Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck have reunited publicly for the first time since their divorce on the red carpet for the premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman in New York City.
The “On the Floor” hitmaker, 56, and Good Will Hunting star, 53, filed for divorce in August 2024, with Lopez calling the split, which was finalised in January, “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
Nevertheless, Lopez and Affleck looked surprisingly cordial as they celebrated Bill Condon’s remake of the 1976 novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, in which Lopez stars as the titular character.
“She’s amazing in the movie,” said Affleck, whose production company Artists Equity is one of the producers behind the film, gushing about his ex-wife in an interview with Extra.
“I just can’t wait for you, the audience, to see the movie. I’m as proud of this movie as any that I’ve ever been involved with. I’m really excited to be here tonight,” he said.
Affleck also praised Lopez’s work ethic, saying: “Early on in Jennifer’s involvement in this… she just was going to give it her all and she did.”
He continued: “She worked enormously hard. You get to see all of her many gifts. She’s somebody who grew up watching classic musicals.”
Condon’s Kiss of the Spider Woman is set in 1981 during Argentina’s Dirty War and follows prisoner Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) who fantasises about sharing a cell with actor Ingrid Luna (Lopez).
The director has previously made musicals, including Chicago and Dreamgirls, in one take. “I was like, ‘F*** me! I better get it right then,’” Lopez said of the challenge.
Lopez and Affleck’s reunion comes after Lopez explained that she learned so much from the split that she now sees it as one of the most positive experiences of her life in September.
“Because it changed me. It helped me grow in a way that I needed to grow,” the actor, who was working on Kiss of the Spider Woman while her marriage to Affleck was coming to an end, explained.
“It was a really tough time. Every moment on set, every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy, and then it was like, back home, it was not great. And it was just like, ‘How do I work inside of this?’”
Lopez and Affleck had previously been engaged in 2002 after a whirlwind romance. They rekindled their relationship in July 2021 after almost 20 years apart and married in a Las Vegas wedding a year later.
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