Jennifer Lopez has been confiding in husband Ben Affleck‘s ex-wife Jennifer Garner as she battles to save her marriage, according to insiders, who claim the two women fear he is close to breaking his sobriety.
Garner, 52, was pictured arriving at the $100,000-a-month Brentwood property Affleck, 51, has been staying at on Sunday amid reports his two-year marriage is on ‘shaky ground.’
Affleck, who rekindled his romance with Lopez in 2021, has been pictured on occasion without his wedding ring, while the Jenny From The Block singer, 54, walked the red carpet alone for her new film on Monday night.
They put on a united front during a recent outing in LA, some 47 days after they were last pictured together, but it did little to dispel the growing speculation over the state of their marriage.
Now, insiders have claimed Lopez has turned to Garner for help as she is one of a few people who can fully relate to her current predicament.
Jennifer Lopez has been confiding in husband Ben Affleck’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner as she battles to save her marriage, insiders have claimed
Lopez and Affleck put on a united front during a recent outing in LA – 47 days after they were last pictured together – but it did little to dispel the growing speculation about their marriage
On Sunday, Garner, 52, was pictured arriving at the $100,000-a-month Brentwood property Affleck, 51, has been staying at
‘JLo has been confiding in Jen because she knows that she is one of the only people in the world who would understand what she is going through,’ the source told DailyMail.com exclusively.
‘She has been through it with the same man herself and although the circumstances were quite different it is still the same man and they both dealt with some of the same issues.’
Garner was seen pulling up in the driveway of Affleck’s Brentwood mansion on Sunday, just hours after the exes met up for their son Samuel’s basketball game in Santa Monica.
The source explained that Garner, who is dating businessman John Miller, wants to help save their young marriage as she values the stabilizing force Lopez can be in her ex-husband’s life.
‘Jen does not want Ben to pull the plug on this marriage because she really does care about JLo,’ the insider said. ‘She did go to his house to talk to him about this and to try and keep the two of them together.
‘JLo was told several times by Jen how valued she is in all their lives. She is one of the only women who can get through to Ben and keep him from jumping off the deep end with his addiction.’
Those close to Affleck believe he is showing a known pattern of behavior when it comes to how he deals with marital issues.
‘Ben is frustrated right now because he does not have any escape from his problems, so he runs away,’ the source continued.
Garner feels Lopez, pictured with her daughter Emma and Garner’s child Fin in LA on Sunday, is a stabilizing force in their lives
Affleck and Lopez reunited for the first time in 47 days last week after he moved out of their home – pictured with his son
Those close to Affleck believe he is showing a known pattern of behavior when it comes to how he deals with marital issues
‘The biggest fear right now is that he will start drinking again and part of the reason Jen has been keeping tabs on him is to make sure this doesn’t happen.’
Affleck has previously made no secret of the fact he felt a lot of ‘shame’ and ‘regret’ about the way his 13-year marriage to Garner came to an end in 2018.
Speaking to The New York Times in 2020, he explained: ‘I drank relatively normally for a long time. What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart.
‘This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems.’
The Argo star eventually did a stint in rehab in August 2018 after Garner – with whom he shares children, Violet, Seraphina (who now goes by Fin) and son Samuel – staged an intervention with the help of a sober coach at his California home.
He admitted that feeling ‘trapped’ during their marriage played a part in why he started drinking.
The Gone Girl star went on to tell The Hollywood Reporter: ‘The idea that I was blaming my wife for my drinking. To be clear, my behavior is my responsibility entirely. The point that I was trying to make was a sad one.’
He continued: ‘I was trying to say, “Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it’s your job, your marriage, it’s just that as your life becomes more difficult, if you’re doing things to fill a hole that aren’t healthy, you’re going to start doing more of those things.” I think I was pretty articulate about that.’
Fans have long speculated about there marriage due to seemingly awkward interactions in public, leading to reports that the two-year marriage is on ‘shaky ground’
Eyebrows were raised when Lopez didn’t join Affleck for The Roast of Tom Brady, and she was solo for her co-chairing duties at the glitzy Met Gala in New York a day later
Affleck also skipped the red carpet premiere for his wife’s new Netflix movie, Atlas, on Monday evening
The actor explained his thought process during those dark times as he recalled: ‘You know I was like “I can’t leave cause of my kids, but I’m not happy. What do I do?”
‘And what I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.’
Elsewhere, the insider insisted that the couple are both working together to get through this rough patch, with Garner doing her best to encourage them.
‘JLo and Ben are trying to make this work with all their might and Jen is definitely a cheerleader for them,’ the source added. ‘Jen and Ben’s kids love JLo like a second mom and it would devastate them for this to end.
‘There are so many reasons why they should work it out and very few reasons why they should end it.’
Ben and Jennifer got engaged at the end of 2002, but broke it off a year later before calling quits on their relationship for good in 2004.
In April 2021, they were spotted together for the first time in more than a decade, sparking relationship rumors.
They eventually went public with their rekindled romance and tied the knot in July 2022.
Reports of marriage struggles started earlier this month when it became apparent that the couple hadn’t been pictured together in 47 days.
In that time Lopez was spotted house hunting without him.
It was then revealed that the couple have been living separately over the past few months, with Affleck staying in a rental house.
He was seen without his wedding ring for the first time on Friday as he left the property, and was also pictured without it on Saturday when he met up with Garner and Violet.
He was not wearing it on Monday while shooting The Accountant 2.
The couple’s love story started in 2002 when they dated while filming the movie Jersey Girl. They got engaged the following year but broke up in 2004 (pictured in 2003)
They rekindled in 2021 and married in a Las Vegas ceremony the following July, before throwing a lavish wedding at Affleck’s Georgia estate in August 2022 (pictured)
Speaking exclusively to DailyMail.com, a source previously claimed the pair are struggling with the fact ‘time has not changed who they are to the core.’
‘Jennifer and Ben have been on shaky ground for quite some time,’ the insider claimed.
‘Ben got into this thinking that she was this changed woman who was only concerned with love and not with fame anymore. He wants what she wants – a family and someone to grow old with.’
The insider said the lackluster response to Lopez’s latest album This Is Me Now – which celebrates the couple’s love story – and her poor ticket sales for her upcoming tour have put a strain on their relationship.
‘Since the release of her album they have been on shaky ground,’ the source continued. ‘What they both didn’t realize is that they are again facing the same issues that they did the first time they split. Time has not changed who they are to the core.’
A source recently told Us Weekly in an article published on Saturday that Affleck moved out of both his and Lopez’s $60 million LA home ‘several weeks ago.’
They insisted the pair are not currently heading for divorce.