Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are drawing on the early days of their romance in a desperate bid to get their marriage back on track, with the estranged pair writing love letters to one another in an attempt to rekindle their strained relationship.
Lopez, 54, and Affleck, 51, who reunited in 2021 after first splitting in 2004, have been living separately, been pictured on occasion without their wedding rings and have not been seen together since June as they contend with persistent reports that their two-year marriage is in crisis and spiraling towards divorce.
But despite being ready to ‘throw in the towel’ a few months back, Lopez and Affleck are no longer on the verge of a split as they are working to save their union by keeping their love life out of the spotlight.
‘Jen and Ben agreed it is best to take some time apart so they can really figure out what it is that they want,’ an insider told DailyMail.com.
‘They were ready to throw in the towel. Divorce papers are done and ready to be filed. But they wanted to give it one last go before walking away from this and are going back to the beginning by writing each other letters. This is what made them fall in love in the first place.’
Lopez shared an abundance of love notes from Affleck in her film The Greatest Love Story Never Told, with the Gone Girl actor revealing he clung onto his correspondence with Lopez during his 13-year marriage to Jennifer Garner.
He later had the letters and emails bound into a book to gift the Jenny from the Block singer when they reunited in 2021.
‘This book is a book Ben gave me on our first Christmas back together,’ she said in the documentary. ‘It is every letter and every mail that we wrote each other from 20 years ago and today.’
She highlighted one note that read: ‘The Greatest Love Story Never Told by Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck 2001-2010… and counting…’
But her latest love letters to Affleck will not be made public.
‘This time JLo will definitely not be showing anyone these letters and they are just to stay between her and Ben,’ the insider said. ‘If they decide that they want to stay together, she will be keeping her love life to herself. Right now, it is looking promising.’
Affleck disclosed in the documentary that when they decided to rekindle their relationship, he initially requested they keep it private.
He said: ‘Getting back together, I said, “Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media.”
‘Then I sort of realized it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like, you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, “Well, I don’t like the water.”‘
He added: ‘We’re just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.’
Lopez also recognized her husband’s unease about being in the public eye as a couple, especially given the intense media scrutiny they faced the first time around.
‘I don’t think [Ben] is very comfortable with me doing all of this,’ she said.
‘But he loves me, he knows I’m an artist, and he’s gonna support me in every way he can because he knows you can’t stop me from making the music I made… he doesn’t want to stop me. But that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable being the muse.’
The couple, affectionately known as ‘Bennifer,’ got engaged at the end of 2002 but broke it off a year later before calling quits on their relationship for good in 2004.
They reunited in July 2021, and finally said ‘I do’ the following year, first in Las Vegas and then again in August at Affleck’s Georgia mansion.
A separate source claimed their marriage is ‘strained,’ but added ‘there is also a deep love for each other.’
‘They just have to find what got them back together in the first place and there is definitely a chance that three will be a charm when and if that happens,’ they said.
‘They aren’t throwing in the towel. They are taking it day by day and they don’t want to get divorced.’
Last week, DailyMail.com reported that spending time apart has reinforced just how much they love each other, with Lopez putting work commitments on hold in a bid to help salvage their marriage and focus on being a mom.
‘They have given each other space to think things over and this has reinforced that they do love each other,’ a source claimed.
‘Jennifer has put work on hold to focus on repairing the damage that was done. She knows that she allowed her career and her fame to come between her marriage at times.’
They continued: ‘She is really trying to just be a good mom and a normal person for the time being because she knows that, at the end of the day, her riches and fame aren’t everything. She is hoping that it is not too late.’
Lopez celebrated her 55th birthday early over the weekend where she was joined by her manager Benny Medina and her 16-year-old twins Max and Emme for a lunch in the Hamptons. Affleck was not in attendance.
The weekend prior she was pictured at an antiques fair with her husband’s daughter Violet, 18, whose mother is Garner. The former couple also have Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.
Fears for Lopez and Affleck first surfaced back in May when it was revealed they had gone 47 days without being pictured together.
Lopez attended the Met Gala and her film premiere for Atlas alone.
Speculation later reached fever pitch when Affleck moved out of their $60 million California mansion and into a $100K-a-month rental located near his ex-wife.
Just weeks later, the home was quietly listed for $65 million and the pair began selling off art work from inside the mansion.
They were last pictured together in public on June 2 when they shared an awkward kiss on the cheek at Affleck’s son Samuel’s basketball game in Los Angeles.
They were later in attendance at the 12 year old’s graduation event and subsequent party at Affleck’s current home in Brentwood, California on June 12, but they were pictured separately.
