It has been a week since Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez called off the celeb merger of the year, but the madness lingers.
There's a new report Wednesday on the possible "whys" behind the wedding postponement/reputed breakup, plus word of one reporter who ended up in police custody in pursuit of the phenomenon known as Bennifer.
First up: The latest Us Weekly, on stands Friday, says the couple, which survived the bomb that was Gigli, blew apart for good--"It's Over!, a cover headline declares--due to an argument on Sept. 8, less than a week before the scheduled ring exchange and two days before they announced they were pulling the plug on their party due to "excessive media attention."
Us apparently doesn't say what the instigating tiff was about, although it suggests that Affleck's fondness for high-stakes casinos may have been a sore point between the stars.
For those keeping track at home, it has also been reported by various outlets that the wedding was nixed because Lopez, 33, opted to follow the advice of her psychic; Affleck, 31, opted to follow the advice of his mother, Chris, as well as pal Matt Damon; and/or, Affleck opted to follow his cold feet out the door.
According to Us, Affleck, who paid a well-documented visit to a Canadian strip joint in July, has been spotted at big-money tables at Los Angeles-area establishments such as Larry Flynt's Hustler Casino at least twice this month. One such visit, to Flynt's house of cards, came last Friday, it says.
For those still keeping track at home, Friday was two days after the postponement, and one day after Affleck and Lopez, a supposed still-cozy duo, were out dining at Hollywood power eatery, the Ivy.
Us, like People before it, isn't buying into the Ivy photo op. Both mags portray two-time divorcée Lopez as the teary-eyed party in what they, and many media sources, say is a definite bust-up.
"She wants to sit on the couch and cry," a Lopez friend tells Us. "If she goes out, it's only because her girlfriends want to get her mind off the heartache."
At least she'll always have second ex-husband Cris Judd. "She has my number if she wants to call me," the dancer/choreographer tells Us.
Last weekend, when Lopez and Affleck were supposed to be getting married before 400 guests and fellow movie stars, in Santa Barbara, California, Lopez was spotted, sans Affleck and sans her Affleck-gifted 6.1-carat engagement ring, in Miami; Affleck was spotted, sans Lopez, at Las Vegas' Hard Rock Hotel and Casino.
Even as their respective reps continue to deny knowledge of a permanent split and TV's Extra cautions that reports of their romantic demise are "premature," sources tell E! News Live that the super-couple unit remains geographically apart.
It is "100 percent confirmed," according to the sources Wednesday, that Lopez is still in Miami, and Affleck still is not. At last word, the Pearl Harbor flyboy had ditched Vegas for Georgia, where he owns an 86-acre plantation on Hampton Island, near Savannah.
It was at Affleck's estate Sunday morning that a People magazine reporter found himself in southern discomfort.
Don Sider, a 40-year veteran of Time, Inc., publications, on assignment to cover the wedding-that-never-was for People, was arrested for allegedly trespassing on a private construction road near Camp Affleck. The 70-year-old journalist faces a misdemeanor charge. The police report on the bust is published on the Smoking Gun Website.
On Wednesday, People spokeswoman Dianne Jones referred to the incident as "a misunderstanding."
Sider drove his car onto the road in an attempt to turn around after failing to reach someone at the Affleck property via a security-gate phone, Jones said. While on the road, his car's tires became stuck, so Sider called an emergency auto service. The mechanic, upon arriving and seeing the road marked with "no trespassing" signs, subsequently called the cops, Jones said.
"It's a little thing that got blown up," Jones said.
Sounds familiar.