Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s very first encounter hinted that their romance was doomed from day one

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck parted ways in August 2024 after two years of marriage - breaking the hearts of their fans once again. 

While multiple insiders have offered several reasons for their break up, film critic and author Tim Robey hints in his upcoming book ‘Box Office Poison: Hollywood's Story in a Century of Flops’, that Bennifer’s second chance romance was doomed from the very beginning. 

In an excerpt from the book obtained by Daily Mail, Robey suggests that the fan-favorite couple’s initial romance during their ‘Gigli’ days showed enough clues to ring the doom of their ill-fated romance.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's initial romance coincided with a critically panned movie

Jennifer Lopez, 55, and Ben Affleck, 52, met on the set of ‘Gigli’ amid much fanfare. The movie did abysmally at the box office and Tim Robey criticized the film’s name for giving it a bad reputation. 

He wrote, “It’s a solid rule of thumb, when releasing a $75M crime rom-com aimed at broad international audiences, to pick a title that won’t prove entirely unpronounceable for a wide majority of punters.”

"But the phonetics for Gigli are so troublesome that Ben Affleck's Larry Gigli, a low-end mob enforcer, must give a crash course in saying his name to strangers,” noted the author, before referencing Affleck’s character trying in the movie to teach others the correct pronunciation of Gigli.

Robey further noted sagely, “So, 'Jeely' - the most notorious bomb of its day and the reason, perhaps, that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, like the movie they met on, were doomed from the very start.”

“Sony released 'Gigli' with a sinking feeling in August 2003, but they already had reasons to be jittery. The film had been subject to a lavish crescendo of bad press,” wrote the critic. 

While the film was subjected to harsh criticism, Robey wrote, Affleck and Lopez’s chemistry on the set became the talk of the town. 

“All eyes were on Affleck and Lopez, who were rumored to be getting close on the shoot, even though Lopez had been married for mere months to Cris Judd, a Filipino dancer she’d met around the time of her breakup from Puff Daddy,” wrote Robey in the book that will be released on November 5. 

He continued to dish up events from the initial days of their relationship when he wrote, “As the shoot wrapped in April 2002, Affleck took out a full-page trade ad complimenting Lopez as a co-star. Then they were all cuddles at a surprise party for her 32nd birthday that July, just two days before she filed for divorce from Judd.”

“A summer of love followed - as evidenced in the 'Jenny from the Block' video, which premiered on MTV in November 2002,” wrote Robey before elaborating on their intense romance.  

He continued, “Engagement followed swiftly, with Affleck whipping out a much-gawped-at 6.1-carat pink diamond ring that set him back around one-sixth of his 'Gigli' salary.”

However, he also noted that the media frenzy surrounding the former couple put the nail on the coffin of the film’s dismal fate. 

“The overexposure of its stars became the film’s worst enemy,” wrote Robey.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s relationship suffered from bad press of ‘Gigli’

Tim Robey further blamed the bad press surrounding ‘Gigli’ for acting as a catalyst for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s broken engagement. 

After the film bombed at the box office following its release in August 2003, the former couple postponed their September 2003 marriage, blaming the media frenzy surrounding them. By January 2004, the engagement was called off. 

“The shower of unkind publicity attending all this seems to have tarnished the Bennifer engagement, which was called off by January,” wrote Robey before adding, “Affleck went on to wed Jennifer Garner and Lopez married Marc Anthony.”

“But, to the surprise of almost everyone, there was a sequel,” continued Robey. 

However, two decades later, the ex-couple reconnected and tied the knot in 2022. Unfortunately, their relationship degenerated again, with Lopez filing for divorce on the second anniversary of their Georgia wedding in August. 

Robey lamented, “On the day they should have celebrated their second wedding anniversary, Lopez filed for divorce from Affleck, citing irreconcilable differences. This time, it didn't even take the catastrophe of a 'Gigli' to split them up.”