Jennifer Lopez evolving into 'modern-day Elizabeth Taylor' after filing for divorce from Ben Affleck
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: The news that Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce from Ben Affleck on August 20 — the same day of their Georgia wedding ceremony in 2022 — was particularly upsetting.
Now the 'On the Floor' hitmaker is being compared to the late actress Elizabeth Taylor, who was infamously married eight times - twice to the same husband.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are 2020s Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton
With millions of dollars in album sales and box office receipts, Jennifer Lopez is one of the most successful performers in the world. However, her romantic life has not exactly been as successful as her professional endeavors.
Lopez recently filed for divorce from her fourth husband Affleck. The pair rekindled their romance nearly two decades after their initial relationship attempt and had been married for two years.
Celebrity matchmaker Alessandra Conti told Fox News Digital, "[Lopez] has no trouble finding love, she has trouble sustaining a long-term relationship, much like Elizabeth Taylor."
Taylor was famous for having married eight times — twice to her greatest love, Richard Burton — to seven different men.
"Married four times, engaged six times, [she] has no problem falling in love and getting to the commitment stage with a man, but it appears that she may lack the tools needed to grow with a partner past that honeymoon phase," Conti added.
JLo was already being compared to Taylor when she first became engaged to Affleck. "I'm not mad if people call me the modern-day Liz Taylor," Lopez told InStyle at the time, per Daily Mail.
The 'Atlas' actress added, "We've all had a love of our life and failed love affairs. I'm just the biggest romantic."
Those analogies will only grow louder as her fourth marriage draws to an end. Lopez and her most recent husband Affleck initially met in 2001 during the production of the film 'Gigli' and got engaged in 2002.
They were supposed to get married that year, but "extreme media attention" caused them to postpone the ceremony. Bennifer 2.0 reignited their relationship in 2021 and got engaged again in April 2022.
However, separation rumors began circulating earlier this year in May. Lopez formally filed for divorce without the use of an attorney on their second wedding anniversary.
Lopez and Affleck are considered Taylor and Burton - the famous couple who got married and divorced twice, carrying the world along for the ride as their careers collided with their complex, painful, and intense love.
Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's professional connection still going strong
Though Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck's marriage may be over, their professional connection is still going strong.
According to TIFF's official website, the former couple collaborated on the American biographical sports drama film 'Unstoppable,' which is scheduled to make its Toronto International Film Festival debut on September 6.
According to Steve Honig, the founder of PR and issue management company The Honig Company, the former couple has an "obligation" to "rise above" the personal drama surrounding their impending divorce - a concept that the late Elizabeth Taylor would all too well understand.
"The question they need to each ask themselves when making any decisions is simply what’s best for the film," Honig said to Fox News Digital.
Honig added: "This is a golden opportunity for both of them to show how they are rising above the gossip and sensational headlines and be the true professionals that they are. If Liz Taylor and Richard Burton could professionally coexist, so can Ben and Jennifer."
Taylor and Burton met while working on the iconic 1965 movie 'Cleopatra,' fell in love, and eventually got married. The two at the time were married to their respective spouses.
Lopez filed for divorce on Tuesday, August 20; while not by accident, PR expert Doug Eldridge (founder of Achilles PR) claimed that the timing is "not coincidental."
The estranged pair also collaborated on 'Kiss of the Spider Woman,' an adaption of the 1985 Broadway musical. Variety claimed that the movie's filming started in April, coinciding with Lopez's claims of the couple's covert separation. The production came to an end in June.
