Ben Affleck has made a rare comment about Jennifer Lopez as he praised her for her relationship with his children.
The 52-year-old Good Will Hunting star and the 55-year-old 'Papi' singer parted ways after just two years of marriage with the official date of their separation reportedly being noted as 26 April, 2024.
Nearly a year later and, on Wednesday (16 April), Affleck attended his red carpet premiere of The Accountant 2 in Los Angeles where he opened up about his thoughts on Lopez.
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Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, the Hollywood A-lister explained that his three children - Samuel, 13, Seraphina, 16, and Violet, 19 - whom he shares with ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, were at the premiere along with Lopez's two kids; twins Emme and Max, 17, who she shares with her ex-husband, Marc Anthony.
"The kids are here, Jen’s kids are here. I’m very, very excited," Affleck said on the red carpet. "I love when all the kids come out."
He then explained that he and Lopez are still on good terms despite their divorce, noting: "I don’t read the stuff online much, and sometimes I get the sense that people perpetuate the idea of… they wanna find something negative to talk about.
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"For the record, Jennifer Lopez is spectacular, great to my kids, great ongoing relationship with them. I love her kids. They’re wonderful. She’s [an] enormously important, tremendous person of a lot of integrity who I adore and am grateful to."
Affleck added that he was 'thrilled' all the kids were here with him at the premiere, beaming: "The relationships that you can have with children like that, it’s the joy of my life. And those kids are amazing, and I’m glad that this is a movie they want to come to."
And, when the Entertainment Tonight reporter praised the Academy Award-winner for being 'a really good dad', Affleck humbly responded: "I try my best."
Affleck previously assured fans in an interview with GQ published last month (25 March) there was 'no scandal' when it came to his and Lopez's split.
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"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 added that this has been 'true' for him as he's got older, adding: "I assume it’s true for most people, there is no 'so-and-so did this' or 'this was the big event'.
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"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. For one thing, you start going, 'OK, 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."
Elsewhere in the chat, the father-of-three divulged: "I don’t mind [talking about my personal life] 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."
Echoing the fact that he has 'nothing but respect' for Lopez, Affleck resolved: "I guess there’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something.
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"But honestly, like I said, the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting."
Topics: Ben Affleck, Celebrity, Sex and Relationships, Jennifer Lopez, Parenting
Rhiannon Ingle