Ben Affleck looks tired as Jennifer Lopez divorce speculation intensifies

Ben Affleck was every inch the doting father as he brought his son Samuel to school in Los Angeles amid rumors he is living apart from his wife Jennifer Lopez.

While dropping off his 12-year-old, the 51-year-old Gone Girl star, who has reportedly ‘checked out’ of marriage after two years, looked exhausted as he made his way down the street carrying an iced coffee. 

The actor star bundled up for the outing in a red jacket with a sherpa lined hood over a light grey zip-up and blue t-shirt. 

He completed his laid-back look with a pair of light blue jeans, a black belt buckle and a pair of stylish sneakers. 

Affleck’s youngest child, who he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, walked alongside his dad as he rolled his school bag down the sidewalk.  

The two-time Oscar winner’s latest sighting comes amid reports that his and Lopez’s friends are divided over whether the couple can salvage their failing marriage amid their relationship woes.

Friends and family of the Gigli costars, who rekindled in 2021 after nearly two decades, are torn about what the future holds for them.

‘Some believe they can work it out with time and effort, pointing to their deep bond. Others think the relationship has run its course,’ a source told Us Weekly.

Another insider claimed that the two-time Oscar winner has ‘been checked out’ and that they are on ‘two completely different pages most of the time.’

‘The honeymoon phase has worn off,’ they noted.

As pointed out by another source, the stars ‘both have demanding careers that often require them to be in different cities.’

The Let’s Get Loud hitmaker, 54, is currently busy preparing for her 30-date This Is Me…Now Tour, which kicks off next month.

‘Jennifer had started ramping up her work commitments and prepping for her tour,’ the insider said. ‘She’s very focused on work and overextends herself.’

Affleck recently started shooting The Accountant 2 in Los Angeles while the mother-of-two has been in New York City filming the musical, Kiss of the Spider Woman.

As they navigate their work obligations, often from opposite coasts, communication has also become a source of contention between the duo.

‘Over time, Jennifer and Ben found it increasingly difficult to communicate effectively,’ another source told the outlet.

This has made ‘small misunderstandings’ grow ‘into significant arguments.’ 

The couple also have ‘fundamentally different approaches to conflict’ as Affleck tends to withdraw and Lopez prefers to talk things out. 

Us Weekly also claims that arguments over finances and parenting their respective children ‘have exacerbated’ their issues.

Lopez is also reportedly disappointed by the idea of a fourth divorce.

‘She’s upset,’ one source told the outlet. ‘And, really did think she and Ben would be endgame this time around.’ 

The Atlas star has also allegedly been more ‘committed to working on the marriage’ from the start, whereas Affleck was initially hesitant, but has started to ‘invest more’  into working things out. 

Since moving out, Affleck has reportedly ‘struggled with loneliness’ and ‘realized how much he misses Jen.’ 

While apart, ‘Ben and Jen kept in touch primarily to discuss essential matters and updates.’ 

Now they are both said to be ‘reassessing their priorities’ and ‘[figuring out] what they truly want from the marriage.’ 

During Lopez’s Amazon Prime documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, Affleck opened up about initially asking his wife to keep their romance offline. 

While navigating their reconciliation, two decades following their first engagement, the Gone Girl actor admitted he had zero interest in becoming a fixture on the singer’s social media accounts. 

‘Getting back together, I said, “Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,”‘ the actor recalled. ‘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 continued: ‘We’re just two people with different kinds of approaches trying to learn to compromise.’ 

During the documentary, the Lopez acknowledged Affleck’s discomfort with stepping in the spotlight as a couple after facing intense media scrutiny when they first dated between 2002 and 2004.

‘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.’

In December, she admitted they ‘both have PTSD’ from the glare of the spotlight on their first romance.

After their broken engagement, they both went on to marry and divorce other people before eventually finding their way back into each other’s arms.

She shared that ‘we both have PTSD’ from their initial experience, but explained that in their present life as a married couple they’re ‘older’ and ‘wiser.’

J-Lo added: ‘We also know what’s important, what’s really important in life, and it’s not so much what other people think. It’s about being true to who you are.’

The couple got engaged, the first time, near the end of 2002, but broke the engagement in late 2003, before ending their relationship entirely in 2004.

In the intervening years, Jennifer married and divorced her third ex-husband Marc Anthony, with whom she welcomed her 16-year-old twins Max and Emme.

Meanwhile Ben married and divorced Jennifer Garner, with whom he amicably co-parents three children – Violet, 18, Fin, 15, and Samuel.