Ralph Fiennes has revealed how he was used as a "relationship decoy" for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck during their first romance in 2002.
The Hollywood actor, 59, was working with the singer and actress in Maid in Manhattan when rumours of Lopez's romance with Affleck started to circulate but was yet to be official.
Fiennes and Lopez were onscreen lovers but it appears that she also planned for him to be a pawn in her game with the press that he could be her romantic partner off-screen as paparazzi scoured for information on her new beau.
Ralph, who played Voldemort in the Harry Potter franchise, was on Watch What Happens Live! with Andy Cohen when a fan asked the actor how he reacted when Bennifer were back together, especially as he was a decoy for their relationship first time around.
Host Andy was left gobsmacked by the revelation and the response by Ralph, who said: "I was. I was. I was set up."
He divulged on the details of his "decoy" date with Jennifer, where the pair and her two agents went for dinner at high-end restaurant Cipriani’s in Soho.
"We had a nice dinner - chatty, chatty chatty - and I went to my car. Actually I think I was walking home," Ralph continued.
"[I gave her a] peck on the cheek. A paparazzi - one - pops up just as we did it, the goodnight chaste kiss.
"But somehow, the pictures were angled so she's walking away and I'm walking after her. And I think it said the next day on The Post, it said, 'It’s Ralph! We know who it is!’'"
Ben and Jennifer had a high-profile relationship between 2002 and 2004, which saw their whirlwind romance result in engagement.
The couple had met on the set of Gigli in 2001, when Jennifer was still married to Cris Judd but they split the following year.
Ben and Jennifer were an official item in the summer of 2002 and they got engaged in his mother's home in October of the same year. They planned to marry in September 2003 before postponing just days before they were due to tie the knot for "excessive media attention".
They continued to date for another four months before splitting in January 2004, with J Lo marrying three-time Grammy Award winner Marc Anthony five months later and Ben going on to wed Daredevil co-star Jennifer Garner in 2005.
However, 'Bennifer' rekindled their romance in April 2021 - 19 years from their first relationship - and the couple announced they were engaged for a second time in April earlier this year. They married two months later in Las Vegas before having a wedding celebration in August.
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