Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s Relationship Timeline

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck wed in July 2022 and the actress filed for divorce in August 2024

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s love story has come to an end — again.

On Aug. 20, 2024, the Marry Me actress filed for divorce from Affleck. The news came after months of marital strife, which resulted in the couple living separately and focusing on their “separate lives.”

Affleck and Lopez initially met in 2002. After ending their engagement in 2004, they both pursued other relationships and started families of their own.

The “On the Floor” singer was married to Marc Anthony from 2004 to 2014, and they are parents to twins Max and Emme. Meanwhile, the Deep Water actor was married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018, and they have three kids together, daughters Violet and Seraphina and son Samuel.

In April 2021, the pair were spotted together for the first time in over a decade, sparking relationship rumors. Lopez and Affleck eventually went public with their rekindled romance and wed in July 2022.

From the beginning of “Bennifer” to their second engagement, here’s a complete breakdown of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship.

Early 2002: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck first meet

Lopez and Affleck first met in 2002 on the set of their movie Gigli, which came out the following year. At the time, Lopez was married to her second husband, Cris Judd. The couple eventually divorced in 2003, Lopez and Affleck went public with their romance shortly after.

Lopez told PEOPLE in 2016, “I really felt like when I met Ben, ‘Okay, this is it.”

The duo quickly became one of the biggest couples in Hollywood and one of the first to receive a hybrid couple name: “Bennifer.”

November 2002: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck get engaged

In a November 2002 interview with Diane Sawyer, Lopez revealed her engagement to Affleck, describing it as “traditional, but also in a very spectacular way, as of course Ben would do it … it was very, very beautiful.”

PEOPLE reported at the time that Affleck proposed with a custom-made Harry Winston pink-diamond solitaire ring he chose himself.

In her interview with Sawyer, Lopez described her then-fiancé as “brilliantly smart … Loving. Charming. Affectionate,” adding that her mother approved.

“And I just admire him in every way,” she said.

She also acknowledged that some people viewed their relationship as unlikely, but pointed out that she and the actor had bonded over similar upbringings.

“We’ve talked about this so many times, and we talked about how people kind of see him with … one type of person and me with another type of person, and the two of us together is like, ‘How did that happen?'” she said.

Lopez added, “And how we’re probably more alike and from the same kind of background … same kind of upbringing and same kind of family and same kind of house.”

Early 2003: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck face tabloid frenzy

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck in 2002. getty

Heading into 2003, Lopez and Affleck were one of the most popular Hollywood couples to appear in the tabloids and were infamously hounded by the paparazzi.

Lopez even acknowledged their notoriety in the music video for her song “Jenny from the Block,” which featured paparazzi shots of herself and Affleck doing everything from pumping gas to lounging on a yacht together.

“We didn’t try to have a public relationship,” Lopez told PEOPLE in 2016. “We just happened to be together at the birth of the tabloids, and it was like ‘Oh my God.’ It was just a lot of pressure.”

2015-2020: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck remain friends

April 2021: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck rekindle their relationship

July 24, 2021: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck go Instagram official

In July 2021, Lopez posted a carousel of photos on Instagram in honor of her 52nd birthday. Grouped in the mix of bikini and boat pictures, the final photo in the roundup showed Lopez and Affleck kissing.

This marked the first time the couple personally posted about each other on social media.

September 10, 2021: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck walk their first red carpet since rekindling their romance