Ben Affleck Anticipated Lesser Media Havoc in Jennifer Lopez Romance Compared to Gwyneth Paltrow Affair
Celebrity relationships have long been the focus of intense media attention and popular interest. Ben Affleck, who has experienced the ups and downs of stardom in his love relationships, is one actor who knows this all too well. Affleck has experienced what it's like to have his personal life in the public eye, from his on-and-off relationship with Gwyneth Paltrow in the late 1990s to his high-profile romance with Jennifer Lopez in the 2000s.
Affleck and Paltrow had a romantic history that fascinated the public between 1997 and 2000. They had conflicting value systems, and Affleck wasn't in a good place in his life to support a girlfriend, so their relationship wasn't meant to survive, as Paltrow explained in an interview. She said, “I think [my parents] appreciated how he’s [Ben Affleck] super intelligent and he’s really talented and funny, but he wasn’t in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend. They loved him, but they were OK with us not being together,” They parted ways, yet they nevertheless kept up their friendly relationship. Paltrow acknowledged her admiration for Affleck and even stood by him when their relationship later resumed with Lopez.
Affleck was used to the intrusive media attention after his split from Gwyneth. He believed he understood what to anticipate when he started dating Lopez in 2002, but things turned out differently. Affleck was taken aback by how much more people seemed to be paying attention to their relationship. He acknowledged in an interview that he had underestimated the negative effects the media attention would have on his life. He said, “I’d been through it before with Gwyneth, and I thought, how bad could it get, how much could they do? Well … I found the answer to that question. And … I wasn’t really prepared.”
Both Affleck and Lopez were negatively impacted by the media craze that surrounded their romance in the 2000s. Affleck had to alter his way of living significantly to protect his privacy because he had already been the subject of public attention during his prior relationships. He discovered himself evading paparazzi and trying to avoid being captured on camera without consent regularly. Despite his attempts, the strain got too much, leading to the couple's initial separation in 2004.
He revealed, “In the last four or five months, we’ve made a lot of changes, and it, unfortunately, comes down to I do hide in the backseat of a car. I do try to elude people as best I can. I try not to end up being in any pictures at all that I don’t want to be in. It is startling and very surreal…”
Affleck and Lopez get a second chance at love despite their rocky past. The two resumed their relationship years later, and this time they were more prepared to manage the media circus. Despite the expectations from others, they were adamant about making their relationship work because they had both grown as people. They rekindled their romance in 2021, and they got married in 2022.
References:
https://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/ben-affleck-sobered-by-public-bellyflop-2544367.php
