Jennifer Lopez spent July in the Hamptons, then returned to LA in August, and still hasn’t been seen with Ben Affleck but, at the same time, another summer weekend has come and gone with no confirmation that their marriage is over (even though it looks like it’s definitively over). 

 

Even with all the Kamala Harris dominance in the news cycle, and the Olympics, when they could have tried to jam in their news so as to minimise the attention it would inevitably receive, there hasn’t yet been an announcement. The last time I posted on the situation was last Wednesday, after reports that they’re hoping to finalise their settlement and have all the paperwork completed so that when the public knows, it’s already wrapped and tidy – but that’s not possible if they’re not talking, and supposedly they’re not talking. 

Their children are talking though, as Fin and Emme were seen hanging out this weekend (not pictured), which suggests that if there is any acrimony between the parents, it hasn’t extended to the children, as it shouldn’t. Also on Saturday, according to DeuxMoi, JLo was with her own kids AND Ben Affleck’s kids at the Beverly Hills Hotel. 

 

At that same lunch, Violet Affleck was apparently wearing one of JLo’s dresses, that JLo was previously seen wearing in February. And her wedding ring, which she’d taken off a few days before, was back on. It was also on on Thursday when she was photographed in a denim set that I want so much – that’s the only reason I’m talking about this. Look at the fit of the jeans with the flat front pockets, SO good. 

Jennifer Lopez leaving E. Baldi after dinner with Emme, August 8, 2024
 

As for Ben, the last few times he’s been papped, this man who is known for his grump face, whose grump face, particularly when he’s with his wife, has been seen lately with big smile energy which, of course, only fuels the misogyny that has always followed their relationship, not just this time around but last time too. 

 

And that, really, is what I wanted to get to in this post. Because JLo is who I thought about right away on Friday when that news about Joaquin Phoenix came down – Sarah just posted about it today. The film was his idea, and he bails on it just days ahead of filming, which now leaves an entire crew unpaid. But he’ll show up in Venice with all the hype in the world, and a whole ass studio backing and protecting him because they need Joker: Folie à Deux to be a big deal. 

Can you f-cking imagine if this were a woman though? Backing out last minute on a project she initiated, wasting other people’s time, making it so that many of them can’t pick up other opportunities because they thought they’d be committed already, and now out of money…

It’s impossible. A woman could never. JLO COULD NEVER. 

If this was JLo, the story would be trending all over social media. She was already trending on socials, especially TikTok, after her self-funded documentary/vanity project/extended music video came out a few months ago – they were dragging her on petty crimes, some of them over a decade old. Even now it’s become a thing she’s mocked over, a professional embarrassment, so embarrassing that “it’s no wonder he wants to leave her”. Well at least those people who worked on The Greatest Love Story Never Told GOT PAID. 

 

So where’s that same f-cking energy for Joaquin Phoenix? Are people making TikToks about him quitting his own movie and sharing those TikToks to the point of it going viral? I don’t see it, because it’s not there. Sarah rhetorically asked in her post about Joaquin whether they’d be any accountability – at any level. In the industry, of course not, because the studio and the system will protect him. But culturally it’s barely a concern, already. Which is why I keep singing the same tired song whenever I write about JLo. She’s cringe, no doubt, and she loves the attention, fine. But it’s about what we WEIGH to be more offensive. And the extent to which our culture holds sh-t against people. And you’ll find, for women and their perceived flaws, it’s disproportionate in comparison to what men, particularly white men, can get away with.