It all started around the first Monday in May when Jennifer Lopez attended the Met Gala without her plus-one. The fact that she was one of the official celebrity hosts of the event made her husband Ben Affleck’s absence more conspicuous — why wouldn’t he fly to New York to support her? He’s done it before, as you’ll remember. Plus, he popped up at Netflix’s roast of Tom Brady in Los Angeles. These solo outings, combined with an unusual dearth of paparazzi photos of the couple together, began to suggest to fans that Bennifer’s 22-month marriage was heading for divorce.
But Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck had more than relationship problems on her mind: She was also inching closer and closer to her North American arena tour, her first in five years. Despite all the self-created hype around the 37-date tour in support of her new album, This Is Me … Now — which is the same but different from her similarly titled Amazon epic, This Is Me … Now: A Love Story and its accompanying making-of documentary — ticket sales were lousy. Probably because the album, which is all about her love for Affleck, flopped, debuting at No. 38 on the Billboard 200. In March, J.Lo quietly canceled seven dates on the tour (sources told People there were “logistical issues” with those particular shows). Then, in April, she rebranded the tour from This Is Me … Now: The Tour to This Is Me … Live: The Greatest Hits, but even that clever bit of wordplay did nothing to drive sales. As she made the promotional rounds for her latest Netflix movie, Atlas, in early May, she started to downplay the whole thing, telling Kelly Ripa in an interview that it was a “baby tour.”
Then the tabloids picked up the divorce rumors in earnest. On May 16, People reported that Ben and Jen had not been seen together in 47 days. The same day, TMZ got the scoop that Affleck had moved out of the couple’s recently purchased $60 million compound in Beverly Hills to a $100,000-a-month rental in Brentwood, near his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, and their kids. What happened?
All the inside “sources” started to say the same thing: J.Lo was working too much!
“Jen and Ben are having issues in their marriage,” a source told Us Weekly. “They started having issues a few months ago as Jen had started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour. Jen is very focused on work. They are on two completely different pages most of the time.”
“She’s very focused on work and overextends herself,” yet another source told Us Weekly a week later. Affleck “doesn’t agree with Jennifer’s lifestyle,” they explained.
Another source told People that Ben and Jen’s different approaches to engaging with fans cause marital strain: “She likes to open her heart to her fans and to the world. He is more introspective and private. This has been difficult day-to-day.”
People also suggested, more pointedly, that J.Lo’s tour rehearsals were preventing the couple from sitting down and hashing out their issues. “They’re still living separately,” a “source close to Lopez” told the tabloid. “She’s back in L.A. for tour rehearsals. She seems okay. She’s very focused on work.”
(Lopez was photographed walking in and out of dance studios, supposedly preparing for this tour, several times during the peak of the tabloid rumors.)
All of this was curious given that Affleck has been publicly complimentary of Lopez’s work since before they even got back together. He participated in the abovementioned self-funded, $20 million “musical film” version of This Is Me … Now (wearing a wig and prosthetics, no less) and produced the documentary about the experience, in which he shared how he always tries to support her as an artist. According to J.Lo’s Atlas co-star Sterling K. Brown, Affleck showed up to that set multiple days when she was filming and read lines with her. He also produced Kiss of the Spider Woman, the film she wrapped in New York just before the divorce rumors started percolating.
Maybe Ben and Jen are having serious marital problems, but it doesn’t seem like Jen’s work ethic is causing them. The rumors, however, gave her the perfect cover to cancel the tour that unfortunately no one wanted to attend (the last I checked, tickets in various U.S. cities were going for $50 — a far cry from the Eras or Renaissance tours last summer).
J.Lo, who prides herself on being an A-list triple threat with staying power, couldn’t very well perform to quarter-full arenas. Sources told “Page Six” that she was due to sign a $90 million Vegas residency contract with MGM for 2025, but her abysmal tour sales were threatening that deal. What was our beloved Leo supposed to do? She — or her longtime manager, Benny Medina, perhaps — had to seed the tabloids with divorce rumors to protect her future earnings, not to mention her reputation.
Last Friday afternoon, J.Lo broke the news in her On the J.Lo newsletter and attributed the announcement to Live Nation. “Representatives for Live Nation announced today that the Jennifer Lopez US Summer 2024 Tour ‘THIS IS ME…LIVE’ is canceled, citing …‘Jennifer is taking time off to be with her children, family and close friends.’” She also added “a special message for my JLovers on the JLo,” which read, “I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down. Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”
Neither Live Nation nor Lopez gave an exact reason for the cancellation, but the subtext is clear: J.Lo’s marriage is in crisis, and she needs to be with her family.
@heathermcdonald Jlo canceled her tour and I have a theory. #jlo #benaffleck #divorce #marriage #thisisme #diva #publicity #drama #media #hollywood #vegas #canceled #summer #tour #marriage #jloandben #juicyscoop #comedy #heathermcdonald #conspiracy #conspiracytherory
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A couple days after the announcement, a source told People that J.Lo is “relieved” to be free of her tour commitment. “Life is a lot right now. As sad as she was to cancel the tour, she’s also relieved. She needs to take care of herself,” said the source (possibly Medina, who is surely exhausted by now). “The decision was something that her team encouraged. Everyone is supportive of her focusing on family right now.”
As if to underline this new, important focus on family, Ben and Jen showed up to Ben’s son’s basketball game this weekend. They even smiled and awkwardly kissed each other on the cheek for the paparazzi. People reported that this outing shows they are committed to making their marriage work. “It’s a good sign they were at the game together,” a source said. Now that J.Lo’s pesky tour is out of the way, Bennifer can put an end to the divorce rumors and move on with their perfect lives.
