and one of the most fiercely loyal to her fans—canceled her summer tour, “This Is Me…Live,” scheduled to run from June to August. In a statement from Live Nation, the company said that Lopez is “taking time off to be with her children, family, and close friends,” and Lopez followed up with a statement to her fans on her OntheJLo website explaining why the tough decision had to be made: “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down,” she wrote. “Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary.”
One can infer that likely one of the main reasons Lopez found it “absolutely necessary” to stay home this summer was to work on her marriage to Ben Affleck, which is still less than two years old (the couple married in Las Vegas in July 2022 and followed up the next month with a larger ceremony in front of family and friends at Affleck’s estate in Riceboro, Georgia). According to Entertainment Tonight, the couple “don’t want to get divorced,” with a source speaking to the outlet adding “they’re not done yet” and “want to fix things.”
They said that the couple—who became engaged for the second time in April 2022, 20 years after their first engagement in the early aughts—are “dealing with some problems” as of late: “Jen has been feeling pressure with all her work commitments, and Ben is more chill and doesn’t care about Hollywood and the stuff that comes along with it,” they said. “He feels like ups and downs are part of life, and everyone has these moments.”
After meeting on the set of the movie Gigli, Lopez and Affleck became engaged in November 2002 and were planning a September 2003 wedding; it was postponed and later canceled days before it was supposed to happen, in part because of the relentless media attention surrounding the couple, then known primarily by the portmanteau of “Bennifer.” When they reconnected in 2021 and eventually married the next year, “They went back into their relationship hoping that any past issues wouldn’t repeat themselves, but unfortunately, some of them are,” the source told Entertainment Tonight.
Amid marital strain, the couple have been living apart recently, and another source speaking to Entertainment Tonight said that “Jen and Ben are continuing to take space from each other. They’ve been having issues for a few months and trying to figure things out on their own.” They added “Jen has been having a hard time dealing with the general stress of life as well as in her career. She has been experiencing ups and downs while processing everything. She has been throwing herself into work, which has always been an outlet for her to stay busy and distracted.” (In addition to her concert tour, Lopez also was just on a promotional tour for her Netflix film Atlas, and filmed another movie, Kiss of the Spider Woman, this spring. As if that wasn't enough, she released a new record, This Is Me…Now, as well as a musical film and documentary to support it, back in February.)
As for Affleck, “Ben has been trying to do his best when it comes to his career, co-parenting, and being a good partner, but feels overwhelmed,” they said.
Though Entertainment Tonight reports that Lopez and Affleck are “both unhappy,” they’re in the arena fighting for their marriage which, according to the name of Lopez’s February documentary, is the greatest love story never told. “Ben and Jen don’t want to get divorced,” they said, adding that they “are saying they won’t, but their relationship is simply not working at this point. They aren’t done yet and want to fix things because they love each other.”
As the pair navigate choppy waters, a source speaking to People said that they “still want to put the kids first” (they share five children between them) as “Jennifer and Ben have always been very family-oriented.” For Lopez in particular, the current situation has “been heartbreaking for her,” they said.
Good for Lopez for putting her needs first in canceling her tour—and hopefully, a more free summer now that “This Is Me…Live” isn’t happening will lead to healing for not just her marriage but for Lopez, too, in whatever form that might take.
