Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck broke the internet when they got married (twice) last year. Not only did they tie the knot in Vegas in July 2022, but they continued celebrating their 20-years-in-the-making love when they got married again last August. And the second time, it was a much bigger party at Ben's estate near Riceboro, Georgia.
In case you don’t remember, J.Lo and Ben were engaged a zillion years ago and got back together 20 years later. Jennifer has repeatedly referenced how windy their romance road has been.
So, why did Jen and Ben break up in the first place? She and Ben have a long history, and there's a lot to discuss. Between their first year and a half together two decades ago, and their second chance, well...it's complicated, to say the least.
Whether you loved them together in the early 2000s or never even knew they dated, now is the time to brush up on your Bennifer knowledge. From their first days together to their lavish wedding plans, here's Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's full relationship timeline.
December 2001: Ben and Jennifer meet.
The pair first met on the set of their movie, Gigli. While the movie bombed at the box office, their relationship took off quickly. According to Us, J.Lo was married to her second husband, Cris Judd, but she filed for divorce shortly after she met Ben.
November 2002: Bennifer gets engaged.
Ben proposed to Jennifer with a 6.1 carat pink diamond ring, per Cosmopolitan. Talk about a rock! A ring that stunning was sure to lead to an over-the-top wedding, and as planning for the big day began, the paparazzi were all over the happy couple.
September 2003: The pair calls off their wedding.
Just days before the ceremony, they postponed their wedding because of the intense media frenzy. In response to shocked fans and stunned friends, the couple released a brief statement, per ABC: "Due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date," the two said. "When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring three separate 'decoy brides' at three different locations, we realized that something was awry." Then, just a few short months later, Bennifer officially split.
J.Lo and Ben weren't very public about their reasons for breaking up, only asking for privacy during the separation process.
2004–2020: Ben And J.Lo move on.
Ben Affleck began dating Jennifer Garner in 2004, and they got married in 2005. In between, they had three children: Violet Affleck, Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck, and Samuel Garner Affleck, per Business Insider.
A few years later, in 2008, Ben opened up about the breakup on the British TV show Live. "I think Jen [Lopez] and I made a mistake in that we fell in love, we were excited and maybe too accessible," he clarified. "I don't think either of us anticipated the degree to which it would take on a world of its own."
Flash forward to 2016, when Jennifer told Jess Cagle on The Jess Cagle Interview that she thought the media attention affected her and Ben's relationship. She also admitted that "there was a genuine love there," which caused some speculation from fans.
Meanwhile, J.Lo also had a few serious relationships post-Ben. She married Marc Anthony in June 2004, and had two twins with him, Max and Emme Maribel Muñiz. They split in 2011.
Next, she dated Casper Smart, a backup dancer, from November 2011 to 2016 in and on-and-off relationship. She dated Drake for a few months between January and February 2017. She then dated Alex Rodriguez from February 2017 to March 2021—at which point they ended their engagement, Us Weekly reported.
In 2018, Ben and Jennifer Garner divorced, according to Business Insider.
Ben proceeded to order...a lot of Dunkin' Donuts coffee.
May 13, 2021: Bennifer 2.0 takes off.
In May, rumors about a Bennifer 2.0 were flying. After J.Lo split from Alex Rodriguez, she was spotted out and about with Ben again, prompting speculation about a new relationship. Then, after the pair vacationed together in Montana, things looked more serious.
By May 13, Jennifer was open to the idea of getting back together with Ben, per PEOPLE. The pair was "having fun together" after reconnecting all these years later, And Entertainment Tonight reported.
June 7, 2021: J.Lo and Ben tell friends they’re official.
Next up on Bennifer’s back together to-do list: Announce the news to friends. “J.Lo and Ben are very much a couple and have been telling friends that they’re together,” a source told ET. “When they first reconnected, they had to see if the spark was still there because it had been a while. It was, so now they are both fully in it.”
The pair had been working on their relationship, too. They “talked about the past and why things didn’t work out,” the source said. “They have both matured and are on the same page and it has been easy.”
The source said Jen and Ben really are a different couple now. “Jen is elated and really trusts Ben. Ben is more traditional and low-key in his values and Jen is into that,” they said. “She likes that they can go on dates and have fun. She also thinks that Ben is extremely smart and has a lot of great input.”
June 9, 2021: J.Lo makes a cross-country move for Ben.
Jennifer quickly decided to relocate to L.A. with Ben for a “fresh start,” E! News reports.
One Selling Sunset realtor even offered to help them start looking for a house. “Jenny call me if you need a realtor 😜🙋🏻♀️,” Chrishell Stause commented on one of J.Lo’s recent Instagram posts. Maybe that massive, $40 million mansion won’t be empty for long?
Another source told Us Weekly that the move seemed like a natural next step for the couple: “They love being together and the weekends away they had been spending together have really sealed the deal,” the insider said. “Friends say they can see them staying together forever this time around. They are soulmates and always have been.”
July 25, 2021: The couple makes it Instagram official.
Finally, J.Lo took to Instagram to make Bennifer 2.0 official. No more speculating, folks—she's here to set the record straight. In a post for her 52nd birthday, Jennifer shared a photo of her and Ben mid-makeout sesh while on vacation in St. Tropez. She captioned her post, "5 2 … what it do …💗"
Fans were floored. "I mean, if you’re going to Instagram official do it like @jlo," one comment read. "Love 👏 To 👏 See 👏 It 👏," someone else wrote (same!).
July 25, 2021: Fans break out their best Bennifer theories.
Other fans noticed that the picture frame off to the side in J.Lo's first pic looks suspiciously similar to an old photo of her and Ben on a motorcycle from the early 2000s. "Look what Easter egg I spotted," a fan tweeted:
Another fan posted a Bennifer conspiracy theory on Instagram explaining that the couple was "giving us a shot-for-shot remake of her iconic video for 'Jenny from the Block.'"
Sept. 10, 2021: Ben and J.Lo make their red carpet debut at the Venice Film Festival.
Jen joined Ben at his premiere for his film, The Last Duel, at the Venice International Film Festival. The photos show a glowing Bennifer walking the red carpet together and holding hands.
They snuggled in close for photographers, too.
J.Lo could not stop smiling.
They didn't just hold hands, either.
Dec. 1, 2021: Ben gushes about their 'beautiful' relationship.
Ben is "grateful" for his relationship with Jen, the actor revealed to The Wall Street Journal. But he's not spilling how he and J.Lo rekindled their romance just yet: “I can say that it’s definitely beautiful to me,” he said. “And, you know, one of the things I really value across all facets of my life now is that it was handled in a way that reflected that.”
“It’s a good story. It’s a great story. And, you know, maybe one day I’ll tell it,” Ben added. “I’ll write it all out… and then I’ll light it on fire.”
He also reflected on being given a "second chance" with Jen. “Life is difficult, and we are always failing and hopefully learning from those failures,” Ben said. “The one thing you really need to avail yourself of the opportunities provided from that growth is the second chance.”
Ben says he's become “not just the person that I want to be, but the person that I really feel like I am,” since getting back together with Jen. “Which is not perfect, but somebody who tries very hard and cares very much about being honest and authentic and accountable,” he continued. “It’s hard to say who benefits more, without going into gossipy detail.” (Aw!)
Feb. 1, 2022: Jen can't stop talking about their 'second chance.'
Thankfully, Jennifer started filling in the gaps for fans. "I've never been better," she told PEOPLE. And, it's all thanks to Ben: "I feel so lucky and happy and proud to be with him," she added.
Jen also reflected on their first relationship way back when. Then, she and Ben "had a little bit of fear," Jen explained. "Before we kind of put [our relationship] out there and we were naïve and it got a little trampled."
But now, "we both were like, 'Wow, we're so happy and we don't want any of that to come into play again.' 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. We're so protective because it is such a beautiful time for all of us."
And, Jen says she's seen some changes in Ben since their first date. "To see the person, the human being, the man that he is today, the father that he is today, the partner that he is—he is so everything I always knew he was and wanted to be," she explained.
April 2022: Bennifer is engaged again!
A few days after Jennifer was seen with a big rock on *that* finger, news outlets were scrambling to find out it was an engagement ring from Ben.
But it didn't take very long for the speculations to be put to rest after Jennifer confirmed the big news in her newsletter, On the JLo.
June 2022: Ben appears in Jennifer's Halftime documentary.
Although Jen was still dating Alex Rodriguez at the time of her Super Bowl performance with Shakira, Ben still made an appearance in the Halftime documentary.
In the trailer, Ben reflects on what it was like to watch J.Lo take on the public eye. It also shows some throwback footage of the couple back when they first started dating, and it is *seriously* wholesome.
July 16-17, 2022: Surprise! Bennifer gets married in Vegas.
Jennifer spilled all kinds of details about their big night in On The JLo.
“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.”
The couple “barely made it to the little white wedding chapel by midnight,” and J.Lo noted that the place “graciously stayed open late a few minutes, let us take pictures in a pink Cadillac convertible, evidently once used by the king himself (but if we wanted Elvis himself to show, that cost extra and he was in bed).”
J.Lo hinted that her kids were there and that she wore “a dress from an old movie” (Ben wore a jacket from his 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,” she said.
Jennifer had been waiting a long time for this one. And she said the wedding was "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.”
She then talked about their future together. “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,” J.Lo said. “We had that. And so much more. Best night of our lives.”
“Stick around long enough and maybe you’ll find the best moment of your life in a drive through in Las Vegas at twelve thirty in the morning in the tunnel of love drive-through, with your kids and the one you’ll spend forever with," she wrote. "Love is a great thing, maybe the best of things—and worth waiting for.” Sigh.
July 2022: Jennifer takes Ben's last name.
The Marry Me star appears to be "J.Lo" by stage name only, as it looks like she's taking Ben's last name, according to Us Weekly. The couple's marriage license, which Us obtained, listed Jennifer as: "Jennifer Affleck." Oh, and she also signed off her newsletter, "Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck," so...
Back in 2003, she had also planned to take Ben's name before they called off the wedding.
July 21, 2022: The couple takes a post-wedding trip to Paris.
The newlyweds jetted off to Paris for a romantic getaway (their honeymoon, perhaps?) right after their Vegas vows. What could be better than French food, world-renowned art, and, oh yeah, the City of Love to celebrate the 20-year journey to this point?
Jennifer and Ben ate at Le Matignon Restaurant upon their arrival, according to PEOPLE. And apparently, they requested a table on the outside terrace and stayed for two hours before heading back to their hotel for a late-night drive.
August 20, 2022: Bennifer gets married! (Again!)
The couple threw a big three-day bash at Ben's estate near Riceboro, Georgia, on August 20, 2022. The lavish wedding comes a month after Jennifer announced their first marriage ceremony on July 17 through her On The JLo newsletter. “We did it,” she wrote under official Jennifer Lopez wedding pictures. “Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient.”
Jennifer wore a custom Ralph Lauren gown with short sleeves, a cut-out back and curve-hugging silhouette that cascaded into a long, ruffled train. She topped it off with a cathedral-style veil. Jennifer's twins and Ben's three children helped the bride carry the veil down the aisle as they exited the ceremony.
The ceremony was officiated by lifestyle guru Jay Shetty, a source told E! News. Stars like Leah Remini and Matt Damon were in attendance, as will at least 100 other close family and friends, the outlet reported.
The couple wrote their own vows, and Ben's were reportedly 12 pages long, per PEOPLE. Filmmaker Kevin Smith, was in attendance that day, and could not help but gush about Ben's way with words.
"He's one of my favorite writers on the planet," Smith told PEOPLE. "He wrote a big speech that he read to her at the wedding, which was breathtaking, and it was long. That's one of my favorite things about Ben; he's his own biggest fan, so he wrote like a 12-page speech. I was like, 'Keep talking, keep talking.' "
Welp, if you ever wanted to know what happens when two Leos get married, now you know.
December 2022: J.Lo talks about why she took Ben's last name.
She likes the tradition and romance of it, TBH.
"I’m very much in control of my own life and destiny and feel empowered as a woman and as a person," she told Vogue for their December 2022 cover story. "I can understand that people have their feelings about it, and that’s okay, too. But if you want to know how I feel about it, I just feel like it’s romantic. It still carries tradition and romance to me, and maybe I’m just that kind of girl."
January 2023: Bennifer shows up at Dunkin' Donuts.
It's not the most *important* to their romance, but this timeline wouldn't be complete without it. The morning of Jan. 10, Ben worked the drive-thru of a Dunkin' in Medford, Massachusetts, and Lopez was there too, per Today. Huge win for Dunkin' fans and Bostonians everywhere.
What's next for these crazy kids?
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