Are you alone? Come tonight. Do you miss me tonight? Are you sorry? All right. Hi, guys. Welcome back to Significant Lovers. A True love podcast, I have to say. So first of all, I'm Mel. I'm Kel. We're cousins. We're Cousins. Best friends. Yep. First cousins, too. First cousins. What were you going to say? Related Oh, I was going to say, I have to say like I was reflecting today. This podcast I truly think has like changed my life.
Because when it comes to relationships, romantic relationships, because it just really helps to see like the long term and the bigger picture. And like one of my friends, she just went through a breakup and she had broken up with somebody and she was feeling really guilty about it. And you know, she was like, he didn't do anything wrong. Like, you know, it'd be different if you like cheated or something. And she was like, I just, I just feel bad.
I I broke his heart. And I was like, you know, on the podcast, like, well, I didn't say on the podcast, but I said, like you really, it's nice to feel bad. But sometimes being broken up with can be the best thing that ever happens to someone, because then it makes them available and gives them the time to find somebody else. And then my friend Tess, hi, Tess is like Love Guru over here. But that's something I never would have really. I think if it weren't for this
podcast, it's. True, I know. I feel like we've learned a lot from it. And I also think that, I mean, we've had a lot of breakups on this show, but it's been inspiring for me when we have those couples that are together for a really long time, like 30 years, 40 years or something, to hear from them. It's inspiring. Yeah. So it's fun. Headaches couple. This is an episode that I had been putting off for a while. I think Kelly's in the same boat.
Like this is a couple that one of my words that I would use to describe them would be overexposed. I don't know. They just kind of have always annoyed me, especially recently. This is Bennifer, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. There's something that seems very insincere about them. But I thought, you know what? I Maybe that's not the case. You know, it's time to give them
a closer look. And when they were originally together, which is what this episode is going to be about, I was so young that, like, I had no concept of it. So it's interesting to look back and think like, OK, why was this couples so significant? Yeah, I I mean, what years were they together originally? 2002 to 2000. Four. Yeah. So, yeah, I think I heard of them, but I also didn't know what was happening. So that's going to be really interesting. I do.
You think, I mean, I know we still have Part 2 to get to, but having done this research, was there anything that surprised you? Oh yeah, definitely. Challenged what you originally thought of them. I don't know about that, but it's like the timeline of their relationship I think is very interesting. It it surprises me because it's it's so interesting like how different timelines can be in relationship to relationship.
Like I'm in a I've been dating someone for six months and it still to me feels like very, very early in the relationship. I would not bring up getting married or like like anything like that. But for some of these people that we cover it's like 5 months into dating they're already married or something. Like it's it's crazy and it is just the the vast difference in schedules that people have for relationship is absurd and. Then there was our couple last
week. Greta Gerwig and Noah Bomback were together for 12 years, I think, before they got married. So everybody's on their own journey, as they say. Yeah. Before we start, I wanted to just quickly thank our new patrons on Patreon from the past week, just from the past week. So I just wanted to say thanks to Molly, Amy, Donna, Donnie and Robbie. Thank you guys so much for joining us over there. But yeah, Mel, if you had to describe this couple in three
words, what would you say? Oh, we're exposed to be 1A. Whirlwind would be another one. I know that's not an adjective. Happy Whirlwind Wednesday. Happy whirlwind Wednesday Overexposed whirlwind and I'm coming with I'll put this on the spot. I would say sensationalized, OK, this relationship, it reminded me so much of Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande and that it was a rebound relationship that moved very quickly and blew up very fast in the public.
And both parties in the couple seemed like they took full advantage of the publicity to cross promote their work. Oh, that's another word I probably would use like opportunistic. But yeah, it almost made me wonder if that was deliberate. If let's say, Pete and Ariana really were a publicity stunt. If they were using benefit as their blueprint. Maybe possibly their PR people could could have said this worked last time.
You know this is perfect. I still think it would be insane to get a tattoo for APR relationship, but. But he he does that for relationships that obviously are not going to last. That's the other it's like the fact that someone can get a tattoo like a month or two in a new relationship. People are. How do people get away with that stuff? I feel like if I did something like that, people would be like she's crazy. I. Know. Seriously.
See, I feel like everybody from your high school would be like, whoa, yeah, what is going on with this girl? OK, who are? Jlo and Ben Affleck So Jennifer Lynn Lopez She was born July 24th, 1969 to Puerto Rican parents David in Guadalupe. They raised her in the Bronx. Her dad was a computer technician and her mom was a stay at home mom when Jlo was very young. And then she worked as a kindergarten teacher and a Tupperware salesperson. Cute and growing up.
Jen was pretty active. She played sports, she did dance and she did gymnastics. And after high school, she did one semester as a business major at Barach College, and then she dropped out to pursue dance professionally, much to her parents disapproval. And at 20 years old, she got her first professional dance gig and had the opportunity to tour Europe for a show called Golden Musicals on Broadway.
And then this LED her to other dance opportunities, dancing as a background dancer for different artists. And then getting a reoccurring role as a dancer on the TV series In Living Colour, which caused her to move to LA, where she also began taking acting classes. And she actually had the opportunity to go on a world tour as Janet Jackson's backup dancer, but she turned it down to pursue acting full time. And then she did some sitcom
work. She was on a show called South Central and then a CBCBS show called Second Chances that got cancelled and then she was on a spin off called Hotel Hotel Malibu. And then she began acting in different films, small roles here and there. She was in a film called Me Family A which I think did
pretty well. And around this time she was in a decade long relationship with her first love and her high school sweetheart named David Cruz who was working as APA in Hollywood. And they broke up sometime in like 1995. Her first love. Mm hmm. And she seems like like she is a long term dater. Like she dated that guy for 10 years. But I I I don't know what happened in their relationship, but maybe they broke up because you know, he's working as APA and then she gets like all these
big roles. Maybe there is a struggle there. People outgrow each other. Exactly. High school relationships usually don't last, unfortunately. But then in 1997, Jlo got her big, big break when she was cast in the biopic Selena about Selena, the singer who had tragically passed away. And Jlo became the first Latina actress ever to earn $1,000,000 for a role. And this was a very big role for her. Robert Robert R Ebert considered this a star making performance, and she received her first
Golden Globe nomination. And apparently the film's director, Gregory Nava, asked Warner Brothers to fund an Oscars campaign for her. But they said that the Academy would never nominate A Latina. What? And around this time, Jlo also got married for the first time. She married a Cuban waiter named oh Johnny Noah, who she met in Miami at a restaurant owned by Gloria Estefan. And they did it for a little bit less than a year, and the marriage was equally short. And they divorced just a year
later. What? That's kind of. Crazy. I know it is crazy. So that's her first marriage. And then in the late 90s, Jlo kept consistently acting in more movies, but she found herself missing the excitement of performing on stage like she did in Selena. And you know, I didn't realize that she didn't even sing in that movie. She just lip synched all the songs. And what there are rumours that Jlo doesn't really sing and can't really sing.
And I I didn't really think much of that before, 'cause I was like, well, why would she have a music career? Like, there are so many singers out there, But I never knew that she went from like a dancer to actress to singer, that she didn't start out as a singer. That's interesting.
But I feel like she had so much success playing Selena that her team and a lot of music executives saw her as having the potential to be embraced by Selena's fanbase and kind of fill that gap that was left in the Latin American community after Selena had died, Especially since now she's associated with her. So I could see why there would be such a strong motivation by the different labels to try to sign her. Can she sing or not?
What the? Heck, there's a lot of rumors that she uses different vocals from different artists in her songs, like a Sean Meghan trainer. But so yeah, at around 30, which is pretty late in the industry, she began recording her first demo and her manager, Benny Medina pitched her to different labels, positioning her as Latin artists with immense cross cultural potential. That's inspiring fighting. Yeah, people were fighting over
her. Many of the major labels bid each other, but Sony ultimately signed her and suggested that she's singing English. It is speculated that the head of Sony, Tomi Mottola, wanted to use Jlo to undermine his ex-wife Mariah Carey. Oh yeah, didn't you talk about this? Yeah, there's like a long history about a feud between these two. In the Mariah Carey and Eminem. Episode. Yeah, yeah, I totally forgot about that episode so long ago. Yeah, it's our 76th episode. I know what.
They've. Done a lot. Then in 1999, she released her debut single, If You Had My Love. It quickly became a number one hit, and later that year she released her debut album on the six, which is a reference to the six subway line between the Bronx and Manhattan. And one of the contributors on the album was Sean Combs, AKA Puff Daddy AP Diddy. I was getting confused because I was like, why did she date Puff Daddy or P Diddy? And then I was like, oh wait,
that's the same person. Three men in one. Yeah, and they dated in what has been described as a tumultuous on and off relationship. They actually had been arrested at one point for possession of a stolen gun, the two of them, after fleeing the scene of a shooting at a club in New York. But that's probably a story for another day they brought up in 2001. And then soon after, like months later, Jlo married her backup dancer Chris Judd, who worked in Her Love Don't Cost a Thing music video.
Oh my goodness. Which that seems like her MO. She'll like she'll break up with someone and, like, quickly get married to somebody else. So odd. How many times has she been married? Now in real life, I think four times, OK, but I think she has been engaged like, I don't even know many times she's she's. A serial fiance. Yeah, a lot of proposals. Wow. So then Jlo before meeting Ben like she's on the top of at at the top of her career.
In 2001, she was the first woman to ever have a number one film and a number one album at the same time when her movie The Wedding Planner and her sophomore album Jlo were released during the same week that year. That same year, she also released a very successful clothing line called Jlo by Jennifer Lopez. She also opened up her own restaurant. Like, all that to say is I feel like she's very much like a product. I think of good marketing and
like a good team. She has incredible star power. But I think at the end of the day, like she's also successful because she is so well managed, but that, but she is also a huge trailblazer. Like she's arguably the biggest Latina global superstar in the world and she has like so many different ventures and has done so many different things. Music producer Danny Rooney described her as probably the hung, hungriest artist I had ever worked with or encountered.
I think she is kind of like a workaholic. I can sense that even from the distance that I have, I I've never been like that close to Jlo's career, like participating in it. But I can tell. Yeah, like she was even like a judge on American Idol at one point. I think she does so much. She does, Andrew Barker, a writer for Variety, said.
Jennifer exhibits a plethora of contradictions, adding despite A carefully cultivated image as an imperious pop Empress and ludicrously expensive outfits, her signature hits bear the titles I'm Real and Jenny from The Block. True. She is both relatable to people, but completely like the least relatable person alive. And that's polarized insightful. Yeah, but then, OK, so who's Ben? Like Ben, He's our hometown hero from Massachusetts, right? He's Boston. Boy. Exactly our Boston boy.
He actually was born in California, though Berkeley on August 15th. Freaking. Kidding me? But his family moved to Mass when he was just three years old, OK? And he was raised in Falmouth, which is, if you guys don't know, that's like on the Cape. We know it. Yeah, His mom, Chris, was a Harvard educated elementary school teacher and his father, Timothy was an aspiring playwright. But he was usually unemployed or he worked at different blue collar jobs.
He was a severe alcoholic and I think that was really tough on Ben growing up. He was very difficult to live with, and this led to his parents getting divorced when Ben was just 11 years old. After that, his dad was homeless for a while, and then when Ben was around 16, his dad got into a rehab facility where he actually lived for 12 years, getting sober. Wow, that's really tough. But the Affleck family like they were very friendly with like
different creative types. I think his mom knew a lot of people from Harvard who were pretty successful creatively. She was friends with the casting director in Cambridge, which led to Ben and his little brother Casey acting in a lot of local commercials. And then at age 12, he was cast in an educational PBS program called The Voyage of Mimi, which was something they played in schools and that films in Gloucester, Mass, and then also in Mexico.
So his family moved to Mexico for like a year when he was. In middle school. Then so Ben attended Cambridge Bridge in Latin High School, where he acted in school plays, and he became a close friend of Matt Damon who was there, who's two years older than him. Oh my goodness. Another Boston boy. Our Boston. Boy, they actually, they were so close that they shared a joint bank account and they would save up their money to go to New York together to audition for parts. Wow.
Then Matt went on to go to college at Harvard, and two years later Ben studied at the University of Vermont, majoring in Spanish. He went to UVM. Well, just for a little bit. Apparently he only went there because he had a high school girlfriend who was going to a nearby school in Vermont. And he said that he had somewhat unrequited feelings for her. And that two weeks into the semester he rang up her dorm and a guy answered.
And so then he transferred very quickly to Occidental College in LA, where he studied, studied Middle Eastern affairs, and then began directing student films. Interesting. And then he dropped out a year and a half later to focus on acting full time. And wait a second, at UVM he was studying Spanish. I know that was Spanish, but wow. Yeah, I think an. Interesting guy. He. Made it seem like he only went to UVM just to chase this girl.
Wow, that's funny. But that tells you something like, OK, so he seems like someone who kind of falls down bad for people, you know? Yeah, he'll do anything. Meanwhile, he kept auditioning for things. He landed small roles and things here and there before he landed the part as the high school bully in the 1993 film Dazed and Confused. Yes, you're so mean and scary in that movie, I've actually. Never seen it? Mel, you have to. You really should.
Especially since you like weed. Oh, that's true. You have to. See it? He yeah, he's very memorable in that movie. He's great. I love that movie. Well, he must have been a convincing bully because after that he played a bully in Kevin Smith's Mole Rats, which led him to becoming very close friends with Kevin Smith. And he was then cast as the lead in Kevin's romantic comedy Chasing Amy, which was kind of seen as his breakthrough role.
Meanwhile, Matt and Ben and Matt Damon began developing their script for a little known film called Goodwill Hunting. Which? Matt had originally submitted as an assignment at Harvard and they finished the script in 1994 and then they sold it to Castle Rock Entertainment. However, there was some creative differences with the studio, and then the production studio said that they could pitch it somewhere else, but they needed to get their money back.
The boys had been paid $625,000, so they needed to find a buyer who was willing to match that price. Kevin Smith, Ben's really good friend, ended up giving it to the now disgraced Harvey Weinstein, who bought the script and began filming it with Miramax in 1997, starring both Ben and Matt. Wow. And it was a huge commercial success, obviously, and a huge
critical one. They both won the Oscar for Best Original screenplay, and Ben is still the youngest writer to ever achieve that at just 25 years old. Oh. My gosh. So he's also like at the top of his career. After that, him and Matt went on to form their own production company with Warner Brothers called Pearl St. Companies, and he just kept establishing himself as a
leading actor. Averaging about three to five major movie releases a year, including roles like Shakespeare and Love Armageddon and Pearl Harbor. It's. Crazy that they were high school friends. I mean, imagine doing all that with my friend from high school. Just like let's do this and you, I know exactly. Guys achieve such success. It's crazy. I love their speech at the Oscars too, 'cause they're like yacht, like, they're like in their early 20s. Oh, you should watch it like
they're like, shocked. Like that they won an Oscar. Wow. But yeah, so then Ben dated Gwyneth Paltrow, who we've covered on the show before, for about three years after they met in Shakespeare in Love. And I just, I would thought I would include this quote from her because I think it might give you a sense of who he is, she said to Howard Stern. I think my parents appreciated how he's super intelligent and he's really, really talented and
so funny. But he was not in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend. I think they were OK with the two of us not being together. Oh, oh, someone's parents wanted to be over. Like that's a falling sign. So how did Ben and Jen come to form Benefer? The two? They had casually, casually crossed paths a different industry events, including at the 98 Academy Awards and at the premiere of Ben's film Armageddon.
Back in the 90s however, they officially became acquainted on the set of their ROM com Geely, which began filming in December 2001 and about first seeing Ben on the set. Jennifer had said they did a read through of the whole thing and I remember just walking in. I think he was outside smoking a cigarette and I saw him and we just talked for a minute and I sat down and we did the read through.
I don't remember a whole bunch more about it but I remember being on set with him every day and loving him. But at this time Jlo was still married to her second husband Chris Judd and later on there were rumours that something maybe happened on set. But she denied this saying I'm a very faithful person. If somebody had told me Ben's attracted to you, I would have said no.
I wasn't raised that way. Ben also denied that anything went down, saying when I met her we became really, really, really good friends, first of all three. Really. Like, really. Really. Yeah. That's a little damning right there, that that kind of tells me all I need to know. Really. Really. Really. Yeah, like, OK, you could have stopped at 2:00, but the third, really, like, that's suggestive, he says.
But at first, because she was married, there was no thought of a romantic relationship, so that no thought. I know exactly. So that created the opportunity to get to know each other without any falseness that goes on with courtship because you're trying to make a good impression, which honestly, you should try to make a good impression with anybody. Like, even if it's not a courtship, you should be behaving well when you first meet someone, especially a Co worker.
I know. However, it does seem like he had feelings for her because he also added with Jen, I thought even though it can never happen, it was nice for me to know I was capable of feeling that way. I would love somebody in a way where what I really wanted was for them to be happy even more than I wanted than what I wanted what I wanted. That was a new experience for me. Loving somebody but not wait, what?
What is he saying? He's like saying that this is the first time he realized he could love somebody without receiving anything back. I think, OK, that's nice. So then in March, Jen was named Show W Female Star of the Year. And I guess at this time it was customary for people in the industry like directors and producers to place trade ads in industry magazines like The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, stuff like that as kind of like a interoffice memo of
announcements. Whereas nowadays they would just post stuff to social media, but it was their way of like communicating with people in the industry. I see. So anyways, in that month March, Ben spent $18,000 on ads and Variety in The Hollywood Reporter to congratulate Jennifer.
And in the ad, he wrote, you have shown kindness, dedication, diligence, humility, graciousness of spirit, beauty and courage, great empathy, astonishing talent, real poise and true grace has nothing but an honor and a pleasure to work with you. I only wish I were lucky enough to be in all your movies. Oh my gosh. Respect and Gratitude, Ben Affleck.
Whoa. And so this got people talking like what That's. I mean, I know you're you have a lot of money, but $18,000 just to congratulate somebody? Yeah, and all those crazy adjectives. It was nice. And I know I love hearing anything written by anybody. It's just. So people thought maybe that was yeah, like, maybe that was his way to woo. Her seems like it. He later told Variety that the reason he placed the ad was to refute rumors that Jennifer had a reputation for being difficult
on set. Well, that's nice of him. I know. If, if that's the reason. Still super, super, super nice of him, yeah. I feel like, you know, if you were Jen's husband, you'd be like, who is this guy? Yeah, I don't want this at all. And like, you had to keep in mind, like Jen's husband. Wait, is this the, oh, this is our backup dancer. Like this kind of a power dynamic with that right now. Yeah, I would definitely. Feel threatened Interior. If I were Judd. You would feel what?
Threatened. Yeah, yeah, he should. Because then in April it was reported that Jennifer was seen smiling and sitting close to Ben at her restaurant in LA. And then in June, it's June 2002. It's revealed that Jen had separated from Chris and that she had initiated the breakup and he was reportedly devastated. Oh man. And why? Reports said that they weren't ready to divorce. She filed for divorce a month later, after only ten months of marriage.
Not a great track record. Like her first marriage was a year and then her second one was ten months. I I wonder. What her parents think about that? I know I feel like it seems normal with celebrities, but I always think back to like the people that you grew up with in their family. Like what do they think about all this? I know exactly you'd I would be nervous. Like, OK, let's take a break from relationships for a while.
Even though the couple's closest friends and family were reportedly what so, even the couple's closest friends and family were reportedly shocked because apparently up until that point they had seemed madly in love to everyone who knew them.
But it all made sense a month later when the New York Post reported that Jennifer and Ben were openly coupled up at her 32nd birthday party in New York City, saying that they had been affectionately, affectionately canoodling and that he gave her a very expensive diamond bracelet. Wow. Even just to get get somebody a diamond bracelet. Like a month out of datings. Wow. That's intense. That's intense. But like, yeah, it's like, OK, she's with him right away after her second divorce.
I don't want to judge, but let's slow it down. Yeah, let's slow it down. Jen's ex-husband Chris, his father, was pissed and against his son's wishes, he went to the New York Daily saying she jumped in with the worst person she could possibly be with and added that Ben was actively pursuing Jen on the set of Julie, saying I thought Mr. Affleck would honor a married woman and not just go right into her trailer.
So I don't know. They quickly became known as Bennifer, which was the first ever Hollywood nickname for a couple. You know, Now we have Bran, Jelena, Robson, Tomcat. Yeah, Kim Kimye. Oh yeah. Spidey. Oh yeah. What are the other like I? Don't know oh. Jelena, that was a big one, but Bennifer was the first ever time that's ever happened. And later in 2021, Kevin Smith claimed that he was the one to originally come up with it when he had name dropped them.
Apparently he called them benefit in an interview with the New York Times, and then quickly after that, the press just ran with it and kept calling them that. That's. Fun What would you and Charlie, what would your nickname be as a couple? We we already say we're chelly. Oh, that. Oh yes, I love that Shelly. It feels like a third person, like another name or something. Shelly. Oh, Shelly. OK, I'm going to start calling you guys that. Do you and Zach have any nickname? Would you be?
I don't know. Tough Mack no MEC. My name doesn't really ever go good with anybody's name. Milk. Milk Melch. Maybe you could do something with the last names too. Oh yeah, I don't know. I won't. I won't drop his last name on here. But but so anyways, Ben then in November of that year, appeared in the music video for Jenny from the Block, which shows him touching her butt. And then they're kissing on a
yacht. And then there's like clips of like paparazzi taking photos of them while they're reading tabloids about themselves. Oh my goodness. I don't. I there's something about that I don't love. I don't know what it is, but later. It's so self absorbed. It is and I think, I think they both are self absorbed. That's why I didn't really want to cover them. But we got. I feel like they get worse later on in their life, but we'll get there.
I have to say it was it was fun researching them though, that there's a lot there. So later in 2008, Ben told Fox News that his one regret in life was filming that music video because him grabbing her ass made him look like an ungentleman. Petulant fool. Yeah, you can see them. So then that's a month. I know I yeah, I don't. I don't get gentlemen vibes from him. Me neither.
I mean, he grabbed the ass. That same month, they also began filming the comedy drama Jersey Girl together in Philly, which was directed by Kevin Smith. I feel like I'm name dropping him left and right and this. Liv Tyler was in that movie. Oh wow. Yep. I didn't realize that. You know, Speaking of since you said name dropping Kevin Smith, you know, I made it part of our drinking game, John Mayer making appearances, but he really
hasn't shown up recently. I feel like he was like so prevalent in our early episodes, but not anymore. I know. Where's he been? I'm actually missing him. I actually went out of my way to for last week's episode to search Noah Baumbach, Gregor Wick, John Mayer. And I did find a mention of him, but it was honestly so irrelevant that it was like a stretch for me to mention it. So I didn't. But it's just like searched on here. He used to be in like every episode.
I guess we've just broadened our horizons. Maybe. I don't know. I know all there is one mirror article. Jennifer Lopez isn't married to John Mayer yet, but she will be. They're. Just making a prediction. Hey, that'd be interesting. Yeah, I I could see it.
Yeah, oh, I totally could. Anyway, anyway, so interestingly for that film Jersey Girls, Ben was paid $10 million and Jen was only paid 4 million, which I think is kind of crazy cause even though he had an Oscar for writing, I feel like she was still kind of the bigger star. And then that same month, OK, so so much has happened. They begin filming a movie, they had a music video together, and then Jen accompanied Ben to Boston to meet his family for the first time.
And while there, Ben proposed. Oh my goodness. Like, she's meeting his family for the first. Wow, that's two months and they get engaged. It is. She's still married. Legally. She's still like. Calm down, people. He proposed with a $2.5 million engagement. What? I don't know. I guess that it could be a question for the audience, like how would you feel getting engaged to someone who was still legally married? That's a good question. I'd be really nervous. Me too. I don't know.
It's way too fast. Anyways, so about the proposal Jen gave Diane Sawyer all the juicy details and I have a clip. For you, is Diane Sawyer creepy in it? Not really. OK, this is the video you sent me. You know, took me back to his house, his, the house he grew up in. And it was really funny because I was like, you know, you know, I really want his family to like me and everything. And I had met them and, you know, we're all getting to know each other. So I wasn't sure.
I'm like, I don't know if they like me. He's like, you're crazy. I'm like, no, my family loves you. And I don't know, you know what I mean? And he's like, he's like, he's like, you're insane. So we go back and we're supposed to just basically spend the weekend with his family. And then when we got there and we go to walk into the house, we drive there. And he was like, a little nervous. But I didn't, I didn't know why.
And he kept calling and saying, you know, things like, you know, like, you know how much I love you and you know, how much I want to spend my life with, you know, all this stuff. And I'm like, yeah, look, it was a little bit too much during the day. And I was just like, what is going on, you know? And then finally we get to the house and we walk in, oh, that was nothing. He kept saying how to the house. It's going to be a mess. And they'll probably have pizza there for us.
And I'm like, stop it already. It's fine. It's enough. What are you explaining? Like you don't have to explain those things to me. I grew up just like you did. It's fine, you know? So we walk up to the the house and I see like, little candles up the stairs. And I'm like, oh, look how cute. His mom must have heard that I like candles or something from the tabloids, you know what I mean? So she put them up the stairs. And that's sweet.
And he opens the door and it is just a blanket, a quilt of rose petals all over the whole entire house and just everything was just so, so many candles and bosses with bouquets. And and my song GLAAD was playing and I walk in and I'm just like overwhelmed, like I wasn't expecting and I was just like, Oh my God. And then I kept thinking I was like, how did he do this? Because we were in Philadelphia working. And I was like, who did this? And he was like my mom, help me do it.
And I just start, Oh my God. I was like, Oh my God. And it was just the most it was the best day of my life. Did he know what you'd say? I'm sure, yeah. Well, it was funny because, you know, he had written this letter, which he says was really too long. He didn't realize how long until he started reading it and I was crying, you know, and he's reading it, reading it, telling me all the stuff that he wanted to tell me. As you know, I guess he proposed at the end.
He was, he just said, will you marry me? And I was just like, and he, he had the ring out. But I didn't want to look at the ring, 'cause I could tell it was pink. And I was just like, oh God, it can't be pink on top of it. I was just too much for me to handle. I was just like, Oh my God, I was like, can't. He was like, baby, look it. I was like, I can't, I can't, you know? And he was just like, look at it.
And I looked at the ring and I was like, Oh my God, it was just, it's the most magnificent thing. And he was like, you haven't answered me. I was like. OK, what I wanted to say about that clip, I don't know what you have to say. It seems very obvious publicity that she mentions her song. I'm glad being played during the proposal. It's. I thought that was odd that he would play that for their engagement. That's. So self absorbed. You know. But what? What else did you think about that?
Well, it just seemed like a lot. And she herself seemed overwhelmed and not entirely and I mean, she seemed happy. She seems happy in that clip, but I think she could have felt a little too overwhelmed. I am. Maybe I'm just guessing here, but it just seemed like a lot. And her reaction, her way of telling it was kind of like she couldn't even look at the ring. Like, I don't know it it just, I think it seemed like too much, too soon maybe.
A lot. It is intense too, and I feel like if you've had two divorces with marriages that have been like a year or less, I feel like you would be a little. Bit more careful not to like rush into another engagement after only a few months of knowing somebody. It's really romantic on his part and it does sound really thoughtful and beautiful and how he wrote pages like I think in a different situation I would think, Oh my gosh, that's
amazing. But I am also wondering like what is he going through his head like? You know she's not even legally divorced yet. Why is he washing into this? Like what is happening? I know. How do you even know each other well enough to write pages and pages? Yeah, I don't know. I guess you could I I guess I can kind of get it, but. Some people really dive right in, like All in all or nothing, but I feel like that usually burns out super quickly, that approach.
Yeah, because you definitely have a lot of built up ideas about what this is and what it's going to be. And it yeah, it's it's extra crushing when something that exciting and passionate doesn't turn out to be what you thought, you know, it's I think it's better to enter like a little bit, a little bit flow. Like, it's nice to be excited, but don't be like that crazy. Oh my God. But OK like I said, November big month. Like they start shooting a movie, they get engaged.
She does this whole Diane Sawyer interview. Remember, they had a music video together and now she has an album drop. The same. Month. Like that's what they saw. Like Ariana Grande. Yeah, and like, like, I said, like, she's mentioned, like how her song, I'm Glad was playing. That's a song on her new album. That's all kind of makes you think. And this new album, it did drop at #1. So it's like, wow, is the hype about their relationship helping. Of course it is, you know? Yeah, definitely.
And the album, no question. And the album includes a song called Dear Ben. That is so similar. Isn't. It Rihanna. What? I know, 'cause it's weird. Who knows if it was even really written when they were together. Originally it was titled Perfect. It's a very sexy song. I'll read you something. Yeah, it's just changed the title exactly because other than that, it's pretty generic, she says. I just can't control myself. I can't be with no one else.
It seems I'm addicted to the way you like to touch me. I don't think they can understand why I love you. At your command. From the words you speak so deep. Our bodies. Me. I have to have you. I love you. You're perfect and manifestation of my dreams. You make my body feel about a million different things. Yeah, that could be about anybody. Exactly. Then it's Marge, and Ben was interviewed by Vanity Fair and he opened up about the relationship.
He said. Jennifer is a really wonderful, fabulous woman, smart and interesting. Spending time with her makes me a better person and a happier person. She impresses me every day. It feels better to be. It feels better to be. It feels better to me to be with her than without her. Yeah, no shit should if you're engaged. I would hope so. Yeah, he also added. Jenna and I want to get married for the reason everyone else does. We fell in love.
I'm in love. I want to have a family and she's the only person I've ever met who made me entertain the thought of doing that and about the public's obsession. He said he didn't really understand it, but added 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 says it because it's not politically correct. That's funny. I feel like that's changed so much now.
I know. I feel like that definitely could be a big part of it. But I did think that that was a sweet thing in that clip when she said he was acting like he was embarrassed by his house or something. That would be messy. And she said, like, I grew up the same as you. I didn't think that was sweet.
Yeah, I mean they they both grew up with a school teacher, Mom, I mean, and Ben. Ben, I guess his dad was like out of the picture, but I think his mom was very hands on and I feel like they actually have kind of similar upbringings. So that's that's nice. Yeah. Even though they both seem really indulgent in, Oh yeah, glitz and glamour and everything, it seems like they still appreciate that they both understand growing up, you know, more working class and normal. So that's cool.
That's so true. Yeah, they both do, I think have a lot of pride for where they came from, which is sweet. That's true. They definitely do. He these days especially, is really Hemming it up with the Boston stuff. Yeah, it's so funny, 'cause it's like, how often is he even in Massachusetts? He's like so heavy on Boston. But he lives in LA, Yeah. What? He also addressed how the media
betrays her as overly sexed. And given her past two marriages, they kind of, you know, I mean, I I'm, I'm doing it too. Like, OK, Like she needs to slow it down. But he said Jen has had fewer boyfriends than the average high school junior. Which, first of all, no, she hasn't The average, the average high school junior has had zero to 1. Like maybe two, maybe 2. Even if the average junior has had a couple of relationships, they weren't like meaningful or.
Yeah, that's so different. Yeah, she's had marriages, marriages. I think she's more experienced than a 16 year old. Lisa juniors out of this. Yeah, she says. She's had a much simpler, more easily explainable, more clean romantic history than I have. She can tell the whole story in 15 minutes, whereas I always preface the whole story with it was complicated. There's a kind of language that's used about her, the spicy Latina, the temptatious diva. She's a deeply misunderstood
woman in my opinion. Well, I like that he's sticking up for her. Me too. I think that's nice. I do think she is very monogamous. When she's in, she's all in, so. That's good. But I don't necessarily think the same applies for him. I think I see what he's saying about it was complicated, like I don't know how much of A committed partner he has. I don't think he's a good track
record for that. So then the two began the press tour for their film Geely, which included very flirty joint interviews where they mostly talked about their relationship more than the actual movie, and they gushed a lot about each other. They had a lot of, like, banter, especially about if they were going to raise their children as Red Sox fans or Yankees fans, you know, given that rivalry.
Jen also said that she was planning to take Ben's last name and they did a very romantic joint interview on Dateline together that aired. However, hours later it was reported that Ben was seen partying at a Vancouver strip club with Christian Slater and Tara Reid after a day of shooting their film Paycheck together. Oh. My gosh. And Jennifer's spokesperson said that she was aware that he was going to a strip club and that she had no problem with it.
This recently came up with my boyfriend, 'cause he was going on a bachelor trip. He was like talking about before on bachelor trips. They would like go to strip clubs and I was like, I am fine with him going, but I was like no lap dances, you cannot touch them whatsoever, yeah. I mean, I believe that she knew and was OK with it. Me too. But I don't know if she was OK with him going to a backroom with four of the dancers to a private booth. You just saved this piece of
information. And then, according to witnesses, reportedly having a sexual encounter in performing sexual acts with one of the dancers. What? What about all the roses and the candles? I know. And then the next day there are reports that Jennifer is seen without her engagement ring. Not good. Trouble in paradise. So then August, more trouble. There's film. Geely comes out and it is met with terrible reviews. Absolutely terrible. This is like a historically bad film.
It received a 6% score on Rotten Tomatoes and it was criticized for the clumsy plot, the disorganization, and the lack of on screen chemistry between Ben and Jennifer. Crazy film critic Richard Roper said that the film was a disaster and declared it one of the worst films he had ever seen in his whole life. Now I'm. Curious. I know. Me too. And to this day, it's actually considered one of the most embarrassing flops of all time.
The film had a budget of $75 million and it only grossed a little bit more than $3,000,000 in its opening week opening at #8 at the box office. Just crazy because these two are like the hottest couple in the second week. The studio decided it was a lost cause and pulled all ads for the movie. And then it broke the record for the largest second week drop in history with the 81.9% reduction in ticket sales. I don't know. I that pains me. I hate to hear flop stories like that. Failure.
Story and the third week, only 73 theaters in the whole world were still showing the film, and by the 4th week it was already withdrawn from theaters, which was like the fastest like run for a movie of that high of a budget. Wow. Felt like a roller coaster. It's awful. It's like in the film cost. Sony Pictures $42 million that quarter. Wow. And lost revenue. This is such a roller coaster. They were up, up on such a high and then I know now we're down. Yeah, we're really down.
Jen described this at the as the lowest time in her whole life. Oh my gosh, that they were both incredibly humiliated. OK, what? I know. That's not that low. I kind of feel like the flop was a turning point for them as a couple and their public image because they were so overexposed and I think people were starting to get very annoyed with them. I can understand that. Yeah, and I think that affected their relationship. We said they're very self absorbed.
I think if people stopped liking them, they stopped liking themselves. Yeah, they might start looking at the other and thinking, you know, this isn't working. People don't like me with you exactly. Maybe I don't want to be with you anymore. They're not willing to risk it all for each other. And I honestly think that, like, that is why they're together now. I mean, I haven't covered them in the future yet, but I feel like they're together to like, reignite their careers. I think so too.
Or at least the feelings that they had back then when they were rising. Exactly. So in September, they had announced that they were postponing their wedding, which was supposed to take place that month. Uh oh, in Santa Barbara. Apparently, all 400 invited guests received a phone call four days before the wedding that they were they were basically told not to show up. Four days before Wow. Yeah, I mean, that's like. They probably already had
hotels, would it? Yeah. I mean, I think there's a lot of thing though. A lot of flights were booked. Yeah. Yeah, I imagine cancelling a wedding is like, the biggest Oh my God. It must be so stressful, but I think if anyone is thinking about cancelling their wedding, you should just do it because you don't want to get married. Just because I feel like that happens. People say no, but everybody's already coming. And all these plans, I don't have to do it. Don't do it. I know.
I Oh my gosh, I imagine that's so tough. But yeah, I think it's worse to get divorced like only a few months later, and then to have had this memory of getting married. They released a statement to PEOPLE. They said due to the excessive media attention surrounding our wedding, we have decided to postpone the date. When we found ourselves seriously contemplating hiring 3 separate decoy brides at three different locations, we realized that something was awry.
We began to feel the spirit of what should have been the happiest days of our lives could be compromised. We felt that we should have. What should We felt that what should have been a joyful and sacred day could be spoiled for us, our families and our friends? I don't know if this is cynical of me, but I don't believe that. I don't believe it either, and a lot of people didn't like. It's a good excuse, but I don't know. Cancel. It, yeah, I don't know.
It's it reminds me of Megan and Harry when they were saying that the paparazzi were chasing us all over the city. Yeah. And then paparazzi were like, no, we weren't. And there was no evidence of that. And to me, it sounds like they're trying to make it sound like people are so obsessed with them. That's the reason why they cancelled it. I know. So, like tabloids begin speculating why they cancelled.
Apparently there were rumors that the couple got an argument on that Monday before, which was apparently two days after Ben had been seen at the at a casino in California, where he reportedly spent the whole evening at a $10,000 minimum table playing poker minimum. So you're at the bet that existed. I know. Me neither. You're to bet a minimum of $10,000. Oh my gosh and.
Apparently he walked away empty handed and lost a lot of money, leading people to speculate that he had a gambling problem. I. Know, I know. This is crazy. Maybe that was like his bachelor party or something. But there were also rumors that Ben's mom had urged him to call off the wedding so that he won't have to live under the constant media scrutiny.
Weeks later, paparazzi snapped photos of Ben and Jennifer holding hands entering a Georgia courthouse, which led people to think that maybe they were getting married after all. However, they reportedly were there for Ben to obtain a gun license to go hunting. How disappointing is that? You think you're going to get a marriage license with a man and then they go and get a gun license instead? Not as romantic as I thought. No. OK, this is getting a little crazy for me.
Strip club poker, betting $10,000, getting a gun. What is happening? Yeah. What happened to the flowers? What happened to the letters? Like this is too much? And over the next few months there's a lot of confusion whether they're still together
or not. And then in January, there are rumors that Bennifer is over when Ben attends the Sundance in European premieres of his film Paycheck Without Jennifer, and that she was seen partying in Miami with her ex, P Diddy without her engagement ring on. That's kind of crazy. I know and seems that rumors are true because Jennifer's Rep confirms to people that they've broken up saying Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck.
At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy. Wow, it seems telling that they did not release a joint statement. That's true. And it's very brief too. I am so struck by how similar this is to Ariana and Pete Davidson. I mean, it's not the exact same story, obviously, but even just like the unhinged behavior, it's. Yeah, wow. It seems like they were trying to copy them like it. It does seem deliberate.
Sources close to the couple told people that Ben wasn't ready to settle down and that Jennifer was unhappy about his partying ways and his wandering eye. Oh yeah, And that she was afraid of walking down the aisle to yet another divorce. Yeah. I. Probably. I mean, he doesn't seem very promising. He's not giving husband material. No, no. Then in March, their film Jersey Girl came out, which received
pretty negative reviews. And it was not a big commercial success, which was just a part of a series of very poorly claimed, acclaimed movies for Ben in what was somewhat of a downturn. So I feel like him dating Jlo and all that overexposure led to, like, people not liking Ben. And then he has all these, like, bad movies suddenly. Yep, only six months later, after their breakup, Jennifer Marries singer Marc Anthony. What, six months later? Yes. Isn't this like 6 months?
Not just she starts dating again six months later, or she gets engaged six months later. She is fully married six months later. That is insane. Yeah, I don't even know how that, like, human being is possible. And also you're so busy working like how do you have the? Time. It's like some celebrities act like the life expectancy is like still 40 or something. Chill out. Take it slow, but I will say at least her and Marie Anthony were married for like a while. And.
And that's where I'm gonna leave it. I do plan to cover their relationship as it is now in the future, but I do want to cover their relationships in between that before I get to that time for context. So that's fun. Yeah. So, and I do. I want to say that I plan to make Part 2. That will be a free episode as well, but it will come out some point in the future. It's not the next episode. Nice. That's going to be so cool to do their relationships in between And then Part 2. Wow.
Oh my gosh. Odds that they'll get back together. I feel like at the time I would have said low, oh like 10%. But they do get back together. Wow. See, anything can happen. I know. For real. Oh my gosh. Well. So this isn't going to be Part 2 isn't going to be next week, but do you want to tease next week's episode? Yeah, next week is about two musicians who were very famous for collaborating together and they had a pretty shocking break up I think. And yeah.
All right. Two musicians, 2 musicians. I. This is like 20 tens, twenty 10s. OK. Same industry of music. OK, Like same genre. Yeah. Oh yeah. We'll be teasing it. You guys can share your guesses. And thanks, Mel. That was really fun. Crazy. I thought that was going to be like 2 hours. I can't believe it wasn't. Thank you guys. Don't want to end it. Yeah. Thank you guys so much and we'll get back together next week. Bye. Is your heart filled with pain? Shall I come back again?
Ten meeting.