Jennifer Lopez Reveals How She & Ben Affleck First Met

Jennifer Lopez is looking back on her meet-cute with husband Ben Affleck.

Speaking to Variety, Lopez recalled her first-ever interaction with Affleck on the set of 2003’s Gigli, where the couple first met.

“The first time meeting him on that film was at the read-through,” she shared. “I remember kind of just walking in and I think he was outside, smoking a cigarette and I saw him and we just talked for like a minute and then I sat down and we did the read-through.”

While Lopez doesn’t remember “a whole bunch more” about their first meeting, she does recall “being on the set with him every day and loving it.”

Affleck also reflected on his time filming Gigli with Entertainment Weekly in 2022, revealing that his highly-publicized relationship with Lopez at the time impacted the movie.

“I had begun having this relationship with Jennifer Lopez, which was selling a lot of magazines and appeared to generate a lot of enthusiasm,” he recalled. “They [the studio] just predictably latched onto, ‘They want a romantic comedy. They want the two of them together. More of that!’”

Bennifer’s Relationship

Lopez was married to ex-husband, Cris Judd, while working with Affleck on the romantic comedy. She later filed for divorce from Judd in 2002 — the same year Lopez and Affleck (who became known as “Bennifer”) announced their engagement.

The pair went on to film another movie together, 2004’s Jersey Girl, which was released two months after Lopez and Affleck ended their engagement. 17 years later, the couple rekindled their relationship and tied the knot in 2022.

Lopez Would Work With Affleck Again

The This Is Me... Now star also revealed to Variety that she’d be open to filming another movie with Affleck if the right project came along.

"Maybe, in the right thing,” she told the outlet. “I mean, we love working together and being together, so maybe.”