In a surprising admission, the Hollywood star came to Jennifer Lopez\u2019s defense \u2014 and revealed something he still hopes to do with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Opening up about both women
Ben Affleck\u2019s love life has been a Hollywood headline for decades, but his relationships with Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner have continued to shape his life in very different ways.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affleck and Garner were married for 10 years and share three children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After their divorce, Affleck rekindled his relationship with Lopez, whom he had famously dated and become engaged to years earlier. The pair eventually married in 2022, but Lopez filed for divorce in 2024.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite the very public endings to both marriages, Affleck has remained on good terms with the two women. His relationship with Garner has evolved into a close co-parenting partnership, while his professional connection with Lopez continued even after their marriage ended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, Affleck is opening up about both women again \u2014 and some of his comments are getting attention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
During a recent interview with Variety, the Oscar-winning actor was asked about Lopez\u2019s acting career and why he believes she has been overlooked by major awards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Gone Girl star didn\u2019t pretend he was unbiased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dI\u2019m biased. I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for what she can do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He went on to question how much awards really say about an actor\u2019s talent, pointing out that voting is subjective and that he doesn\u2019t always agree with who takes home the biggest prizes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dI don\u2019t always think the right person won the right award. But guess what? I don\u2019t think you die and go to heaven, and God says, \u2018This was the actual best picture in 1986.\u2019 At the end of the day, it\u2019s just a bunch of people voting on movie prizes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His comments come after Lopez\u2019s acclaimed performance in Kiss of the Spider Woman, which Affleck helped produce through Artists Equity. He has also previously defended her against the intense attention surrounding their relationship and her documentary about their marriage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But Lopez wasn\u2019t the only former wife to come up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affleck was also asked about Jennifer Garner and his new thriller Animals. The movie almost brought the former couple together on screen \u2014 but a major change behind the scenes made that much more complicated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Understood her decision
Originally, Matt Damon was set to star in the film, while Garner was being considered to play his wife. But when Damon became unavailable and Affleck stepped into the leading role himself, Garner decided it was probably better not to play his on-screen wife.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pascal Le Segretain\/Getty Images
But Affleck hasn\u2019t ruled out working with Garner again. Quite the opposite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked about the possibility during his Variety interview, he made his feelings clear:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201dIn a movie, the illusion has to be the thing. And I still want to find something to do with her.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It\u2019s a telling glimpse at where the two stand today. Affleck and Garner may no longer be married, but they\u2019ve remained close and supportive co-parents while raising their three children together \u2014 Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affleck has joked that Garner sets such a high standard as a mother that he can\u2019t help but feel like he falls a little short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTheir mom is spectacular,\u201d Affleck said in a preview of an upcoming episode of Sunday Today with Willie Geist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He jokingly told his children that he\u2019s probably doing \u201cabout 75 percent as good as your mom.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Their response? Not quite that generous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cAnd they\u2019re like, \u2018Maybe 40 percent,\u2019\u201d Affleck recalled with a laugh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI\u2019m maxing out. Woo, B+!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The actor has also opened up about what their shared custody arrangement looks like day to day. He explained that he works hard, then heads home to pick the kids up from school and spend time with them when they\u2019re staying with him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have dinner if they agree to hang out with me,\u201d he joked, explaining that the children spend a week with him before switching to their mom for the following week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Affleck has made it clear that he still has a lot of respect for Garner and is grateful for the relationship they\u2019ve been able to build since their divorce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI respect her. I\u2019m grateful for her,\u201d he said of Garner, who is currently in a relationship with tech executive John Miller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Garner has also spoken warmly about Affleck as a father. She called him an \u201cincredible co-parent,\u201d saying he is \u201cwonderful,\u201d takes good care of their children and is a \u201cgreat partner\u201d in raising them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She added that their arrangement is \u201cvery freeing\u201d now that the kids are older.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Who is Ben Affleck dating?
Ben Affleck is not currently dating anyone. While promoting his Netflix film Animals in October 2026, the actor said he is single and that dating simply isn\u2019t a priority for him right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead, much of his focus is on being there for his children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That has even influenced the projects he chooses, with Affleck telling Variety that he looks for work based in Los Angeles whenever possible so he can stay close to his family and avoid spending long stretches away from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner sit together while they watch the Boston Red Sox take on the St. Louis Cardinals during game one of the World Series on October 23, 2004 at Fenway Park in Boston, Massachusetts. (Photo by Ezra Shaw\/Getty Images)
\u201cI\u2019m divorced, I have shared custody, and I don\u2019t want to miss these years. My kids are here, and their life is flying by,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to have to be in Shreveport or New Mexico in order to work. I know some people don\u2019t have the luxury of making those choices. I\u2019m certainly fortunate, but I know from experience that the best crews in the world are in L.A.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a surprising admission, the Hollywood star came to Jennifer Lopez\u2019s defense \u2014 and revealed something he still hopes to do with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Opening up about both womenBen Affleck\u2019s love life has been a Hollywood headline for decades, but his relationships with Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner have continued to shape his …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23135,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23134"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23134\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23136,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23134\/revisions\/23136"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}