Ben Affleck Details “Respect and Admiration” for Ex Jennifer Lopez

As he put it, “At the end of the day, it’s just a bunch of people voting on movie prizes.”

This is far from the first time that the Good Will Hunting alum has sang the praises of the Maid in Manhattan star. In fact, he even supported Lopez—to whom he was engaged in the early aughts before their reunion two decades later—at the premiere of the film last year and emphasized it was one of her best performances thus far. 

“Jennifer is incredible in this movie,” the Gone Girl star told E! News at the time. “She’s fabulous. And it’s an enormously difficult—it’s all these masters, so it’s not edited in such a way where you can make a little mistake here and there in the dance. It’s singing and dancing and acting and also trying to hold together these multiple tones in the movie. That’s just probably the maximum level of difficulty for a performer.”

For the 54-year-old—dad to Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13, with ex Jennifer Garner—it was not at all a question for him and producing partner Matt Damon to attach their names to the project. 

“She’s amazing, spectacular and I’m thrilled to be a part of it,” he said. “She pulls it off with grace and aplomb and she’s wonderful. I love her performance in the movie.”

As he put it, “This role, she was just clearly born to play.”

Lopez, meanwhile, admitted that the role also provided a “refuge” during the final months of marriage to Affleck, whom she tied the knot with in 2022 before splitting up two years later. 

“It was every moment on set and every moment I was doing this role, I was so happy,” Lopez detailed to CBS Mornings in an interview last September, “And then back home, it was not great.”

Still, the 57-year-old believed that the struggle was worth the payoff. As she put it, “Honestly, I have to say it was the best thing that ever happened to me.”

For a look back on Affleck and Lopez’s love affair, keep reading…