Now that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have made their red carpet debut as a couple, the actor proved he’s also ready to make their love official in print.
For a new profile about Lopez in Adweek, Affleck waxed poetic about the pop star’s positive “effect on the world.” He said, “All I can tell you is that I have seen firsthand the difference representation makes because I have seen, over and over and over and over, women of color approach Jennifer and tell her what her example as a strong woman and a woman succeeding and demanding her fair share in the business world means to them.” The actor noted that this is something he got to witness first hand during their visit to the Bronx earlier this month to support Latina-owned small businesses. “I am in awe of what Jennifer’s effect on the world is,” he continued. “At most, as an artist, I can make movies that move people. Jennifer has inspired a massive group of people to feel they have a seat at the table in this country. That is an effect few people throughout history have had, one I will never know and one I can only stand by and admire with respect.”
This isn’t the first time Affleck has sung his girlfriend’s praises for being a role model for women of color. In January, before the pair officially rekindled their relationship, the Oscar winner said during The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” podcast, “People were so fucking mean about her—sexist, racist. Ugly, vicious shit was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now you would literally be fired for saying those things you said. Now it’s like, she’s lionized and respected for the work she did, where she came from, what she accomplished—as well she fucking should be!” He added, “I would say you have a better shot, coming from the Bronx, of ending up as like [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor on the Supreme Court than you do of having Jennifer Lopez’s career and being who she is at 50 years old today.”
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