Jennifer Lopez’s latest movie, Atlas, might mark the end of happier times in her marriage to Ben Affleck.
Lopez’s Netflix film, which began streaming on May 24, centers around a brilliant data analyst (Lopez) who harbors a deep distrust of AI. After a mission to capture a rogue robot (Simu Liu) goes wrong, she must rely on AI to save humanity. The AI character Smith is voiced by Gregory James Cohan in the final cut, but Affleck, 51, stepped in to provide the voice when needed.
Sterling K. Brown, who co-stars with Lopez, 54, in Atlas, shared with Entertainment Weekly about Affleck’s behind-the-scenes contribution. “Occasionally, Ben would read the lines for Smith. I think the newlyweds, still very much in love, just wanted to hear each other’s voices,” Brown, 48, explained. He noted that Affleck’s involvement positively impacted Lopez, adding, “Sometimes, her reactions were genuinely because she was listening to her husband’s voice.”
Affleck’s participation in Lopez’s projects isn’t new. Earlier this year, their romance was highlighted in This Is Me … Now: A Love Story. This stylized portrayal of Lopez’s life, which accompanies her latest album, delves into their relationship amidst self-help parodies and sci-fi segments. Lopez credited Affleck for motivating her to pursue the project.
“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this,’” Lopez recalled at a February press conference. “He told me, ‘You do, you write, direct, produce, choreograph. Start owning who you are.’”
Lopez has praised Affleck’s dedication to the project. “We collaborate very well together,” she told Entertainment Tonight in December 2023. “We could sit down and really dig into it in a way no other writer could with me.”
A source exclusively told Us Weekly that Lopez “couldn’t have wished for anyone else” to collaborate with her on the Prime Video release, adding, “No one knows her better than Ben.” Lopez felt “grateful” to have Affleck’s support, with the source noting, “He helped her feel safe to share parts of herself no one has ever known.”
However, since the film’s release on Prime Video, their marriage has been in the spotlight for less favorable reasons. Another source told Us Weekly that the couple has hit a rough patch.
“Jen and Ben are having issues in their marriage,” the insider revealed earlier this month. “They started having problems a few months ago when Jen began increasing her work commitments and preparing for her tour.”
The source mentioned that Lopez is “very focused on work” as she gears up for her This Is Me … Live tour next month, adding, “They are on two completely different pages most of the time.”
While neither Lopez nor Affleck have addressed the rumors directly, Lopez did respond to the speculation at a promotional event in Mexico, saying, “You know better than that.”
