After a glorious week, Bennifer Summer in Europe is now over and it’s been a few days since Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been seen, either together or separately. Last I heard, after leaving Italy before JLo, Ben was spotted in Paris with daughter Violet. JLo boarded a private jet on Sunday presumably to return to her kids in LA. 

 

But even though there haven’t been any sightings, it doesn’t mean people aren’t talking about them. The New York Times just published an article by Sarah Bahr asking “What is The JLo Effect?” Over the course of her career, “The JLo Effect” has been used to describe her many career achievements – from her television deals to her Super Bowl performance. Now, in 2021, during Bennifer Summer, “The JLo Effect” is being applied to Ben Affleck’s glow-up. Again, this is a piece… in THE NEW YORK TIMES, lol. 

I’m not mocking. Those were LOLs of collective joy. The Bennifer content yield seems limitless. And what the NYT is exploring in this piece is the effect of JLo on Ben – he looks better than he’s looked in years, and there’s science behind it: “mate copying”, which is “the phenomenon of females expressing greater interest in males who already have a partner — particularly a very attractive one — in both animals and humans”.

Right?! 

 

I’m telling you, it gets better and better. All the way to the final line of the article, I won’t spoil it for you. God can it please be an endless summer? 

In other JLo news, her name came up last night in Page Six’s report speculating on possible Met Gala attendance. Here’s another example of “The JLo Effect” – Bennifer Summer has supercharged my gossip senses, because I just conjured this last week! Bennifer at the Met Gala? 

According to Page Six, JLo is planning to go to the Met Gala and now there’s speculation as to whether or not she and Ben will make their red carpet RE-debut together at the event. If that actually happens, that’s it, that’s the moment. That’s the heatscore of the party, the spectacle that outshines everything else. Which… I mean… this is the point of the Met Gala, isn’t it? Extra is the energy of the Met Gala, you’re supposed to bring it, as hard as you can. JLo, for sure, always, is game for that. The question is – is Ben? 

 

Page Six sources say that other big names who are confirmed, in addition to the celebrity co-chairs Amanda Gorman, Naomi Osaka, and Timothée Chalamet, are Lupita Nyong’o, Camila Cabello, and Rihanna who is always the boss of this event – and if she does show up this year, will it be alongside A$AP Rocky? RiRi and Rocky AND Bennifer at the same party? It’s almost too much to hope. 

Speaking of Rocky at the Met Gala though, since it’s Thursday, how about this throwback? In 2017, Rocky escorted someone up the stairs, someone unexpected: 

A$AP Rocky and Gwyneth Paltrow at 'Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garçons:Art of the In-Between' Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2017 in New York City