Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck: A timeline of their love story

J.Lo is no stranger to mixing business with pleasure. The Boricua star and the Hollywood actor discovered their chemistry on and off the set of their gangster movie, Gigli, back in 2001. The movie ended up being a flop, but the couple known as Bennifer was born.

For months after going public with their romance, Bennifer were spotted everywhere together, including baseball games. They represented opposing teams with Ben being a known Red Sox fan and J.Lo being all about the New York Yankees.

Jen hired her beau to star in her music video for the 2002 hit, "Jenny From the Block." The celebrity couple was filmed getting frisky on a yacht and making out while getting stalked by paparazzi. Their relationship was always very public.

Ben popped the question in November 2002 with a lavish 6-carat pink Harry Winston diamond worth $1.2 million. "It was very, very beautiful," J.Lo told Diane Sawyer of the engagement ring. "Traditional, but also in a very spectacular way, as of course Ben would do it."

Jennifer was preparing for her third walk down the aisle with Ben, which was set for September 2003 in Santa Barbara, California. But the couple postponed the wedding due to "excessive media attention" just four days before the big day.

Bennifer may have looked picture perfect, but their different personalities started to cause tension in the relationship. "They're different," a close friend told People. While she was known for being clean and rarely drinking alcohol, Ben was known for liking to drink and gamble.

Jen and Ben finally decided to call it quits in January 2004. A source close to the couple revealed in an interview, "The relationship was a slow death … it was a long goodbye." Ouch! They both later expressed regrets about it.

In 2012, Ben shared his uncensored thoughts about those Bennifer days, which he referred to as "ancient history." The actor moved on and married Jennifer Garner, and J.Lo did the same with Marc Anthony. Part of what bothered Ben about Bennifer was the media attention. He said, "I just said, I don't want to do it anymore. This is horrible. I don't want to be in this spotlight, this glare, in this way."

In her book True Love, Jen wrote, “Ben and I split up at the moment when I thought we were committing to each other forever, it was my first real heartbreak, it felt like my heart had been torn out of my chest."

Reportedly, J.Lo and Ben remained in close contact via email over the years. "They were pretty flirty at the Oscars and have stayed in touch over email. Jennifer Garner never liked it, "a source told The Sun. Rumor has it that this caused friction in the marriage between Ben and Jennifer Garner.

During the first half of 2021, both Jennifer and Ben found themselves single at the same time. Before long, eagle-eyed paparazzi spotted Ben going to and from J.Lo's Los Angeles home on multiple occasions, sparking rumors that they may be reuniting.

And then news broke that the two traveled to Montana for a nearly weeklong getaway together. They were photographed riding in a car together near the Big Sky Resort and again disembarking a private jet in Los Angeles on their return. Basically everyone was convinced Bennifer was back on, and we were only waiting on J.Lo to confirm the public's suspicions.

Jennifer is based in Miami, and Ben is in LA. That means that in order to see each other as much as they've seen each other, they've had to travel back and forth a lot. "They will travel back and forth as much as they can to make things work," a source told People. "They don't want to hide anymore. They are both excited about their relationship. They want to make sure they do everything they can to make this work. Jennifer is incredibly happy. She feels like she can just be herself around Ben."

In May 2021, pictures of the two in a rented mansion in Miami, Florida, made the rounds. The two certainly looked like they were spending some time together as a couple. Jennifer was beaming and looked so happy that it was hard to believe she had recently broken up with someone—ahem, A-Rod.

In early June, Jen toured some schools in Los Angeles. This got everyone thinking that she was planning on moving herself and her twins, Emme and Max, from Miami to Los Angeles. That led to a lot of assumptions that perhaps Jen and Ben would be moving in together.

And it's not just Jen's company that Ben enjoys. He also likes spending time with her family. He was even seen hanging out with Guadalupe Rodríguez, Jen's mom, in Las Vegas. Of course, the two already knew each other from days of Bennifer past.

Shortly after Ben and Guadalupe were spotted in Vegas together, Jen and her kids took a private jet to LA. She didn't say she was there to see Ben, but check out the plaid shirt she was wearing while getting off the plane, and then wait for it…

Fans noticed that Jen seemed to be wearing Ben's shirt when she got off the plane. Ben wasn't with her, so one might assume that he had left that shirt at her place. Or maybe they were just playing a game of who wore it better? They both look great in it.

Apparently, they threw caution to the wind and decided that they just had to kiss out in public where they could be seen. As far as we know, most "friends" don't kiss like that, so it became pretty irrefutable that Jen and Ben were doing the whole Bennifer thing again.

Both Ben and Jen are parents who are very involved in their children's lives, and Ben seemed more than happy to get to know Jen's twins and spend time with them. Jen also bonded with Ben's kids.

For the Fourth of July, the two stars spent time in the Hamptons. Jennifer's twins were there as well, but that didn't stop Ben and Jen from going out for a stroll together wrapped in each other's arms and wearing coordinating outfits.

Leah Remini and Jennifer Lopez are longtime friends and super close. Leah turned 51 on June 15, 2021, and about a week later, she shared a lovely video of her birthday celebration. In it we see that Jen attended with Ben.

Honestly, it was already super clear that Jen and Ben were romantically involved, but neither one of them had officially come out and said, "We're baaack!" That is, until Jennifer posted a series of photos on Instagram of her French Riviera birthday vacation, and one of the photos was of her and Ben locking lips. And you know how it goes, once it's on the gram, then it's official. So July 24, 2021, wasn't only Jennifer's 52nd birthday, it was also the day that Jennifer let the world know that she and Ben are BACK big time.

Jaws dropped during Ben and Jen's first red carpet appearance together since reigniting their romance. They looked absolutely stunning on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in Italy back in September 2021. They oozed glamour!

Not long after the Venice Film Festival, Ben and Jen attended the 2021 Met Gala together. Jen took the spotlight in her Western-inspired ensemble, and Ben let her shine, himself wearing a subdued but classic tuxedo. The two caught the attention of cameras when they shared a masked kiss.

While they reportedly started their Halloween 2021 trick-or-treating adventures separately, Ben and Jen, along with her twins, Max and Emme, eventually met up with Ben's ex-wife Jennifer Garner and their kids, Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel. Ben had spent the earlier part of the day with Jen G. and the kids and was able to be a part of everyone's festivities. They are really making it work!

When the media frenzy surrounding Jen and Ben getting back together calmed down a bit, they opened up about their rekindled romance. "I feel so lucky and happy and proud to be with him," Jennifer told People. "It's a beautiful love story that we got a second chance," she said, noting that they were being more protective of their relationship the second time around. "I just feel very happy and lucky to be in a relationship that's happy and loving, and I want to do everything I can to protect that and keep it safe. It deserves that, it really does. We hold it sacred," she explained.

Nearly a year after the first rumors of their rekindled romance began to surface, J.Lo announced that she and Ben are once again engaged! Ben popped the question while the couple was enjoying a quiet night at home. Jen was in her favorite place—a bubble bath—and Ben proposed with a massive and reportedly rare, green diamond ring.

On Sunday, July 17, 2022, Jennifer confirmed via her newsletter that she and Ben tied the knot in a small Las Vegas ceremony. "We did it," the newlywed wrote. "Love is beautiful. Love is kind. And it turns out love is patient. Twenty years patient."

"They were right when they said, 'all you need is love,'" she wrote in her newsletter. "We are so grateful to have that in abundance, a new wonderful family of five amazing children and a life that we have never had more reason to look forward to. Stick around long enough and maybe you’ll find the best moment of your life in a drive-through in Las Vegas at 12:30 in the morning in the Tunnel of Love drive-through, with your kids and the one you’ll spend forever with." And she signed the letter: "Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck." And, yes, she legally changed her last name to Affleck. Congratulations to the beautiful couple!

They got married again on August 20, 2022, but this time on Ben Affleck’s Georgia estate. This time around, they celebrated their union and love while surrounded by family and friends. Both wore custom Ralph Lauren and looked stunning. Jennifer, who is a pro at costume changes, wore three Ralph Lauren gowns in one night!

Anonymous sources came forward saying things like, "Jen can't handle that Ben still smokes" or that "Ben can't deal with how much Jen works." At one point, Ben was photographed with his left hand in his pocket and it was speculated that he was hiding it because he was no longer wearing his wedding ring.

Jennifer spoke to Vogue for the December 2022 issue, and although she didn't address any rumors about their being discord in her marriage, she did gush about her husband. “People in my life know that he was a very, very special person in my life. When we reconnected, those feelings for me were still very real,” she shared.

Ben didn't go to the Met Gala with Jen in May, even though she was a cochair of the event. He didn't join her on vacation in Europe or the Hamptons over the summer. Instead, he moved out of their marital home and they put it up for sale.

July 16, their second wedding anniversary, came and went without nary a mention from either one of them. They didn't even spend it together. Jen spent it in the Hamptons in New York, and Ben was in Los Angeles.

On the second anniversary of their extravagant Georgia wedding, Jen filed divorce papers in Los Angeles. There is no way that she wasn't aware of the significance of the date. She spent their formerly special day filing papers to end their marriage. OUCH!