Ever the performer, Jennifer Lopez staged a multi-day 55th birthday celebration in the Hamptons this past weekend, which might outdo her recent efforts to turn her reportedly troubled, two-year marriage to Ben Affleck into a documentary spectacle with the self-aggrandizing title, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.”
Over the past few days, Lopez’s fans have been treated to “thirst-trap” photos of her in a swimsuit, possibly choreographed paparazzi images of her attending an “intimate” lunch with family and close friends and a stylishly produced video montage, showing off her over-the-top “Bridgerton”-themed party. In the video, guests dressed for an Instagrammable, Regency-era ball, while an orchestra played music for courtly dances and Lopez sat on a throne, holding court as her own version of Queen Charlotte.
Notably, Affleck has not featured in Lopez’s birthday extravaganza, which has led to ever more speculation that the Hollywood super couple are soon headed for a divorce. The actor and director was seen back in Los Angeles on Sunday, going to his office, as the serious Hollywood filmmaker that he is.
But, of course, anyone who has charted the apparent downfall of this “greatest love story” knows that Affleck usually looked miserable when he joined his singer/actor/influencer wife in the spotlight.
The “Argo” director definitely would have worn a stone-faced expression, while following Lopez into her birthday lunch at a popular Bridgehampton Italian eatery on Sunday. And, Affleck probably would have scowled or tried to avoid the cameras if he had to don an 19th-century cravat, waistcoat and tails to stand beside her at her “Bridgerton” party.
One of the theories about the breakup of the Lopez and Affleck marriage is that he just wasn’t fun, or that he didn’t share in her kind of fun. The Oscar winner, who once admitted to being “a little bit shy,” certainly didn’t appear to like being the center of attention on the Hollywood red carpets or at big awards events like the 2023 Grammys, when he spent the evening looking bored, exhausted or unhappy. Affleck acknowledged in her documentary that he “didn’t want a relationship on social media” after they rekindled their romance in 2021, nearly 20s years after they dated in the early 2000s.
“Ben is a great guy but he can be grumpy and a downer,” one of Lopez’s friends told the Daily Mail in June. “I think the world saw that in photos like when they were at the Grammys last year; he wouldn’t smile. If they saw how it really was, they would not attack her.”
“He chain smokes and cusses and seems irritated a lot of the time,” the friend said. “Great director and actor, but not a lot of laughs with him, you know?”
A music industry source also told the Daily Mail in June that the pop star had reached her “wit’s end” and realized there’s nothing more she can do to save the marriage. “Jenny has had enough and she really tried but she can do no more, it’s not getting any better, it’s worse,” the source said.
In another version of the breakup, Affleck was the one pressing for divorce, and he’s so relieved to be getting out the marriage that he might plan “a big blowout” of his own at his estate in Georgia, In Touch Weekly reported. But In Touch also reported that this location would “ironic,” considering that this is where he and Lopez hosted their lavish wedding ceremony and reception in August 2022, after first eloping to Las Vegas.
“If there was a way to divorce on grounds of temporary insanity, he would,” an insider also told Page Six in May, soon after news first broke that the marriage was in trouble and Affleck had moved out of the couple’s Beverly Hills mansion. “He feels like the last two years was just a fever dream, and he’s come to his senses now and understands there is just no way this is going to work.”
The actor has famously battled alcohol addiction and survived professional setbacks and his high-profile 2018 divorce from first wife Jennifer Lopez. Despite his marital woes with Lopez, he was said to finally in “healthy place,” In Touch reported in June. He’s sober, a source told In Touch, and he has been telling friends that “he’s looking forward to the next chapte.” The source also said, “He wants a life with serenity and peace, and escaping this roller coaster will be a relief.”
Earlier this month, Lopez and Affleck spent the second anniversary of their 2022 Las Vegas wedding on opposite coasts. Lopez has been in the Hamptons, while Affleck has been in Los Angeles. The couple also have put their massive Beverly Hills mansion on the market for “a whopping $68 million,” the Daily Mail said.
Back in May, it was reported that Affleck had moved out of the mansion and was living in a $100,000-per-month rental home in Brentwood, near the home of his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, and their three children.
But Page Six subsequently reported that Lopez and Affleck actually broke up in March, but kept the split under wraps so as to not distract from the release of her new album, “This is Me … Now,” along with her complementary films, “The Greatest Love Story Never Told” and “This is Me … Now” concert tour.
Given all of Lopez’s setbacks the past year, her fans were delighted to see her celebrate her birthday in such an extravagant way, by making herself the star of a “Bridgerton”-style fantasy. For the event, she wore an elaborate blue ballgown with little bulbs in it that light up. One of her 251 million Instagram followers gushed about the video montage she posted of the party, writing, “‘Queen JLo’s Bridgerton-themed birthday soirée was clearly the social event of the season!”
Lopez capped off her multi-day celebration by going on Instagram Wednesday to share a morning-after photo of herself, sans makeup and dressed in pajamas and standing near some left-over birthday cake. She wrote a lengthy message, thanking her fans for all the birthday wishes “from all over the world.”
“I really do have the best, most amazing fans in the world,” Lopez gushed. “I could never express how moved I am or how incredibly blessed I feel to have all of you be a part of my life. Thank you sooooo very much.”
