Ben Affleck enjoyed a dinner date with his eldest daughter, Violet, on Saturday — and the Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker was spotted walking through Los Angeles sans wedding ring.
Affleck, 51, was photographed heading to Tasty Noodle restaurant with his 18-year-old daughter, rocking a black-and-white plaid overshirt, a white T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers.
Despite going out sans ring on Saturday, the Last Duel star was seen sporting his wedding band again on Sunday when heading to his office.
Affleck shares Violet with his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner — along with daughter Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12. Affleck and Garner, who tied the knot in 2005, announced their separation in 2015 and filed for divorce in April 2018. Their divorce was finalized the following October.
Now, Affleck is rumored to be headed towards another divorce from wife Jennifer Lopez.
Several days before Affleck’s weekend dinner date with his daughter, photos and videos obtained by TMZ last Wednesday showed the “Jenny From the Block” singer, 54, at a hotel in Positano, Italy, where she appeared to be vacationing solo.
The trip comes as the actress/singer has faced months of reports that she and Affleck are on the outs. The pair — who tied the knot in a Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022 — have presented a united front in recent weeks, even as whispers have said they are headed for a split.
At the end of May, one source close to the couple told ET that Affleck and Lopez were all too aware of their issues and were desperately trying to save their marriage.
“Ben and Jen don’t want to get divorced,” the source shared, adding the pair “are saying they won’t, but their relationship is simply not working at this point. They aren’t done yet and want to fix things because they love each other, but they are also both unhappy.”
Just weeks later, another source told ET that while they had not thrown in the towel on “the greatest love story never told” quite yet and that they were desperate to “fix things,” they were living apart and operating almost completely independently.
Despite the rumors of marital trouble, Affleck and Lopez have continued to be seen out and about together, often wearing their wedding rings.
Affleck also addressed his marriage to Lopez during a recent episode of Kevin Hart’s talk show series on Peacock, Hart to Heart.
While he didn’t address any of the speculation or reports of troubles in his marriage to Lopez, he did marvel at just how much of an impact she has on her fans.
“She’s so famous… [and] people love her, and she really represents something important to people,” Affleck told Hart. “[With me,] people are like, ‘Hey, I like your movie.’ [But] then they’re like ‘AAAHHHH! J.Lo!,'” he exclaimed. “It’s amazing.”
Affleck recounted an experience in which he and Lopez were joined by all five of their kids — including Violet, Seraphina and Samuel, as well as Lopez’s 16-year-old twins Max and Emme, from her marriage to Marc Anthony. The entire group was headed to a play in New York, and traffic in Times Square was packed.
“We were going to a play, and I was like, ‘F**k it, babe, we’re going to be late, we gotta walk a block and a half.’ And she was like, ‘All right.’ She didn’t say s**t,” he recalled.
However, that particular plan didn’t take into account the fervor that would be generated by Lopez walking down the street with her kids in public.
“So we get out with her, all the kids, through Times Square, and the s**t was like f**kin’ bananas. I was like, ‘Oh my god,'” Affleck continued. “There was a lady, she was smoking weed, in a full purple skintight suit… and she starts running backwards filming, going ‘J.Lo!’ Like a herald.”
“That then gets everyone else, and then all the tourists come in,” he continued. “So then we’ve got our five kids, it’s me and Jen and what feels like hundreds of people, and they’re all screaming!”
Amid their ongoing rumored rift in their marriage, ET learned earlier this month that the couple is quietly trying to sell the $60.8 million estate that they bought together in May 2023. The couple is working with The Agency on the sale, and Lopez has been spotted looking at other properties in recent weeks.
Additionally, Lopez revealed in late May that she would not be embarking on her previously announced 30+ city tour, This Is Me… Live, in support of her new album, This Is Me… Now.
Lopez expressed her apologies in a message to her fans via her OntheJLO newsletter on May 31.
“I am completely heartsick and devastated about letting you down,” she wrote. “Please know that I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t feel that it was absolutely necessary. I promise I will make it up to you and we will all be together again. I love you all so much. Until next time…”
A source tells ET at the time that the singer canceled her tour because “she wants to focus on her family and the stress from it has been a lot for her.”
For more on Lopez and Affleck’s relationship, check out the links below.
RELATED CONTENT:
#Ben #Affleck #Ditches #Wedding #Ring #Dinner #Date #Daughter #Violet #Jennifer #Lopez #Vacations #Italy,
#Ben #Affleck #Ditches #Wedding #Ring #Dinner #Date #Daughter #Violet #Jennifer #Lopez #Vacations #Italy