Hook Hitched and Hung Up acknowledges the traditional custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. This episode was recorded on Wella Medical Land. This is Hook, Titched and Hung Up, where we take you deep inside those famous love.
Stories that have shaped us. Like a phoenix rising from the ashes. Has the prophecy of movie star Ben Affleck's enormous back tattoo come true. He is back together with his former fiance and pop icon Jennifer Lopez. Is this a redemption story for the ages or a repeat of the most sensational breakup of the two thousands waiting to happen?
Hi?
The way, they're engaged again and he's given her another massive room.
Now, Ri, I am so excited to dive into this relationship because it is a relationship that has spanned over two decades. There's one that well in the early two thousands. I feel like I was personally quite invested in this.
Well, I think everyone's quite invested because it was a very, very public but very sexy relationship.
It was a very sexy relationship, wasn't it. But I think that that's because Jenne val Opez has always been I mean, she's always been pitched as an incredible sex symbol, sex goddess.
And she was without even trying, she was sexy, but on top of without trying, she tried like she was just a sex goddess.
She was one of the first celebrities to pose completely nude for an ad campaign, so she brought out her own fragrance of perfume and there's this really sexy campaign that came out, and she's like, I mean, obviously it's quite demure in today's standards, it's like everything is covered, but it's of the time. It was raunchy as and I think that there was so much interest in them as a couple because it was kind of thought that
they were a little bit of a mismatch. And we'll get into why that is, and also why Ben Affleck feels that this had a lot to do with race more than it had to do with them as people. To give you guys a bit of a background as to who they are and where they slot in together. I mean, of course, you all know Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. So Jennifer Lopez, she was a singer, she was a dancer, she was a fashion icon, a trendsetter,
an actor and also a producer. Which is annoying how many accolades she.
Had, and I calmed down least some of the rest of.
Us, where like, we don't even have time to list off all the number of awards that she's won, but it is literally hundreds. She was nominated for over two hundred plus awards. And she grew up in the Bronx aka Jenny from the Block.
That got me through my teenage's I'm I'm still Jennifer on the Black because I have a little Now I've got two hundred wards.
And that's also because we don't have rights to play for music, so we're just going to sing everything throughout this episode. Some of her massive hits on top of Jenny from the Bloc were waiting for tonight, if you had my Love and let's get loud. And Ben Affleck, I mean, I feel like he has had the most checked kind of career path. He's been so successful and so I didn't realize how much he's also worked as a producer and a director as well.
I think the thing is I don't think he was when you look at over the decades, he actually wasn't that successful. He was very successful early on, but then he went quiet for a long time. He had a lot of flops. He didn't actually do a lot. Now he's making his comeback. But I feel like, God, I feel like our head we're like, oh yeah, he was very successful. Oh, there were some low points over the years.
He was the director for the movie Argo, which won an Oscar for Best Picture. But he is also an alcoholic and has spent quite a bit of time throughout his years in rehab. He's had some extremely up and down relationships and also some very very public relationships.
He used to date Gwyneth Paltrow.
He obviously went on to date Jennifer Garner and had a couple kids with Jennifer Garner. But the relationship we are unpacking today is what the hell happened with Jalo back in two thousand and two.
So he went from benefit to benefer hashtag benefit, hashtag benefit now hashtag benefer. He's gone predic for Benfy, benefer benefit cubed.
But this is also one of the things right. So in two thousand and two he was deemed as Who's sexiest man alive? Like he was the abbsute top of his game. But prior to that, he kind of describes himself as this like tall, he had a bit of a pot belly.
He had a.
Cracked front tooth, which when he did the movie Pearl Harbor, the directors of Pearl Harbor were like, we.
Will pay to get that fixed.
So he got his teeth fixed to do the movie fair And he never really saw himself as being this huge, sexy olpha male. He kind of was a bit more of like the tortured artists that came in and out of success. So we have to remember that Ben and Jen were literally the hottest couple of this whole entire era. And not only that were they the hottest couple, but they were absolutely harassed by paparazzi. They were obsessed with each other, but the paparazzi were also very very obsessed
with them. It was a time that was before social media, but the Internet was on the rise and paparazzi photos were a currency that was everywhere. So when Ben and Jen realized that the peraps were absolutely obsessed with them. They had to go to some pretty extreme lengths to try and keep their wedding a secret. How's it going with the catering sorted and the seating arrangements?
Is that are locked in, locked and loaded? And the decoy bride, she's been prepped. What about the second decoy bride also prepped? And the decoy bride?
Well there's three now this is benefit of course, there are three decoy brides.
Three decoy brides. I feel like that is a little bit excessive. And I don't even know how these people met yet.
So they met on a very famous movie, but famous for all the wrong reasons.
I know the one. What is it? That giggly movie?
Okay, someone knows how to say everyone, and I thought it's it's giggly, right, I was like, oh, it's g g giggly movie.
Apparently it's pronounced glee.
Gili is a rom com which they both start in, except that it's not funny nor is it comical, so it's kind of failed at all fronts.
It's supposed to be this like funny crime mystery being so bad, I remember, do you know what it's scored on Rotten Tomatoes they give it a legitimate presentiment six percent on Rotten. Tomatroows it had one point one star, like, you better know whatever, that must be the lowest that. I don't think I've ever heard of a six percent movie.
You've got to remember that Ben Affleck at the time, he was the youngest writer to ever win the Best Original Screenplay Oscar for Goodwill Hunting along with Matt Damon.
And the Oscar goes to Ben a Flack and math I just said that Matt losing would suck and winning would be really scary, and it's really really scary. That was such a brilliant movie.
And he'd also just gotten his teeth fixed because he did Pearl Harbor.
He was alive and well he was killing it.
He was absolutely killing it, which is why he could command a twelve point five million dollar paycheck to do Jilly Yep Jiggli.
You still got to deliver, though, just can't be like, OK, cool, I won an award. Now I'm just gonna be in all these flop movies.
I guess it also just shows like, you know, you can't just put two massive stars and expect it to be an incredible movie.
Well, in all honesty, and like, don't take it personally. Job, I'm not going to be a j Low if she's listening. I don't think she's a brilliant actress. I don't believe Brittany Hagley. I don't believe he as an actress. To me, she'll first and foremost be a performer in terms of her singing and dancing. So I think for me, it was always hard to see her in those movies, and I think probably the level of floppiness of the movie a lot of people feel the same. I think people
watch her and they're not convinced. It was a total total disaster.
Also, there was a lot of speculations around the reviews that their chemistry sucked, which is kind of funny because they ended up becoming actually together, but at the time Jlo was married and she was married to Chris Judd.
And just to give you guys.
Because I think it's always been so it's been such a point of speculation, the fact that Jennifer Lopez has been engaged so many times, she's been married so many times.
I know that the media really quite enjoys. To man, I can't even get a boyfriend for longer than a year how are these people pumping through engagements in husband? Maybe that's Hollywood. I mean, I don't look like Jaylo. I don't have the money of jaalaaither, so I guess there's that. Don't cheat on yourself, Brittany, let's never punch down on us. I'm not a genuine question like why can I not do it? Okay?
So just giving you giving you guys the background. So at the time, she was married to Chris Judd, So this is in two thousand and one to two thousand and two, they were only married for a year and at the back end of when the movie was being created, that is when things started to get a little bit close and comfortable between Ben and j Loo. Now they have both absolutely denied that there was any crossover between him and Chris.
Judd, standard Hollywood behavior. She's said that she didn't cheat. However, Chris Judd's dad came out and said that there was definitely some overlaps. So I don't know who we're going to believe here, Chris Jodd's dad or Ben and Jen. I'm team Chris Judd's dad. And wait, wasn't Chris Judd her second marriage?
Who was the first guy or is that like irrelevant, Not that it's irrelevant, but she was married to a guy named a Johnny Noah in nineteen ninety seven.
See when he's at home? Have you heard of him? He was a waiter, He was just a normal guy.
I love that I was married to a normal Cuban waiter who spent one hundred thousand dollars on a wedding ring or engagement ring for her. And I'd like to know how does a normal waiter four one hundred thousand dollar wedding ring.
Direction she slipped him some money to buy it? Yeah, I think absolutely so.
Even though Ben and Jaylo Head on Heart refuse that there was ever any overlap between their relationships, they're best friends, right. They're being very public in their conversations around how they're just such good friends. Never works, and they support each other so much. I'm like getting some like smoking similarities between Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie.
Married adults don't become best friends with the opposite sex when they're filming with them all day without there being some slippery sliding going on.
So, because Jen and Ben are best friends, he wants to show just how wonderful he thinks she is. And if you wanted to prove to your best friend that you thought that they were wonderful, if you wanted the whole world to know how amazing your best friend is, what would you do? What would be a normal thing?
I mean these days, maybe put a post on Instagram. Well, let's be real.
Ben goes one step further than that. Ben buys a full page in Variety to praise her after the film finishes. Like buys an ad? Buys an ad? He buys a full page ad? What to send a message to Jen? Did he have to buy?
Actually? That hook you? Mob? I reckon? You bought it? What did the ad say? This is Variety magazine? Hi, this is Ben Affleck. Sure it is no, Really, this is Ben Affleck. I want to take on ad for what are you writing?
Done?
A little script or something?
No?
I don't want to take out an ad for Jennifer Lopez. You're trying to find j Lo. No, I just want to send her a message. Oh okay, what do you want it to say?
You have shown great kindness, dedication, diligence, humility, graciousness of spirit, beauty and courage, great empathy, astonishing talent, real poise and true grace. It has been nothing but an honor and a pleasure to work with you. I only wish I were lucky enough to be in all your movies.
Geez, she you're a girlfriend now or what? No? No, no, no? Oh right, all right, I'm just busting your balls. How do you want to sign it with love, respect, and gratitude? Ben Affleck? Okay, make it a full page dude, What the hell?
Write a letter and send it to address Why do you need to put a public ad out that says your grace and humility?
Isn't this crazy? So it's embarrassing. It is embarrassed. It's too much. Yeah, but this is weird because they're not even in a relationship yet. She's married, this is not for long. But well, evidently he paid a lot for that at and he ensured there was a divorce coming. And I think I sort of read some things about this about how strange it was that he put this ad out and the public was sort of like, why
would you do this? Now he says it's just because he had such a close relationship with her, and that the public were always writing j Loo's back. They always said she was such a diva and she was hard to work with, and I guess he had these feelings deep down for her and he wanted to try and change the public's perception. So I'm taking the piss a little bit, being like, why would you take an ad out?
But when I read that, I sort of understand that he obviously was developing feelings, was a bit protective of her, and he wanted the world to see what he saw.
Yeah, but imagine if you were Chris jard You imagine if you were Jalo's husband and he's like, it's just my best friend, and I get like, there's one on one hand when you're writing like a nice like, Hey, thanks so much, it's been wonderful working together. I love your professionalism, Like there's different words that you would use to describe somebody in a work capacity.
Mate, this is a hr disaster right here. And I only wish I were lucky enough to be in all your movies. Yeah, well, the durance know the directors are saying no, thank you because you are one big flop. Now.
One of the things that's interesting about this, and that there has been lots of speculation, is that Jlo is a bit of a monkey Brancher. When it comes to relationships.
We all know those people, don't we.
Laura burn I feel personally victimized pretty huckly. But she certainly has one door closing as the other one opens, and that was very much the case in this relationship. So Jalo and Ben are seen kissing in public, and then it isn't until a couple of months later that she actually files for divorce with Chris Judd. So as far as public perception is aware, she's still married to Chris Judd.
I guess we're never going to know, though, And you would like to think that if they were publicly, if they were happy enough to be publicly be seen that privately it's been called off. And I guess there is a level that we need to understand that they're not going to share every single thing. So maybe let's let's give it the benefit of doubt. That benefit, get it? How long have you been sitting on that? Actually that
one just rolled out. Let's give them the benefit of the doubt and say that they had split.
Okay, I mean, we'll never know because Jlo seems to have very very hard and fast relationships, which is why she's had six engagements and three marriages so far, and I mean, I'm not shaming the woman, all the power to her. And also think it just goes to show that she was one hundred percent the most wanted woman in Hollywood at that point in time. Their relationship transpired
so quickly. Within six months, Ben had proposed to Jlo and her divorce to Chris Judd wasn't even finalized yet, so she was already engaged before actually being divorced.
I steel technically married. I mean, go for example, they live your best life. So it's literally been six months. In November of two thousand and two, that is when they publicly announced their engagement, and also when she starts rocking around in the infamous six carrot pink diamond ring. I remember that pink engagement ring. But what would that That had to have been millions, it was two point five million.
It's insane at this point on her finger. I just imagine walking around with that level of liability. I wouldn't That's the thing. I wouldn't wear it because someone would steal it from you. But when you were at their level of success, I think it's like chomp changed. Do you mean like they were earning so much money per movie or per music video, and it was just like like two point five million dollars inconsequential.
I remember the ring well, but what I remember more is the film quick that came out on the yacht. They just announced their engagement. People didn't even really know yet. And then there's that really famous scene of her big, beautiful, glorious booty and he kissed it and tapped it with his hand, tapped her button. That is what I remember of their relationship. It's like the number one thing. But
don't you think it's so interesting? So this is Jenny from the Block, right, I do want to think of it for us, I'm still Jenny Frown the Black you used to have.
A little The Jenny from the Block video caused so much controversy because people not a little controversy.
People just wanted that insight. They wanted the voyeurism.
And it was supposed to be satire, like it was supposed to be making fun of the fact that the paparazzi were always chasing them, but it almost did the opposite in that it gave people even more access to their relationship. And Ben Affleck came out and he said he said that he did Jenny from the Block, but he complained that everybody missed the point. The reason I did the video was a commentary on the crazy tabloid paparazzi attention, but it was covered without any irony whatsoever.
We were trying to say, look at how silly this all is, while at the same time have fun and be a bit sexy.
But then went on to say that it was one of the message you in their bench. We wanted to be satire but serious, but we also wanted them to know that not to take us seriously, not to chase us, but.
We also wanted to be sexy, to be sexy as well, and to create some really stimulating conversation.
Around the political world.
He went on to say as well that that was the biggest regret from their relationship, that he felt like all that did was inspire and incite even more insight into their relationship.
Well, I think this is why we became so obsessed with him, because we wanted more. We got a very public look at a very private moment what should be private between two people, and we became obsessed with it. This is hooked, hitched and hung up, and we're doing a deep dive into the ultimate one who got away and then got back together story Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, and it's a good AKA benefit.
So everybody's obsessed. But at the time Ben didn't get it. And I'm pretty interested in this because there's been some conflicting messaging and some conflicting quotes that have come out of Ben. But he says, I can promise you that our life together doesn't warrant it. We watch movies, we sit at home, we go out to dinner. It's more or less what everyone else does. There is a wall looming in the Middle East, Europe is redefining itself, America
is in a recession. Sure, we're getting married, but I just can't understand why this isn't a page twenty item because of the degree to which it's been discussed. It has to have to do with something bigger and deeper than just two actors who are romantically involved, because how interesting is that really?
That has a shelf life of about two weeks.
I think it has to do with race and class, the fact that I'm white and she's Puerto Rican. That's what's underneath, although nobody said it because it's not politically correct.
Yeah, I think there's something to be said for that. I think back then that was probably there's a level of shock there that there was an interracial couple. Maybe it wasn't as popular back then and we didn't have as much access to it as we did. So if he feels that enough to comment, who are we to say that he's incorrect. That's obviously the impression that he's getting and he's the one in the relationship.
There is another quote that comes from a Vanity Fair article which he did, which was like a full expose and very in depth around not just his relationship with j Lo, but his own personal life. And he talked about the amount of money that they make as a couple, and he said, it's the price of my privacy, the price of my life. It has to do with international exposure. It's somebody who can get in the papers, be on television,
and draw attention to the movies. So he's talking about why he gets paid such huge dollars to be in movies.
He says, you have to become a whole. Nobody's paying anybody money out of the goodness of their own heart.
What is it worth to haul your private life? And have every aspect of it totally exposed. When you consider that, I feel like I'm underpaid. So he knows the benefits of exposing his personal life. Both of them are very savvy. They understand that by doing that they're increasing their own profiles.
Yeah, and this is still early days for them to an extent. They know they want to be really famous. They're at that point where they don't know the price of being so public yet, which they learn very soon, very quickly. But at this point they want to be everywhere they want to be. Even if they don't understand it, they know that that's what sells, that's what's going to get them in the next movie. They're not silly.
And what better way to get a year's worth of free publicity, you know, than to marry your a listic costar and throw a huge wedding for your family, your friends, and all of your closest paparazzi within one hundred miles.
Probably unintentional, but hey, they were there.
So it seems like all the pressure of organizing a wedding and having three decoy brides really got to Ben and Jen and they released a public statement, but basically just to summarize it, it was that the wedding itself had lost meaning to them in that what they wanted it to be, like a special romantic moment to share with their family and their friends, was no longer going to be that. When they got to the point where they had to hire the third decoy bride.
That's really sad. Imagine, Like I guess it became a bit like a business transaction in the end, and.
They couldn't leave the house. They're getting swamped by paparazzi wherever they left, Like, whatever they did together as a couple, you would know one hundred percent it was going to be the front page of a magazine. So they got together in two thousand and two, but by two thousand and four, the relationship was now own over. So let me get this straight.
They canceled the wedding, and then what it's just done on the spot, Well, it wasn't just done.
So basically they postponed the wedding in September of two thousand and three, and they said at the time that the media attention that was all the speculation around the wedding was too much and it was too overwhelming. However, it did also very much coincide at the same time that all the shitty reviews came out for Jiggly or Glee or whatever the hell we want to call it.
It's typically not Jiggly, but that's what we'll call it. It was just like the movie was so poorly received.
Not only was it poorly received, but there were so many critics saying that they had absolutely no chemistry on screen. Can you imagine having like your relationship on screen and everybody saying that.
You would terrible actors together? It would be horrible, but obsolutely horrible, even just to get terrible active even if you weren't in a relationship on screen. It's like, no wants that.
So by January two thousand and four, they had then announced that they had officially ended their engagement and they both had parted ways.
It's actually really sad because I feel like it just happened really fast, and they it's almost like they weren't given a chance. But I wonder if they actually knew it was over when they postponed the wedding, or do you think that they were actually going to try and give it a crack and revisit the wedding.
I mean there's speculation about it, but I think at the time, if you're going to postpone your wedding and then very shortly afterwards actually announced that you've broken up, you're not just postponing the wedding because the media attention's too heavy. You're postponing the wedding because maybe the relationship is.
On the rocks. You got some cracks for sure. Yeah, and so I guess this is where benefit into stage left.
Well, this is where benefit turns into a whole new benefit. He just literally takes out this one Jennifer and pops in.
A new Jennifer hashtag Benefit two point zero.
Ben goes on to get married to Jennifer Garner very shortly afterwards. Literally only a year later was he engaged to Jennifer Garner. And within six months of Jlo and Ben Affleck breaking up, June two thousand and four is when Jlo actually gets married to Mark Anthony.
So not engaged, getting married within six months after losing the love of her life, She's married. And you've got to remember that she was also engaged to Ben Affleck before her divorce to Chris Judd was finalized. Either the chick loves to be married. I'm calling it Jlo's needy.
She is Is she needed to be in relationships or is she just that wanted?
Like I think about think about it, because this is her. She's choosing to marry these people. You could date someone for sure, but she's marrying, divorcing, splitting, engaged, splitting married totally.
But she has to get proposed to like these men are so willing to like, like, I've never had a guy proposed to me within six months?
Have you?
I mean, you weren't that far off? I think you know the answer for me, I was pregnant within a year. Actually I take that back exactly, but I think I mean, at the end of the day, she obviously likes relationships. Who are we to judge good on her? And then she and she ended up being with him for a long time. Mark Anthony. Hey, she had twins and I remember she had little she's they're beautiful now they're older now.
Yeah, they have two kids together. But she always did speak so fondly about Ben Affleck. She spoke about him even like whilst they were married, her and Mark Anthony were married, she would refer to Ben Affleck as her first true love.
So moving on.
Over a decade, both Ben and Jlo have been in completely different relationships. They've been married, They've had children, they have lived separate lives, and have created families both separately, and have also spoken about their partners with such love and affection. I think like when you look at videos between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Ghana, he seems and comes across as the most wonderfully doting father and husband at
the time. And also jay Loo seems so incredibly invested in her relationship with Mark Anthony.
It's stable.
They've got a beautiful family together. However, as we know, things weren't exactly as they seem, and in twenty fifteen, Ben and Jennifer Gana announced their divorce.
Ah, so that's where all these sad Ben memes came from.
Poor little sad Ben Affleck with his big phoenix tattoo.
You remember when that all happened, when you were like, I don't. I remember seeing a photo of him one day on the beach with no shirt on it, and I was like, what is on his wa is he doing? Why did he do that shit tag? I was like, did that man rolling ash?
I couldn't really see, Okay, but also this all came and the sad Ben memes came from a very famous interview that he did when he was promoting Batman versus Superman and he was sitting there just staring off into the abyss. He the astral Plane for a moment in Phoenix Plane.
He checked out. Life was too much for him and he was I mean, he came out later he was he was really sad. He was really depressed and at a really low point of his life.
Well, there was also photos of him that came out where he was like carrying like a horde of Duncan donuts.
There was another one of him sitting and not be hating on him for the Dunkin donuts. We've all been there, we've all been there. But there was another one who's sitting in his car like vaping. And the paparazzi shots that came out and around the twenty sixteen mark when things were really going bad for him. This is like after his divorce with Jennifer Garner, and it was like the wheels were well and truly falling off the bandwagon. I mean, I'm going to relate to him little bit.
I've gone through a break up the last couple of months, and you're seen vaping in your car. Hey, pretty Hockley sad vaping in a car.
But you know what one thing you haven't done, Brett in the throes of a bad breakup. You haven't gotten a full back tattoo.
You haven't seen my back lately.
All right, So I'm sure that you guys have all seen this photo of Ben. Now he's standing there at the beach, looking out forlorn into the ocean, mindful, a little bit sad thinking. But this is the first time that we have seen a glimpse of whatever it is that he's done to his back. There is a phoenix that is creeping up literally from his butt crack all the way up and across his right shoulder.
Okay, why.
When the external world crumbles around you, the only solution is.
To go inward, fine solace, get to know yourself, find peace, and get a back tattoo. Have you seen Madam is disgusting. It's so ugly. He's the haudliest tattoo. Go through a midlife class. It's okay, we'll get that like cute little love heart tattoo on your little pinky. You know, I broon't gets something like that, like a broken heart or something, but like it was so ugly actually that the first time there was a pap barazzi photo, everyone started around
the world. So I had to write him off about it, and he was so embarrassed. He was like he pretended it was fake. He's like, oh, I've got it for a movie. It's just like drawn on. But then years went past, it was still there. It was like, bro like, just admit it. This is this is real.
There's actually this great quote of his where he said, yes, he's he's like, in some aspects, my life went to shit, which is why I got a phoenix rising out of my arm.
Well played, Ben, well played? But keep that shirt off? Well. Isn't it interesting? Though? Because Jaylo announced her divorce from Mark Anthony in twenty eleven, So I am wondering if our friend Ben took a little bit of inspiration and was like, oh, the love of my life is back on the market, maybe I should do the same.
No, do you reckon that they spent it there? I don't think they would have spent all this time pining together. I just think that maybe there was like.
Well she said he was the love of her life, So the first love of her life, but maybe that there was like it was do you think it was more opportunistic than what it was deliberate? Look, I'm just throwing a question out mate.
After well, you would think that maybe at this point in time they were getting back together, but it wasn't.
Absolutely wasn't the case.
So this is still in twenty fifteen, and during this time, Jaylo then goes on to get into a relationship with Standard with shock horror, I know, right, like she is in relationships way more than what she's single, but also like it's like she's literally not single. I don't know, like these guys have to slide into her dms within a week of her being single because she snapped up already. Well, I think that's what happened. I think a rod her next love slid into a dam mate. It's just the
modern day love story, isn't it. And it is a modern day love story because apparently he cheated on and there were lots of speculation around that and they were supposed to be getting married. There was an engagement there and shit really hit the fan. Okay, well, how much was that engagementy? I think five million.
What'sn't really? Yeah, So she's she's going up in the world. She's moving up in the world with every engagement with the rings.
They started off at a one hundred thousand dollars with her very first fiance slash husband, which was a Johnny Noah and Noah even knows about whoho that guy is.
Did you just make shramming a pun? Yes? I did.
And then there was another one hundred thousand dollars which came from Chris Judd, which was her second husband, and then it really skyrocketed. It went to two point five million, which came from Ben Affleck. Then it went to four million from Marc Anthony so a Rod who was the fifth guy that she was engaged to. Somehow, it's been reported that the ring that he purchased is anywhere between
one million and five million. Now that is a very big discrepancy, and maybe that's why the relationship didn't work out.
Well, I'm gonna guess is probably not the five million mark, which she probably would have married him, was probably less sick maybe. So obviously we're going to talk about how Ben and Jen get back together in a hot second, But first I want to talk about this big fuck off ring that she is wearing on a finger that Ben gave her.
So the second ring, the second No, this is the second ring, which I think is bigger than the first one.
We'll buy from you know, my my eye, it looks bigger than the first one.
So this ring is a ten million dollar really ugly green diamond.
Apparently it's really rare. But you know what they say, money color by taste. Hang on, you just skipped past to something that I'm picking my drop off the ground. Ten million dollars, Takailston powers. She's walking around with a ten million dollar ring on her finger. Well, it's like.
Every single engagement has gone up incrementally, so it had to get bigger and bigger and bigger.
This is sort of borderline, like I'm tempted to rob her. I'm trying to formulate a plan.
I will take you down, Jaylo. I'm Brittany from the block as well. Actually, where the hell is she wears the perhaps I'm going.
Now she's left a rod. When does she get back together in her very public loving relationship now with Ben Affleck for the second time? So what was the period there?
So they broke up in twenty twenty one, and in twenty twenty one, Ben Affleck slides into the DMS of Jlo. Being that they're both single, he really takes like an old Shakespeare approach and starts sending her emails.
At least he didn't take a full page dad out this time. At least he's learned something so like fits some privacy.
But yeah, so he starts sending her emails and that's how they keep in contact over the space of a couple of months.
And then the details around.
When they actually started dating are pretty unclear. But it isn't until July twenty twenty one that they take their relationship that's probably been going on for a couple of months in private.
They make it very public.
Jen posts a carousel to Instagram and it's like all these beautiful photos of herself on a yacht enjoying her fifty second birthday, and then the last photo in the carousel reel is a photo of Jen and Ben kissing, and it blows the Internet up iconic.
Have you seen it? Yeah, I've seen it. I've I've seen it. Hello took before research, No, I just took the world by storm. I remember thinking they weren't actually back together. I remember thinking, cute, they're having a fling. I didn't think that they were going to be like this whole other relationship again round two. Well, and they've been. They've been caught out.
Like it's not like this was the first time that anybody had seen them together. They had been pat photos, they had been caught out meeting up in La and their commentary towards media was that they were just good friends catching up. But now it was like that was official. And I love the way that they did it in this like very bread crumbing way. So it was like several posts and then it was the last photo of a carousel.
Real you know, she just wants to check that people sliding through her whole carousel.
Yeah, she needs the engagement, like go through all of them. Then please leave a comment, thanks very much, like swipe believe a fire emoji.
I mean, this is what I'm thinking right now. You'd think that they would have learnt from their past, like they complained they called off their first wedding because there was too much public attention. There was too much scrutiny, too many people chasing them and turn into a business transaction. Fast forward twenty years and you're doing the same thing. You've just put it back on Instagram and made it public. Okay.
But the question is, and to their defense, if they didn't make it public in some way, would that mean that the public, like the scrutiny of the paparazzi, would be even greater because they'd be chasing them trying to get at the photo. Because you know what it's like now, like if you say, yeah, yes this happened, the media goes crazy for two weeks and then it kind of goes away. So do you think that maybe they were
already being followed. There was already so much speculation that they were together, that they were like, okay, let's just like drop the bomb and get on with our lives.
Yeah, but they're not dumb. There is no drop it and get on with their lives. Like this is it now. They have to know that once it's out, they'll be harassed for eternity.
And I do think it's so I mean, this is what I mean by it's like the irony of Ben Affleck and j Lo. They have lived the life two decades ago they got the opportunity of being together and this is like the crazy, amazing redemption story. This whole idea of like that maybe she's the one that got away and they got a second chance at this relationship and they get a second chance to do it differently.
Well, maybe this is really pushing the narrative that there can be the right people at the wrong time. And I mean, like, I'm always on the fence about that. I've always been like, oh, if it's the wrong time, is it just the wrong person. But they've come full circle. It's been twenty years. We don't know. Look, we don't know if they're going to live happily ever after. We're never gonna be able to know that. But they have come back. They've moved in together recently, they've just moved
into like a ridiculously big mansion. It's looking like they're finally found them happy ever after. But I'll be interested to see what happens and if they do split, who she's going to marry in six months time.
You would think that with everything that they had learned from their first relationship, all the mistakes that they'd made, that maybe they would do things differently the second time around, you know, twenty years later, And it's something that we've talked about in life on cut before. It's like, if you're going to give your relationship, like an ex relationship, a second chance, things have to be fundamentally different for
them to end up being happy together. If you're revisiting a relationship this second time around, I hope to god you've taken something from the first time because it didn't work.
Well.
They do say when you know better, you do better, but not if you're Jen and Ben. So you know how the first time he starred in the Jenny from the Block movie or film clip, whatever you want to call it, and he was slapping her on the bart and then he said that he opened up his relationship too much. It was the worst mistake he'd made in his relationship. Well, he's just recently starred in her new film Clear, which is called Marry Me, for the movie that she's doing, which is also called Marry Me.
But is this history repeating itself.
I'm gonna say yes, because they're literally pimping out their relationship for their work again.
I just think these people are so obsessed with notoriety and love and attention that they don't know how to live without it. And I think that they think they don't want it, and they try and become recluse and going to hiding for a hot second, and they miss it and then boom back in another film Clep.
I feel like there's this real, like school, like high school excitement about their relationship, like the fact that they've like been able to fall in love again a second time around. There must be this incredible validation that comes with being able to tell the world and being able to be like, see, we proved you all wrong. We're back together. It's just like they're walking down the same road that they've done before.
Yeah, and maybe the fact that they're a bit older now, they've lived a life, they're in their fifties. Maybe they feel like the media storm isn't going to be the same. Maybe they think everyone's gonna be happy for us and then move on because there's all these the young hot guns that are driving all the attention, and we can only hope that that's the case. They have had a lot of attention up until now. Maybe they're actually not getting enough attention and that's why they're putting out the
film clip. Maybe they're like, well, why is everyone peering off?
They're like, I'm sorry, we were used to getting a lot more than this last time, I need to tap some assa or well, there was actually a photo of him, they've been papped on a boat and he was like kissing j Lo's beautiful bass and it was like they were recreating that moment from Jenny from the Block.
Absolutely and they did they a one hundred percent you what they were.
Doing that is you And you know you know when you're on a yacht that there's a paparazzi down there taking photos of yourself.
Yeah, you're in the exact same position of the first photo that went viral, Like the first that exact moment. They've recreated it. They knew what it was going to do. They love the attention, but you know what, good luck to them. I hope that she's finally found anyone.
And that is there from Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. Done and dusted. You are welcome and who knows what will happen next with this redemption story for the ones who got away.
Hooked, Hitched and hung Up is a podcast from iHeart Podcast Australia, dead Set Studios and the Kiss Network.
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