Hollywood superstars Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have got married in Las Vegas, the pop star has confirmed.
The couple, who were engaged in the early 2000s before splitting up for 17 years, tied the knot on Saturday night at The Little White Chapel, according to Lopez.
“We did it. Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” Lopez, 52, wrote in her “On the JLo” newsletter on Sunday.
“Exactly what we wanted. Last night we flew to Vegas, stood in line for a license with four other couples, all making the same journey to the wedding capital of the world,” she wrote.
“Behind us two men held hands and held each other. In front of us, a young couple who made the three hour drive from Victorville on their daughter’s second birthday — all of us wanting the same thing — for the world to recognize us as partners and to declare our love to the world through the ancient and nearly universal symbol of marriage.”
Lopez said that the couple only just made it to The Little White Wedding Chapel before midnight, and thanked the venue for staying open for them.
“So with the best witnesses you could ever imagine, a dress from an old movie and a jacket from Ben’s closet, we read our own vows in the little chapel and gave one another the rings we’ll wear for the rest of our lives,” Lopez added.
“They even had Bluetooth for a (short) march down the aisle. But in the end it was the best possible wedding we could have imagined. One we dreamed of long ago and one made real (in the eyes of the state, Las Vegas, a pink convertible and one another) at very, very long last.
“When love is real, the only thing that matters in marriage is one another and the promise we make to love, care, understand, be patient, loving and good to one another. We had that. And so much more. Best night of our lives.”
Her confirmation of her wedding came hours after it emerged the couple had been issued with a Clark County marriage license in Nevada.
The couple first met on the set of the movie Gigli in 2002 and got engaged in 2003 before breaking it off in 200, blaming “excessive media attention” for the split.
It is the fourth marriage for Lopez and the second for Affleck, who was previously married to actress Jennifer Garner.
Lopez has 14-year-old twins Emme and Max with ex-husband Marc Anthony. Affleck has three children with Garner - Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10.
They were romantically linked in early 2021 following the pop star’s breakup with former New York Yankees player Alex Rodriguez. They went public with their relationship last July.
Lopez revealed her engagement to Affleck in April 2022.
In February she told People magazine about the differences in the couple’s relationship after almost two decades apart.
“We’re older now, we’re smarter, we have more experience, we’re at different places in our lives, we have kids now, and we have to be very conscious of those things,” she said.
And she added: “It’s a beautiful outcome that this has happened in this way at this time in our lives where we can really appreciate and celebrate each other and respect each other.
“We always did, but we have even more of an appreciation because we know that life can take you in different directions.”
And in her April fan newsletter, she detailed Affleck’s bubble bath proposal.
“Did you ever imagine your biggest dream could come true?” she wrote.
“Saturday night while at my favorite place on earth (in the bubble bath), my beautiful love got on one knee and proposed. I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again, I was quite literally speechless and he said, ‘is that a yes?’ I said YES of course that’s a YES.”
“I was smiling so big and tears were coming down my face, feeling so incredibly happy and whole. It was nothing fancy at all, but it was the most romantic thing I could’ve ever imagined...just a quiet Saturday night at home, two people promising to always be there for each other.”
The Independent has reached out to representatives for Lopez for comment.
