Ben Affleck Just Recalled His 1st Impression of Ex Jennifer Lopez & It’s So Sweet

Bennifer was one of the most famous couples in the 2000s, so it’s understandable why people want to know if Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are still friends. Well, we’re here to reveal that not only are Bennifer still on good terms, but they have nothing bad to say about their relationship.

For InStyle‘s May 2021 issue, Affleck talked about what he remembers from his relationship with Lopez and what it’s been like to see her “getting the credit she deserves” after all these years. “I thought I had a good work ethic, but I was completely humbled and blown away by what she was committed to doing day in and day out, the seriousness in which she took her work, the quiet and dedicated way she went about accomplishing her goals, and then how she would go back and redouble her efforts,” he said.

He continued, “She remains, to this day, the hardest-working person I’ve come across in this business. She has great talent, but she has also worked very hard for her success, and I’m so happy for her that she seems, at long last, to be getting the credit she deserves.”

Affleck and Lopez, who starred together in 2003’s Gigli and 2004’s Jersey Girl, dated from 2000 to 2004. The two got engaged in 2002 before ending their relationship a couple years later. Affleck also starred in the music video for Lopez’s 2002 song, “Jenny From the Block.”

Source: Instagram

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter in January 2021, Affleck recalled the sexism and racism that Lopez experienced while they were together. “People were so fucking mean about her—sexist, racist. Ugly, vicious shit was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now you would literally be fired for saying those things you said,” Affleck said. “Now it’s like, she’s lionized and respected for the work she did, where she came from, what she accomplished—as well she fucking should be! I would say you have a better shot, coming from the Bronx, of ending up as like [Justice Sonia] Sotomayor on the Supreme Court than you do of having Jennifer Lopez’s career and being who she is at 50 years old today.”

He also recalled what it was like to be a tabloid sensation in the early 2000s. “You know, there’s always a story of the month, and me dating Jennifer Lopez happened to be that tabloid story at the time when that business grew exponentially,” he said. “Still, to this day, [some] will go, ‘I see you out there in the paparazzi and the pictures!’ It’s like, ‘Yes, I left my house and took out the trash. It’s not like I’m trying to—’ And it’s still like, ‘You were taking a pap walk!'” he added. “As if, if you leave your house, you’re only doing so in the hope that you could be so lucky that you could end up as the sixth item in The Daily Mail. It’s absurd!”

Affleck wasn’t the only ex of Lopez’s to talk to InStyle. Lopez’s ex-husband, Marc Anthony, also told the magazine about what he remembers about their marriage. Lopez and Anthony—who share 13-year-old twins Emme and Maximilian—was married to Anthony from 2004 to 2014. “The thing about Jennifer is her ability to see and understand things before they happen. Before she even brings an idea up, she has visualized it a thousand times,” Anthony told InStyle.

He continued, “And if anyone says it might not be the greatest idea, she’ll say, ‘You just don’t see it yet.’  Nine times out of 10, she’ll nail it. She’s the first one in the room and the last to leave. The hardest worker I’ve ever met. When we were together, it was quite the opposite for me. That has changed since. I learned so much from her. She’s the original!”