Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez ended their marriage two months ago, and while Lopez has spoken publicly a few times since the separation, Affleck had remained silent until recently.
Now, the 52-year-old actor has addressed the situation, describing the end of his marriage to Lopez as ’embarrassing’ after their two-year union.
In August, Lopez filed for divorce in the Los Angeles County Superior Court, citing ‘irreconcilable differences’. Reports soon followed that Affleck had missed the 55-year-old singer’s star-studded birthday celebration.
During an interview with GQ, Affleck was questioned about their breakup while discussing a documentary they both appear in, titled “The Greatest Love Story Never Told.”
When asked about his last conversation with Lopez, Affleck commented, “Well, on the one hand there’s the first feeling, which is like, well, I hope I was clear about, when you asked me about Jen and the documentary and I talked about that and my sort of personal life a little bit, which I don’t mind doing as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated, which I hope I was clear that really this is somebody I have a lot of respect for.”
Affleck elaborated, “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.”
He clarified, “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.”
Expanding on his feelings about the breakup, Affleck remarked, “I guess there’s a tendency to look at break-ups 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.”
Affleck later expressed feeling ’embarrassed’ by the situation.
“Yeah, 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’,” he explained.
“It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do. And as you get older, this is true for me, I assume it’s true for most people, there is no ‘So-and-so did this’ or ‘This was the big event’.”
“It’s really, it sounds more like a couple’s therapy session, which—you would tune out of someone else’s couple’s therapy after a while.”
He further added, “For one thing, you start going, ‘Okay, clearly this person has got these issues. Clearly they have these issues’, and the reason I don’t want to share that, is just sort of embarrassing. It feels vulnerable.”