Given their relationships to the media, many people assumed that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez divorced because she wanted to be bejeweled and he didn’t. And while that characterization of their attitudes may be true, it wasn’t what led to the split, says Affleck. In fact, it wasn’t anything remotely dramatic.
“There are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer [Lopez] among them. My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers,” Affleck reflected in a new profile in GQ, touching on the documentary Lopez made about their relationship. It’s not, he says, the Rosetta Stone of their divorce. “I think it’s important to say that [the spotlight] wasn’t the cause of some major fracture. It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.’”
“There’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue. The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no: ‘This is what happened’ It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do,” Affleck revealed, hinting that while there were specific underlying issues, “the reason I don’t want to share that is just sort of embarrassing. It feels vulnerable.” Fair.
The Oscar winner insists that things are still pretty peaceful. “This is somebody I have a lot of respect for. And I get wanting to divine or explore the kind of differences in perspective that we have in terms of how a person feels comfortable approaching the line between public and private life. But I really hope that whatever you use doesn’t suggest that I have any negativity or judgment or anything regarding that. I have nothing but respect. I guess there’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly, like I said, the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting.”
Frankly? We believe him. Not about the drama-free part, necessarily, but about the spotlight not being the thing that broke Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez up. Because when it comes to wanting to be private, Ben doth protest just a little bit too much. Sir, you’re on the cover of GQ…
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