Ben was not shy at all when voicing his opinion on how his romance with J. Lo affected his career. “If you went by what people said … I wasn’t cool and I wasn’t talented, and I was, like, the lowest rung of cool and talented that you could possibly be in the public consciousness at that time,” Ben said. “I had broken up with Jennifer Lopez and I had, like, three or four movies in a row that had bombed.” Aw, come on Ben, that wasn’t all Jen, was it?
Ben Affleck & Henry Cavill: Pics Of The ‘Batman v Superman’ Stars
The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actor dated the singer for two years, then the two got engaged and called off said engagement in 2004. It was then that Ben had some bumps in his movie career with some SERIOUS box-office bombs, including two films he starred in with J. Lo: 2003’s Gigli and 2004’s Jersey Girl. Ben recalled being “so uncool” at the time that he was even the punch line in a United Airlines clip recorded by comedian Robert Wuhl, 64. “So that guy had to look around and go, ‘Who’s below me that I can s–t on?’ And he picked me,” continued Ben. “He did a whole bit about me that I saw on United Airlines and I [thought], This is it, it really doesn’t get much worse than this. That was where I found myself when I thought, Hey, I want to take up directing, which is for people that are taken seriously. That became my mantra — ‘I’m just going to work harder than everybody else.'”
Of course Ben has gone on to win an Academy Award for Best Picture for his work on 2012’s Argo and critical acclaim for The Town and Gone Baby Gone. And while Ben slammed Jen for adding to his previous career missteps, he praised another Jen for assisting in his later success, current wife (albeit MAYBE estranged for the moment) Jennifer Garner, 44. “My wife was really instrumental and helpful in me doing a lot of that work because I was just so focused [on it] and it was harder to balance family and all that,” he told Bill. So, one Jen was unhelpful, the other a rockstar. Who knew?
HollywoodLifers, is it possible that Ben’s relationship with J. Lo “bombed” his career? Sound off below!