As we’ve been talking about all week, Ben Affleck flew to Miami last Sunday to spend a few days with Jennifer Lopez. It’s the Memorial Day long weekend in the US this weekend and Ben is now back in LA, seen outside Jennifer Garner’s home, likely returning to see his kids. Which is what he was doing last week before he went to Miami. JLo remains there.
So this could be their schedule. And if so, it’s a healthy one. Because if this is what they’re working on it means that Bennifer is not interfering with the time Ben has with his kids and JLo’s not dropping everything to be in LA with him. PEOPLE had a story yesterday citing a source who told the magazine that the two “will travel back and forth as much as they can to make things work," and it’s not like this is a stretch for celebrities anyway, especially not Ben and JLo who’ve been famous for so long and who have often, in the course of their careers, had peripatetic lifestyles.
In other Bennifer news, Page Six posted a story about them yesterday that suggests that supposedly Ben and JLo were considering an “Instagram debut” before the paparazzi thwarted their plans.
“Sources told Page Six that the stars planned to announce their reunion in a more tightly controlled way before pics emerged of Affleck riding solo in Lopez’s car to allegedly visit her home. But the paparazzi shots of Affleck stealthily dropping off his car at the Hotel Bel-Air and then traveling to JLo’s nearby home beat them to the punch.”
Do you buy this?
I don’t buy this.
Not because I think they’re averse to publicity and prefer to control their own narratives but because… especially in JLo’s case, she doesn’t need to. As if JLo has to fuss about this? As if she spent any time worrying about how to let people know? As if she’s not experienced enough, and confident enough, that when they were found out, they would be found out – and the reaction would be, well, what it is now.
Celebrities, for sure, get control freaky over some sh-t, and they should, of course. And Ben and JLo do, certainly. But this? Not necessary. JLo in particular has a lot of things she strategises. Part of good strategy however is knowing when to let things happen organically and when to take things into her own hands. Jennifer Lopez is better at this than almost everyone else.
