Here’s What Ben Affleck Revealed About His Relationship With Jennifer Lopez in the Documentary

A Glimpse at the Relationship Between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez

The love tale between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck again came to light after the release of their documentary in February. Lopez and her husband discussed their painful separation and their current love in their documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told. Their 2003 wedding was postponed three days before the ceremony because the couple decided not to go through with it. All that matters is that Lopez and Affleck reignited their relationship after an almost two-decade hiatus. Here are all the parts of the new documentary where Affleck discusses his feelings for Lopez.

1. Reflecting on the Past

Affleck discusses his worries for Lopez and, indirectly, his struggles with alcohol and his current perspective on his former behaviors, in the documentary. He admitted in a confessional voice that Lopez felt emotionally abandoned when she was a kid. As reported by Oprah Daily, he said, "It’s a hard thing to look at somebody whose professional life is wildly successful and who on Instagram looks like they’re living the happiest life in the world, the thing you discover, like you do with alcohol, is there isn’t enough alcohol in all the liquor stores in the world to fill up that thing. In Jennifer’s case, I don’t think there’s enough followers or movies or records or any of that stuff...[part of you still feels] a longing and pain."

2. New Nickname For Affleck

It was shown that Lopez and her crew gave the actor a charming nickname, which was different from the usual phrases of love used by couples. Lopez opened up about her relationship with Affleck, the guy she dated in the early 2000s, and how she preserved a memory book full of heartfelt, handwritten love letters by hi in the new film. She held the letters in high regard and later displayed them to her friends and coworkers so that they might see her new album in the same way she did. In a confessional, Affleck said, "My book that I had given her was down there. She's like 'I've been reading it to people. This is kind of the inspiration and I've been showing them the book.' I was like you've been showing all the musicians all those letters... and they were like 'Yeah we call you Pen Affleck.' And I was like 'oh my god.'"

3. Ben Was Apprehensive About Revealing Too Much

Lopez disclosed early on in the documentary that she shared a stack of letters sent to her by Affleck with her partners. However, this whole thing made Affleck a little uncomfortable. He recalled later, "I did really find the beauty, and the poetry, and the irony in the fact that it’s the greatest love story never told, and if you’re making a record about it, that seems kind of like telling it." Subsequently, he stated that he needed to adapt to the shift. He said, "But things that are private, I’ve always felt, are sacred and special because they’re private. So this was something of an adjustment for me."

4. Ben Shared How He Learned To Compromise

Affleck confessed in the documentary, "When Jen and I broke up before, the catalyst for that was the amount of scrutiny around our private life. I had a very firm sense of boundaries, initially, around the press. While Jen, I don’t think objected to it in the way I did, I very much did object to it. Getting back together, I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media.’ And then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like you’re gonna marry a boat captain and like, ‘Well I don’t like the water.’ We’re just two people with different approaches, trying to learn to compromise."

5. Remarks From Ben About the Screenplay 

While discussing the screenplay with  Lopez, Affleck playfully joked about her casting herself as her younger self in the film. Affleck pointed out, "I love that you want to play younger even in the autobiographical." As reported by People, Lopez replied, "This is not my autobiographical. This is meta. This is me using some of my story," Affleck interrupted her to add, "Oh, I see. Semi-autobiographical. It's your story but younger." J.Lo scolds him for being an 'idiot' when he keeps laughing. The Love Don't Cost a Thing singer joins in on the laughter, and Affleck quickly embraces her.