Ben Affleck opened up about life with superstar Jennifer Lopez as he sat down with comedian Kevin Hart for his interview series Hart to Heart.
The 51-year-old was the first guest to kick off the new season of the Peacock series as rumors swirl around the world about the suspected breakdown of his marriage to Lopez.
The interview largely focused on Affleck’s journey into Hollywood with best friend Matt Damon. However, he did share a rare insight into his anxieties around fame, how he handles it, and walking in the shadow of Lopez’s spotlight.
He alluded to Lopez a few times through the episode, revealing to Hart that, “My wife will tell you, I like to talk.” He also shared how he discusses parenting with Lopez and raising their five children — his three with Jennifer Garner and two step-children with Lopez — with money — as opposed to how he and Lopez grew up.
“I like this life for them better than the one I had and that’s the balance, and I talk to Jennifer about that a lot,” he said.
It wasn’t until the end of the episode where he recalled a story with Lopez and the chaos that surrounds her when she steps out in public.
“My daughter is always throwing out titles to her autobiography,” Affleck explained. “We went somewhere with [Lopez] — I can’t remember because she’s so famous, and she creates this — people love her, and she really represents something important to people,” Affleck says. “[To me,] People are like, ‘Hey, I like your movie,’ and then they’re like ‘AAAHHHH! J-LO!,'” he yelled. “It’s amazing, you know what I mean?,” he told Hart with a smile across his face.
“I think it was when we rolled through Times Square,” he continued. “We get out of the car, we were going to a play, and I was like, ‘F–k it, babe, we’re going to be late, we gotta walk a block and a half.’ [Lopez] was like, ‘Alright,’ she didn’t say s–t.”
“We get out with her, all the kids, through Times Square, and the s–t was like f–kin’ bananas,” Affleck said. “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There was a lady, she was smoking weed, in a full purple skintight suit — she’s a heavy lady — and she starts running backwards filming, going ‘J-LO!!’ Like a herald, that then gets everyone else, and then all the tourists come in,” he continued to recall.
“Then we’ve got our five kids, it’s me and Jen and what feels like hundreds of people, and they’re all screaming. And my daughter just turns to me and goes, ‘J-Lo Was My Stepmother,'” Affleck continued. “And I was like, alright that’s a good title,” referring back to her initial autobiography title.
Earlier in the interview, Affleck explained why he has “resting b—h face” — or in his words “resting hard face” — when asked by Hart about his work behind the camera and if he prefers one over the other.
“First of all, I’m also a little bit shy, I don’t like a lot of attention,” Affleck told Hart. “This is why people see me and they’re like, ‘Why’s this dude always mad?,'” he said, referring to what’s become known as his “resting b—h face,” often caught by paparazzi.
He explained that he doesn’t like being photographed when he’s with his children, “because somebody has their camera and stick it in my face and I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go.'”
Affleck further shared how he finds the public is often “projecting something” onto him that he doesn’t feel about himself “at all”.
“It’s taught me that the projection that people get is not necessarily one… If you want to, and I know people that do this and are very good at it and I envy them,” Affleck began.
“‘It’s an act’, The whole f–king thing’s an act now. Instagram’s an act, social media is an act. What image do you want to put? What do you want to show people to make them interested in this act that you’re doing?” Affleck said. “Because nobody is posting their lowest moment, no one is advertising like, ‘I’m an a–hole, look how horrendous I am. You have an outside version of your life that’s curated that you’re advertising on social media.”
Some people have speculated that the rumored separation between Affleck and Lopz may have something to do with her fame and outsized presence online while Affleck prefers to lay low.
It was reported that Affleck and Lopez are trying to sell the marital home they bought last year for $60 million, with Affleck reportedly staying at a rental in Brentwood. Meanwhile, Lopez is currently enjoying the Italian sunshine solo, as seen by recent vacation pics.
Lopez and Affleck have blended their families, since they both moved on with separate people after their initial split in 2003. Lopez is mom to 15-year-old twins Max and Emme, whom she shares with ex-husband Marc Anthony. Meanwhile, Affleck has three children — Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 11 — with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
