Jennifer Lopez files for divorce from Ben Affleck after two years of marriage

The couple, nicknamed 'Bennifer', ended their first engagement in January 2004 but later rekindled their relationship and married in 2021

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck attend a special screening. Reuters

After a relationship that spanned two decades, two engagements, two weddings and headlines too numerous to count, Jennifer Lopez has filed for divorce from Ben Affleck.

The filing on Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court brought to an apparent end a celebrity coupling – or at least the second installment of it – that dazzled from the very heights of the pop culture firmament and emblazoned countless tabloid covers.

They became known, even before such power-couple portmanteaus became common, as “Bennifer".

The filing was first reported by the TMZ website, which said Lopez listed the date of separation as April 26, 2024. It said she did not mention any prenuptial agreement.

After meeting, falling in love and getting engaged in the early 2000s – and starring together in 2003's infamous Gigli and 2004's Jersey Girl – the couple parted ways, blaming in part the pressure of the public eye.

But to the delight of many and perhaps the scepticism of others, they reunited two decades later and married – twice – in 2022.

“Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient,” wrote Lopez, announcing their first, quickie Las Vegas wedding that July, and signing off as Jennifer Lynn Affleck.

A month later, they had a much grander wedding at Affleck’s house in Georgia, in front of friends and family.

Both of them had been previously married. Affleck, 52, married Jennifer Garner, with whom he shared three children, in 2005. They divorced in 2018.

Lopez, 55, had been married three times before. She was briefly married to actor Ojani Noa from 1997-1998 and to Cris Judd from 2001-2003. She and singer Marc Anthony were married for a decade, having wed in 2004, and share 14-year-old twins.

She started dating former baseball player Alex Rodriguez in 2017, but the couple called off their engagement in 2021.

Lopez is starring in the coming Unstoppable, under Affleck and Matt Damon's Artists Equity banner.

In May, she starred in the Netflix movie Atlas.

Atlas director Brad Peyton talks to The National

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At the end of the month, she suddenly canceled her 2024 North American tour, saying she was “heartsick and devastated” to be letting fans down but the move was necessary.

“Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends,” organizers said in a statement.

The tour was to be her first in five years, in support of her first solo album in a decade, "This Is Me.... Now” and its companion film. a fictionalized look at her long love life, and a documentary.