It seems that there’s trouble in paradise for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. At least, that’s what the internet has been saying for the past few days.
Sadly, multiple news outlets suggest that things may not be looking good for the power couple, affectionately referred to as ‘Bennifer’.
Rumors of a potential split have slowly been intensifying as new details come to light.
Last week, Ben Affleck was spotted driving in Brentwood, Los Angeles. According to TMZ, the actor was leaving a house where he had apparently been staying alone. The following day, paparazzi caught him again, leaving the same location.
Affleck, once more riding solo, was reportedly not seen at the $60 million Beverly Hills estate he shares with Jennifer Lopez the previous evening. This absence has led some fans to express their dismay over the potential breakup.
“Why are they breaking up?” a sad fan wrote on X.
Another fan expressed their shock at the breakup rumors, saying on Facebook: “Noooooo!!!!!!!!!!! This can’t be happening!!!!!”
Similarly, someone else simply commented: “That’s not true.”
However, others are less surprised by the rumors… One person even claimed they expected this outcome all along.
“I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if they have secretly split. I knew from the moment they got married, it [would] not be till death do us part. This is her fourth marriage, how is it truthful on her vows?” an X user wrote.
Meanwhile, a hopeful fan chimed in with: “I hope things work out between them!”
Further complicating the couple’s relationship status is the fact that Affleck and Lopez have not been publicly photographed together for over a month. The last time they were seen together was on March 30, holding hands in New York City.
Lopez stayed in New York in April and May to promote her upcoming Netflix movie, Atlas. She was also preparing for and attending the Met Gala as a co-chair, without Affleck.
While Lopez was occupied in New York, Affleck was on the West Coast reportedly filming The Accountant 2. He also attended Tom Brady’s comedy roast on May 5, without Lopez.
Commenting on Lopez’s demeanor during her big night at the Met Gala, one Facebook user wrote: “She looked super stressed and tired at the Met Gala. I figured it was […] her tour rehearsals and filming … Maybe it was this … I root for them.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” replied one user. Another added: “Agree! She looked awful, stressed, and strained. Did not look herself at all.”
A third wrote that the actress “seemed off.”
Mary Lou Retton Has Pneumonia and ‘Is Fighting for Her Life,’ Daughter Says
The gymnastics champion sprang to stardom at the 1984 Olympics, where she became the first American woman to win a gold medal in the all-around competition. Her family is raising money online, saying she lacks health insurance.
May Lou Retton at the 1984 Olympics, where she won five medals.
Mary Lou Retton, who became one of the most popular athletes in the country after winning the all-around women’s gymnastics competition at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, has pneumonia and is “fighting for her life” in the intensive care unit, her daughter said in a statement this week.
Retton’s daughter McKenna Lane Kelley said on Instagram that her mother “is not able to breathe on her own” and that she had been in the intensive care unit for more than a week.
Kelley asked for donations to help pay for her mother’s hospital bills, saying her mother lacked health insurance. By Wednesday, she had raised more than $260,000 online from more than 4,600 donors.
She did not share more specific information about her mother’s condition, though she said that her pneumonia was “a very rare form.” It was not clear what hospital Retton was in.
Kelley, who was a gymnast at Louisiana State University, did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, another daughter, Shayla Kelley Schrepfer, released a video on Instagram thanking people for “all the love and support that you’ve given to my mom.”
“She’s still fighting,” Schrepfer said. “It’s going to be a day-by-day process, and we hope that you guys will respect her boundaries, as we want to keep the details between her and our family right now. She has been treated with the best of the best professionals here, and it has been such a blessing to have their hands on her.”
At the 1984 Olympics, Retton became the first American woman to win the all-around gold medal or any individual Olympic medal in gymnastics. Going into the final rotation of the competition, she was five-hundredths of a point behind Romania’s Ecaterina Szabo, and the only way she could beat Szabo was to score a perfect 10 on vault.
Retton scored a perfect 10.
She won five medals in Los Angeles, including two silvers, for team and vault, and two bronzes, for uneven bars and floor exercise.
Though there was an asterisk by Retton’s victory in the history books — the Soviet Union, which was the most dominant force in women’s gymnastics at the time, boycotted the 1984 Games — it nonetheless made her a sports hero in the United States. In addition to earning her the traditional trappings of Olympic gold, like appearing on a Wheaties box, she was widely viewed as an inspiration to a new generation of American girls entering gymnastics.
Even as the American gymnastics program grew and the country won more medals, including the team gold in 1996, Retton’s prominence remained: For 20 years, Retton, now 55, was the only American woman to win the all-around title, until Carly Patterson became the second in 2004.
Retton was born in Fairmont, W.Va., and got her start early, like many top gymnasts. By the time Retton was 7 years old, she was training in gymnastics full-time.
Retton’s talent had been apparent from the start, but a big break came at an Olympics elimination tournament in Reno, Nev., in 1982, where she impressed Bela Karolyi, who would go on to coach her in the 1984 Olympics.
“I immediately recognized the tremendous physical potential of this little kid,” Karolyi said in a March 1984 interview.
Retton appeared in a number of films and TV shows in the late 1980s and 1990s, including the comedy film “Scrooged.”
After her athletic career, Retton became a motivational speaker to promote the benefits of proper nutrition and regular exercise.
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