Ben Affleck had heartbreaking reaction after 'private' letters to Jennifer Lopez were used in her film without permission

It sounds as though cracks were starting to show in Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's marriage long before the musician filed for divorce in April of this year.

In fact, according to J.Lo's documentary This Is Me... Now: A Love Story - which was released in February - Ben was far from on-board with the deep-dive into their rekindled romance, and was subsequently blindsided when his wife shared some of the letters he'd written to her with both her management team and viewers.

For those out of the loop with their rocky romance, 'Bennifer' - as they were nicknamed by fans following their initial noughties romance - rekindled things back in 2022, after almost two decades apart.

They officiated their love with a star-studded Las Vegas wedding, and shacked up together with their two families in a colossal Los Angeles mansion.

Sadly, however, speculation of a split began plaguing headlines earlier this year following a series of solo appearances made by the pair, and in August, it was revealed that they'd called time on their love.

It was later understood that Jennifer filed for divorce back in April - citing 'irreconcilable differences' - and that she and her teen twin children had left their family's shared property.

Now, almost four months after their split first hit headlines, fans rewatching the couple's documentary are gaining somewhat of an insight in what could have distanced Ben and Jennifer.

The couple first dated in the noughties

The three-part series was advertised as a look into their love story, following on from her 2002 album This Is Me... Then, and during one section of the programme, a stack of letters that the Gone Girl actor once wrote to J.Lo were brought up.

"Twenty years, I ago I fell in love with the love of my life and during that time I was making an album called This Is Me...Then," Lopez told a crowd in the documentary.

"I hadn’t made an album since then. Eighteen years later, we got back together and I was very inspired."

The documentary heard Jennifer revealing that she previously gave Ben's letters to her team of songwriters to dig through as a means of serving up some inspiration.

"It is every letter and every email that we wrote to each other from 20 years ago to today," Jennifer explained.

But by the look of things, however, Ben was deeply uncomfortable with this revelation.

Prior to the doc's release, Variety told press that he'd been 'taken aback' to see his private notes strewn about the place.

And on the show, he admitted he was shocked to know what had become of his notes.

The couple got married in 2022 before splitting this year (Lionel Hahn/WireImage)

"I was like, 'You’ve been showing all the musicians all these letters?'" he says in the doc. "And they were like, 'Yeah, we call you Pen Affleck.’

"And I was like, 'Oh my God'."

Elsewhere, the father-of-three - who shares two daughters and a son with ex-wife Jennifer Garner - added: "I did really find the beauty and the poetry and the irony in the fact that it’s the greatest love story never told.

"If you’re making a record about it, that seems kind of like telling it."

Ben, 52, also reiterates his sentiments later on in the documentary, claiming he never expected that getting back together with Jennifer would see their love life become the theme of an entire programme.

"Things that are private I always felt are sacred and special because, in part, they’re private," he claimed. "So this was something of an adjustment for me."