UPDATE 8/27/24 12:45 pm EST:
Affleck’s rep has since addressed the dating speculation, telling Us Weekly on Tuesday, August 27: “There is no truth to any of it. I don’t know if they even know each other. Ben is not dating anyone.”
Original story below:
Ben Affleck has not moved on from his estranged wife, Jennifer Lopez, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter Kathleen “Kick” Kennedy.
“Ben is not dating Kick,” a source told Us Weekly, adding that Affleck, 52, “might know her in passing.” The insider noted that Affleck is “not dating anyone.”
Rumors of Affleck and Kick spending time together swirled after Page Six reported that the duo had been spotted at Beverly Hills Hotel’s Polo Lounge and “other hotspots.”
The news that Affleck is not currently dating comes less than one week after Us confirmed that Lopez, 55, filed for divorce from the actor. Per a Los Angeles court filing on Tuesday, August 20, Lopez and Affleck’s actual date of separation was April 26.
Reports had surfaced that their marriage was on the rocks for months, but Lopez waited until their two-year anniversary of their wedding to make things official and end their marriage. (Lopez and Affleck exchanged vows during a Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022 before saying “I do” in Georgia the following month on August 20.)
“The timing of the divorce was a big f—k you to Ben,” a Hollywood insider exclusively told Us.
A separate source noted that Affleck and Lopez “had gone through all the details” of their separation before she filed to end their union.
“They had already agreed to these terms before she filed,” the insider explained. “J.Lo finally pulled the trigger because that was their agreement that she would file, and she was the one who ultimately made the decision.”
Aside from Lopez and Affleck’s shared Beverly Hills home, which they purchased together in May 2023 and put up for sale in July, the source noted that “there’s really nothing else to divide.”
“One person doesn’t want more than the other,” the insider said. “They both came in with significant assets of their own.”
Ahead of their split, a separate source told Us that Affleck and Lopez tried to “make it work” by trying couples therapy. “It was more and more apparent they weren’t a good match,” the insider said. “It boiled down to [the fact that] they are two different people.”
Per the source, Lopez and Affleck chose to part ways after they realized they weren’t aligned. “She came to the realization things weren’t going to change and they were incompatible,” the insider added. “Spending time apart — it became obvious it wouldn’t work.”
Affleck and Lopez were first linked in 2001 after meeting on the set of Gigli. The pair got engaged in 2002, but called off their wedding the following year. In 2004, they announced their breakup.
Lopez wed Marc Anthony in 2004, but the twosome ultimately split in 2011. Lopez and Anthony share 16-year-old twins Emme and Max. Affleck, for his part, tied the knot with Jennifer Garner in 2005. The exes, who revealed their decision to split in 2015, share children Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.
