Ben Affleck says it was ‘beautiful’ reconnecting with on-again flame Jennifer Lopez: ‘It’s a great story’
- Ben Affleck called reconnecting with Jennifer Lopez ‘beautiful’ in the December/January issue of WSJ. Magazine
- Affleck also discussed the importance of boundaries as he addressed the speculation surrounding their relationship
- ‘You can write conjecture about it, but one of the harder lessons that I have learned is that it’s not wise to share everything with the world’
- Affleck reflected on his battle with alcoholism and called ‘suffering’ the only cure for the disease
- ‘The only real cure for alcoholism is suffering. You just hope that your threshold for suffering is met somewhere before it destroys your life,’ he said
Ben Affleck has called reconnecting with his on-again flame Jennifer Lopez ‘beautiful’ as he graced the December/January cover of WSJ. Magazine.
‘I can say that it’s definitely beautiful to me,’ Affleck, 49, told the magazine of reuniting with his ex. ‘And, you know, one of the things I really value across all facets of my life now is that it was handled in a way that reflected that.
‘My life now reflects not just the person that I want to be, but the person that I really feel like I am—which is not perfect, but somebody who tries very hard and cares very much about being honest and authentic and accountable. It’s hard to say who benefits more, without going into gossipy detail.
‘It’s a great story’: Ben Affleck has called reconnecting with his on-again flame Jennifer Lopez ‘beautiful’ as he graced the cover of Wall Street Journal
‘And it is a good story. It’s a great story. And, you know, maybe one day I’ll tell it. I’ll write it all out. [Pauses] And then I’ll light it on fire. [Laughs],’ he added.
Affleck also discussed the importance of boundaries as he addressed the speculation surrounding their relationship.
‘You can write conjecture about it, but one of the harder lessons that I have learned is that it’s not wise to share everything with the world.
‘I know that I feel more comfortable having those healthy boundaries in my life around which, in a friendly and straightforward way, I tell you, I just don’t want to be talking about my personal relationship in the newspaper. I’m going to exercise a little restraint.’
Affleck and Lopez rekindled their relationship in April, nearly 17 years after calling it quits on their engagement and only weeks after she broke things off with her ex-fiancee, Alex Rodriguez.
Contemplative: The actor struck an array of thoughtful poses
‘It’s not wise to share everything with the world’: Affleck also described learning about the importance of boundaries as he addressed the speculation surrounding their relationship
The couple even celebrated Thanksgiving together.
‘Jennifer flew back to LA from Vancouver to celebrate Thanksgiving with her kids and Ben,’ a source told PEOPLE. ‘The last few weeks have been intense for her. It’s been hard for her to be away from her kids and Ben.’
‘They are doing really well. Jennifer loves being with Ben. She feels it’s truly meant to be,’ the source said.
During his WSJ interview, Affleck also reflected on his battle with alcoholism and his life regrets.
Bennifer is back! Affleck and Lopez rekindled their relationship in April, nearly 17 years after calling it quits on their engagement and only weeks after she broke things off with her ex-fiancee, Alex Rodriguez
Making headlines: Affleck appears on the December/January cover of WSJ. Magazine
‘There’s a lot that I would want my younger self to understand. Some things, honestly, that I’m too self-conscious of or shy about to be really candid about with the whole world because they’re mostly mistakes,’ he said. ‘Things I wish I had done differently, and they’re rooted in that instinct to look at my past and think, ‘I wish I could have avoided this painful event.’ I wish I could have not caused someone else pain. I wish I had understood better the nature of what was difficult about life for me.’
‘I wish I did not have to learn some lessons the hard way,’ he added. ‘But maybe this is just rationalizing because the alternative is too painful.’
The actor also learned it was not possible to obtain true enlightenment through any ‘easy’ path and that he ‘had to learn those things in an authentic, meaningful way to really learn the lessons that I’ve really internalized, that have created the values that I have now even though most of them were born of failure.’
Say cheese! The actor closed his eyes as he flashed a closed smile for the camera
The actor has been open about his struggles with sobriety in the past, and in his interview said ‘suffering’ was the only cure for alcoholism.
‘The only real cure for alcoholism is suffering. You just hope that your threshold for suffering is met somewhere before it destroys your life.’
Affleck also said his perspective on his problems had changed in the last five years, and he had come to embrace the issues life had dealt him.
‘I used to be irritated by people who would say, “Oh, I have these problems and I’m grateful for them.” I used to think, “This is bulls**t. You’re not grateful for disasters, creating pain and wreckage in your life. Say you feel s***** about it and you wish you were better!”‘ he said. ‘Only within the last five years, I really felt increasingly grateful for the difficulties that I’ve had.’
‘She feels it’s truly meant to be’: The newly-rekindled couple even celebrated Thanksgiving together; pictured September 2021
‘It’s not insignificant, because a lot of that pain is rooted in pain caused to other people. And that turns out to be the most painful thing in life,’ he said.
And the A-lister admitted he was fortunate to have ‘benefited from second chances.’
‘I am very lucky in my life in that I have benefited from second chances, and I am aware that other people don’t even get first chances. Life is difficult, and we are always failing and hopefully learning from those failures.
‘The one thing you really need to avail yourself of the opportunities provided from that growth is the second chance. I’ve definitely tried to take advantage of that. I haven’t always been successful, but in cases in which I have, they’ve turned out to be the defining aspects of my life.’
‘I feel great about being very healthy,’ he said.
Affleck was also asked if there were days he feared he was ‘going to lose it all’ in the midst of his struggles with alcoholism.
‘Definitely. Many times. Part of me blanches at that question, and part of me really wants to answer it. The part of me that blanches says, Well, I know that’s sort of become optically like: Ben Affleck, alcoholic. Because I’ve spoken about it. Other actors have refused to, or were lucky enough to maintain their anonymity. Because I can think of scores of addicts working in this business whose issues aren’t public, who never have to answer questions like this and who have had just as many, if not much worse, troubles than I have. But it is also true that I am an alcoholic. That period of time was awful and all the things that you would imagine.’
Affleck was compelled to change his life around after he faced the prospect of losing what was most important to him.
‘And yes, there were moments where I really faced the thing that was most important to me and the prospect of losing that. And that is what ultimately changed things for me. I didn’t get any stronger or develop any willpower. I simply met that threshold. You know, somewhere in the amygdala it said, This is too painful. I’m not going to do this anymore. I don’t want to do it. It was a moment after which it became clear that this was not the life I wanted.’
Affleck and Lopez first started dating in 2002 after meeting on the set of Gigli.
They soon became engaged and were set to get married in September 2003, but postponed their wedding and eventually broke up in January 2004.
The couple’s rekindled relationship came as a shock to fans, heating up again nearly 17 years after their failed engagement.
Jennifer confirmed the end of her relationship with Rodriguez, a former New York Yankee, in April after the pair dated for four years and were engaged for two years.
Affleck was previously married to Jennifer Garner, who ended their nearly decade-long marriage in 2015.
The former spouses, who share daughters Violet, 15, Seraphina, 12, and nine-year-old Sam, ultimately finalized their divorce until 2018.
It takes two: Affleck and JLo holding hands in New York in 2021
Family matters: Affleck was previously married to Jennifer Garner, who ended their nearly decade-long marriage in 2015; pictured with son Samuel in 2018
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