Did Ben Affleck And Jennifer Lopez's First Fling Damage Their Careers?

Bennifer 2.0 has been making headlines ever since Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez got together following Lopez's split with Alex Rodriguez in 2021. But at the 2023 Grammys, the A-list couple went viral for a less romantic reason: Affleck's miserable expression. Maybe, a pre-red carpet Dunkin' Donuts run would have cheered him up? Thankfully, Lopez was on hand to reassure Bennifer 'shippers that all was well in paradise. "Always the best time with my love, my husband," the songbird wrote on Instagram, sharing loved-up images of the couple at the event.

Lopez and Affleck have a long history, dating all the way back to 2002. They met on the set of "Gigli," which was widely panned by critics for the leading actors' lack of chemistry, per Digital Spy. Ironically, this was not the case off-screen; People reports that the couple began dating and got engaged within the same year. They blamed the tabloid frenzy for the first breakup, with Lopez later telling People, "I think different time different thing, who knows what could've happened, but there was a genuine love there."

Bennifer was still in the early stages of their respective careers when they first met. In the two decades since, J.Lo built an empire and Affleck went on to become one of the most famous actors of his generation. Clearly, they've done well for themselves, but did their careers take a hit because of their early relationship?

To examine Bennifer 1.0 is to examine where they connected: on the set of "Gigli." The movie itself was a disaster. It received a whopping 6% score on Rotten Tomatoes and years later, it remains in the IMDb Bottom 100. As Ben Affleck told Entertainment Weekly, "It was a movie that didn't work," though he didn't regret the experience. "I did get to meet Jennifer, the relationship with whom has been really meaningful to me in my life," he added. Despite its awful reviews, "Gigli" was just a blip on the radar, and its problematic plot has since been overshadowed by its role in birthing a love story for the ages.

However, their 2002-2004 relationship didn't reflect well on either Affleck or Jennifer Lopez's careers. In an interview with People, the "Gone Girl" star acknowledged as much. "What happens in this sort of bleed-over from the tabloids across your movie work," he explained. "I ended up in an unfortunate crosshair position where I was in a relationship and [the media] mostly lied and inflated a bunch of salacious stuff for the sake of selling magazines. And I paid a certain price for that."

Perhaps the media was such a problem because Bennifer 1.0 coincided with the rise of tabloid culture. "Back then you just believed anything you read on the cover of a tabloid," Lopez mused, speaking to Elle. "Many times it wasn't true."

The negative media attention stemming from 'Bennifer' 1.0 could have stunted Jennifer Lopez's early career. "People were so f***ing mean about her — sexist, racist. Ugly, vicious s*** was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now, you would literally be fired for saying those things you said," Ben Affleck defended his wife on the The Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast. The multi-hyphenate noted that it's only now that J.Lo is "lionized" for how she's built herself from the ground up.

Nothing was going to slow "Jenny From The Block's" rise to the top, though. The singer is known throughout the industry for her incredible work ethic, and on Vogue's "73 Questions" segment, she said, "If you work hard, you can accomplish anything." A good work ethic is admirable, but does all work and no play make J.Lo a dull girl? Affleck was said to be disappointed when J.Lo jetted off to Italy for a photoshoot following their honeymoon, per OK! "She had him fooled for a while but Ben's realizing Jennifer is as career-driven as she ever was," a source dished.

Hopefully, Lopez and Affleck understand what went wrong in their first engagement, and are committed to making it right this go-around. "We were just too young to understand at that time what were really the most important things in life," the global icon revealed in a 2022 interview with Rolling Stone. Sounds like Bennifer 2.0 is older and wiser.