Are we overanalyzing this? Maybe. But we can’t ignore that Jennifer Lopez “liked” an Instagram post about relationship red flags and unhealthy relationship traits, even as rumors continue to swirl about the status of her marriage to Ben Affleck—which is less than two years old.
Here’s the scoop: relationship coach Lenna Marsak shared on her Instagram Story yesterday that Lopez “liked” a post dating all the way back to March 19 (!) from her account “that details personality traits some people bring to relationships that the account positions as unhealthy for romance,” People writes.
“Just logged on to IG and noticed @jlo liked my post,” Marzak (whose Instagram handle is @yourcourageouscomeback) wrote. “Jlo or her PR team, I’ll take it.”
But then, today, Marzak shared a video asking followers to “Please be kind to Jennifer Lopez because she’s a human being,” she said. “I do not know if they’re getting divorced. I hope not but, yeah, please.”
The post in question states that people “cannot build a healthy relationship with someone who lacks integrity & emotional safety,” does not respect others’ time, “lacks effective communication skills,” and “doesn’t know who they are or what they want.” It also explained that lacking integrity causes trust issues and can lead to an “environment of fear, anxiety, and emotional instability,” and, without proper communication skills, relationships lack “empathy and connection.”
Although the original post was shared in March, Marzak confirmed that Lopez didn’t engage with it until this week.
A source speaking to Us Weekly said Lopez and Affleck “are having issues” but aren’t breaking up, as Marie Claire reported earlier today. “They started having issues a few months ago as Jen had started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour,” they said, referencing her tour in support of her latest album, This Is Me…Now, which kicks off next month in Orlando. Lopez also has a film, Atlas, dropping on Netflix on May 24, and has been filming Kiss of the Spider Woman this spring.
“Jen is very focused on work,” they continued. “They are on two completely different pages most of the time.” The outlet reports that Lopez recently looked at a home in L.A. “that she’s saying is intended as an investment property,” and also noted that Affleck “has been staying at a place in L.A. that is separate from the couple’s usual home.”
The two haven’t been seen publicly together since March 30, when they were house hunting in New York City. Though both are still wearing their wedding rings, Affleck skipped the Met Gala on May 6 with Lopez, who was one of the event’s four co-chairs.
The two married in the summer of 2022 after a 20-year extended courtship. After their first relationship and engagement in the early aughts, Lopez and Affleck called it quits in 2004; both went on to marry and have children with other people (Lopez shares twins Max and Emme with ex Marc Anthony, and Affleck shares Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel with ex Jennifer Garner). The couple reconnected in 2021, were engaged the next year, and married months later.
As Lopez put it, “I fell in love with the love of my life [earlier in life] and for whatever reasons, we needed to grow and do other things,” she said during a February appearance on Australia’s Kyle & Jackie O Show, where she promoted her album This Is Me…Now, its accompanying musical film, and documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, all homages to her love story with Affleck. “We both went off and had children with other people and other relationships, but, you know, in my mind I kind of had it like, ‘Oh, that was kind of The One.’”
