Inside ‘Final Straw’ That Led to Jennifer Lopez, Ben Affleck’s Split

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck‘s incompatibility ultimately is what led to their split.

“It was more and more apparent they weren’t a good match,” a source exclusively tells Us Weekly about how Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, tried to “make it work” by going to therapy. “It boiled down to [the fact that] they are two different people.”

According to the insider, the estranged couple chose to separate after they realized they weren’t on the same page.

“She came to the realization things weren’t going to change and they were incompatible,” the source adds. “Spending time apart — it became obvious it wouldn’t work.”

Us confirmed on Tuesday, August 20, that Lopez filed for divorce on the two-year anniversary of her and Affleck’s Georgia wedding ceremony. She listed the date of separation as April 26, submitting the filing herself instead of through an attorney.

Lopez and Affleck’s different outlooks on life ultimately caused them to drift apart ahead of the divorce filing.

“Jennifer loves luxury, mansions, jets, yachts, red carpets and all things glamorous. Ben has never liked those things,” the source notes to Us. “Unless he is promoting work, he doesn’t like the spotlight.”

And the millions spent on their over-the-top mansion was a factor that spelled the end for the couple. “If there was one final straw, it was Jennifer convincing Ben to buy that massive mansion,” says the second source. “It wasn’t what he wanted or who he is.”

The $68 million Beverly Hills home was put on the market earlier this summer, with Affleck purchasing a more modest $20 million five-bedroom pad in late July.

Affleck and Lopez were first linked after meeting on the set of Gigli in 2001. They were initially engaged from 2002 to 2004 before deciding to call it quits.

The actress moved on with Marc Anthony, whom she married in 2004. The exes, who split in 2011, share twins Emme and Max, now 16. Affleck went on to marry Jennifer Garner in 2005. After 10 years of marriage, the duo announced their decision to part ways in 2015. They share children, Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.

After nearly two decades, Lopez and Affleck reunited in 2021 after her split from ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez. Affleck proposed for a second time in 2022, and they eloped to Las Vegas before celebrating their union with friends and family later that year.

Lopez and Affleck sparked breakup rumors after their last red carpet appearance in February for the release of her movie This Is Me … Now: A Love Story.

In the months since the event, Lopez and Affleck were seen sporadically wearing — and not wearing — their wedding rings. Lopez, however, was seen on multiple occasions spending time with Affleck’s kids — and the source tells Us the duo’s children are still in contact with each other.

Before news broke about their split, Lopez praised Affleck for always supporting her.

“He loves me, he knows I’m an artist and he’s gonna support me in every way he can because he knows he can’t stop me from making the music that I made and writing the words that I wrote,” she said in her documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which Affleck appeared in. “But that doesn’t mean he’s comfortable being the muse.”

Affleck did mention when he was on screen that he felt the private moments in their relationship were “sacred and special,” admitting, “This was something of an adjustment for me.”

With reporting by Andrea Simpson