Gwyneth Paltrow, 49, is so happy for her ex-boyfriend Ben Affleck on his marriage to Jennifer Lopez! The Oscar winning actress, who dated Ben from 1997 – 2000, shared a sweet message about Bennifer’s Las Vegas nuptials to her Instagram story on Friday, July 22. When a follower asked, “how do you feel about Ben and J.Lo,” she enthusiastically replied: “LOVE!!! SO ROMANTIC!!! VERY HAPPY FOR THEM.”
This isn’t the first time the Goop founder has commented on Ben and J.Lo’s second-chance romance. After the couple stunned on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival in Sept. 2021 — marking their first red carpet debut since getting back together — Gwyneth couldn’t resist commenting on a cute kiss photo! “Okay, this is cute,” the My Father’s Daughter author wrote with a kissing face emoji.
Gwyneth and Ben linked up romantically in 1997 when they were both 25 years old. At the time, GP was fresh out of a three year relationship with Brad Pitt, who was eight years her senior. During Gwyneth and Ben’s three-year courtship, both earned career-defining Academy Awards: he took home an Oscar for Good Will Hunting in 1998, while she was named Best Actress for Shakespeare In Love. Back in 2015, Paltrow revealed to Howard Stern that her romance with Ben fizzled as he wasn’t “in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend” — but noted they are still friends.
Jennifer Lopez was Ben’s first serious relationship after splitting from Gwyneth, which began after the duo worked on 2001’s Gigli. He originally proposed to the “Dear Ben” singer in Nov. 2002 with a massive pink Harry Winston diamond, and a wedding date was set for Sept. 2003. Due to intense media scrutiny and cheating allegations, the wedding was postponed.
Sadly, Bennifer split in Jan. 2004 and both went on to marry others: he wed Jennifer Garner in 2005, while she walked down the aisle with Marc Anthony just six months later, in June 2004. Ben’s divorce from Garner was finalized in 2017 following a lengthy separation, while Lopez and Anthony’s divorce was final in 2014, also after a years-long separation. Both relationships welcomed children: Ben is dad to kids Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10, with Garner, and J.Lo has twins Max and Emme, now 14, with Marc.
Ben and J.Lo shockingly got back together in April 2021, fresh off her split from fiancé Alex Rodriguez just weeks prior. The duo got re-engaged a year later in April 2022 — this time with a green diamond — and wed in Las Vegas, Nevada just three months later on July 16, 2022! Jennifer officially changed her name to “Jennifer Lynn Affleck” per a marriage license filing, which is exactly what she said she was going to do back in a 2003 interview with Access Hollywood.
Gwyneth also moved on after her 2000 split from Ben: just three years later, she wed her now ex-husband Chris Martin in 2003. They had two kids: Apple, 18, and Moses, 16. The couple split in 2016. She married for the second time in 2018 to producer Brad Falchuk.