Up until quite recently, the unravelling of Bennifer V2.0 has been excruciatingly slow, but also, for the most part, relatively civil. At least on Jennifer Lopez’s part. The reporting about her, and what a pain in the ass it was to be married to her, was no doubt negative in how the focus of the blame was placed heavily on her for being too thirsty or too much of a Celebrity for Ben Affleck’s comfort, but she for the most kept it pretty cordial. 

 

That energy changed last week when she filed for divorce last Tuesday, on the two-year anniversary of their wedding in Georgia, and she did it herself, not through a lawyer. I initially thought the timing was more to do with the wanting to minimise the attention that would generate because of the DNC. But we’re seeing in the days since that, perhaps, there was a lot more intention behind her decision to file on that day in particular. Especially over the weekend, with all the gossip that’s come out about Ben. And, as usual, the timeline is intriguing, at least to me. 

 

On Saturday Page Six broke the story that Ben has been spending time with Kick Kennedy, one of Robert F Kennedy Jr’s children. If you haven’t heard, he just endorsed Trump and five of his siblings and several other family members have denounced his decision. Now that Kick is making gossip headlines of her own, people have been digging into her history and what’s going viral today is a story she told over a decade ago about her father bringing home the head of a decapitated whale. 

 

According to DeuxMoi, Ben and Kick have been hanging out since at least June and have been seen coming and going from a place that belongs to one of his “A-list friends”. It’s mentioned that Kick at one point had an overnight bag with her, implying that these are sleepovers. 

All of that was Saturday. A few hours later, still Saturday, PEOPLE reported exclusively that Ben’s “mood swings” were a contributing factor to the breakup. Eventually JLo, according to PEOPLE’s source, couldn’t keep up with what he wanted and where he stood when it came to their marriage. 

Then, the next day, Sunday, PEOPLE followed with another story about the documentary that was released with her album earlier this year. You’ll recall, Ben appears in the documentary and footage is shown of JLo sharing the letters that he wrote to her with other artists during the songwriting process. He seems to be uncomfortable with it but also says, on camera, that he understands her creative vision and her connection to her fans, and would never want to get in the way of that. 

 

Much of the backlash against JLo in the months that followed the release of the album and the two films that accompanied it focused on her desire for attention – she was TikTok’s favourite target for weeks as people clowned on much of the footage that was shown, making her the villain and Ben the victim. When the crisis in their marriage became public, most the narrative was about how he was oppressed by her desperation for attention. 

Team JLo may now be countering that storyline, as PEOPLE reported yesterday that Ben “had control” over the documentary and that it was his idea. Which….sorry… but is not new! He f-cking produced it. Artists Equity is all over that film. And…sorry again… this is what I’ve been saying repeatedly – as in let’s stop pretending that this man had a gun to his head on this project when his studio was behind it. 

 

According to PEOPLE’s source, the documentary wasn’t a priority for JLo, it was Ben who encouraged it, Ben who would have overseen the edit for it. And she herself said as much while she was promoting it!

He assembled the team! And if you’ve seen it, you would know that he stepped behind the camera on several occasions. So the thing that she’s being ridiculed for, and has had to eat so much sh-t for, is at least half his responsibility … IF NOT MORE. 

And yet for months we’ve heard all about how he was a hostage to her ambition, how he was in a “fever dream” of delusion because of her and has “come to his senses”. It looks, from the public’s perspective, that he kinda let that happen. Meanwhile, from the public’s perspective, throughout these last few months, she did not go on the offensive and attempt to correct it. She stated matter-of-factly during the press for it, while things still seemed good between them, that it was as much his project as it was hers, but nobody heard her. And then of course social media came for her and she remained stoic … until she wasn’t anymore. 

 

Was the Kick Kennedy story the thing that broke her? Is that why the gloves are coming off now? 

Because JLo does not seem interested anymore in playing nice. After publishing that story about how he was the boss of the documentary, PEOPLE added another on Sunday – this time it’s to do with JLo’s children and how he hasn’t seemed interested in maintaining a connection to Max and Emme even though JLo has clearly made an effort with his kids, Violet, Fin, and Samuel. 

The message here then is that JLo is tired of being kicked. Or, more accurately, tired of being kicked while the person who had promised he was “Not Going Anywhere” did not ride or die with her. “Not Going Anywhere”, by the way, is what he had engraved on her wedding ring.

To go from “Not Going Anywhere” to whatever it is he’s doing with Kick Kennedy is… well… I would imagine in her mind it must feel like a huge betrayal. 

Of course, much of the recent reporting from PEOPLE about this situation is slanted in JLo’s favour, which likely means that the leaks are coming from her camp. And in any marriage, usually it’s never just one person’s fault. There were probably a lot of reasons Bennifer V2.0 came to an end. But this saga has been going on for months, and in the majority of that time, SHE has been the one at fault in the court of public opinion. Right now we’re seeing a redistribution of the weight of blame. And it’s happening just a week and a half before she steps back into a big spotlight – JLo is coming to Toronto for TIFF and the premiere of Unstoppable. Matt Damon is reportedly attending but not Ben. But the point is, she’s recentering herself, she’s back on the hustle, and this has always been her superpower. 

Attached: Ben out with Samuel and Fin on August 23, 2024 in LA. 

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