Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s divorce was finalized in February—and now, Affleck wants to clarify the reason the two ended their marriage. He recently told GQ in March that it’s probably not the story people are expecting.

Opening up about the breakup for the first time, The Accountant 2 star explained that fans won’t find the cause of his divorce in Lopez’s documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told, where he spoke about their relationship. In fact, there was no major blowout moment, he shared with GQ.

Addressing the public’s interest in what happened, Affleck said, “I guess there’s a tendency to look at breakups and want to identify root causes or something. But honestly... the truth is much more quotidian than probably people would believe or would be interesting. Yeah, there’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue.”

jennifer lopez and ben affleck

“There is no: ‘This is what happened.’ It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do,” he continued. “It’s really, it sounds more like a couple’s therapy session, which—you would tune out of someone else’s couple’s therapy after a while. For one thing, you start going, ‘Okay, clearly this person has got these issues. Clearly they have these issues.’ And the reason I don’t want to share that is just sort of embarrassing. It feels vulnerable.”

Affleck also talked about what it was like participating in The Greatest Love Story Never Told, which covered the making of 55-year-old Lopez’s album This Is Me...Now. The 52-year-old began:

“Part of it was, ‘Okay, if I’m going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that’s interesting.’ Because I thought it was an interesting examination. Like I mentioned to you before, there are a lot of people who I think have handled celebrity more adeptly and more adroitly than I have, Jennifer among them. My temperament is to be a little bit more reserved and private than hers. As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things. And so I thought, Oh, this is interesting because how do you reconcile that?

“Because exactly what you said is true. “I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that. And I think the thing that I said in that documentary or the piece that they used was where I said, You don’t marry a ship captain and then say, ‘Well, I don’t like going out in the water.’ You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship. And I think it’s important to say that wasn’t the cause of some major fracture. It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had.’”

In a second conversation with GQ included in the same interview, Affleck clarified that he didn’t mean any disrespect to his ex-wife. “When you asked me about Jen and the documentary and I talked about that and my sort of personal life a little bit, which I don’t mind doing as long as my actual feelings and intentions and beliefs are communicated, which I hope I was clear that really this is somebody I have a lot of respect for,” he stressed. “And I get wanting to divine or explore the kind of differences in perspective that we have in terms of how a person feels comfortable approaching the line between public and private life. But I really hope that whatever you use doesn’t suggest that I have any negativity or judgment or anything regarding that. I have nothing but respect.”

Affleck also spoke a little about his other ex-wife Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three kids, in the article. He praised their relationship, saying, “I’m really lucky that I have a really good co-parent and partner in Jennifer Garner, the kids’ mom, who’s wonderful and great and we work together well.”

From: ELLE US
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Alyssa Bailey
Deputy Editor, News and Strategy
Alyssa is the Deputy Editor, News and Strategy, at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she's not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take outfit pics of her, and exploring New York City.