Bennifer--the couple, the box-office tandem, the tabloid staple--is no more.
Some four months after nixing their lavish nuptials, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have split, her camp confirmed Thursday.
"Jennifer Lopez has ended her engagement to Ben Affleck. At this difficult time, we ask that you respect her privacy," a spokesperson told E! News Live.
Affleck's rep declined comment. "As usual, we never comment on our clients' personal lives," Ken Sunshine said.
The breakup comes amid gossip-page speculation that Lopez has recoupled with ex-boyfriend Sean "P. Diddy" Combs. Both Combs and Lopez have denied recycling their relationship.
The new Us Weekly pegs Tuesday as the exact day that Bennifer became undone. The magazine, due out Friday, described the split as mutual. But it also cited a source as saying Lopez, now sans her 6.1-carat engagement ring, "was tired of waiting for [Affleck] to come around." The 33-year-old Wedding Planner star was said to be anxious for marriage and a baby, while the 32-year-old Affleck was said to be not.
It was just last September that the whole media world was watching Santa Barbara, California, where Lopez was to wed Affleck before family, friends and Matt Damon.
But four days before the ceremony, the couple announced they were postponing the shindig. The official story was that Affleck and Lopez believed their "joyful and sacred day" had been spoiled by "excessive media attention."
The unofficial story was (take your pick): (a) Lopez was upset she couldn't corral Affleck's casino and/or clubbing ways; (b) Affleck wasn't ready for groomdom; (c) Affleck's mom and/or Matt Damon were positive Affleck wasn't ready for groomdom (and told him so); (d) Lopez and Affleck were going to elope.
The two kept up appearances following the never-was marriage--enjoying a photo-op at Beverly Hills restaurant here, taking in a Boston Red Sox playoff game there.
As recently as New Year's weekend, the couple was spotted at a Las Vegas wedding chapel. But while Britney Spears celebrated 2004 in Sin City with a walk down the aisle (and a sprint to the annulment lawyer), Affleck and Lopez were merely putting in an appearance to help drum up business for a pal, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.
On January 14, Lopez was spotted at a Miami nightclub, the Opium Garden, in the company of a new (old) leading man--Combs. The two dated from 1998 to 2001, with Lopez managing to squeeze in the hip-hop mogul between her two short-lived marriages.
Combs portrayed their Miami meeting as nothing more than a coincidence. "She's in a relationship that she's very happy in. I'm in a relationship I'm very happy in," Combs told Access Hollywood. "We're friends."
Lopez confirmed her engagement to Affleck in a prime-time interview in November 2002.
The two met in late 2001 on the set of Gigli, their summer 2003 box-office bomb. They confirmed their couple status while working on Jersey Girl, the Kevin Smith comedy-drama due out March 19.
While the pairing brought them power-couple status, their inescapable Bennifer-ness began to overshadow their individual careers. Affleck, in particular, has had a rough last six months.
In July, the National Enquirer caught him enjoying a night out at a Canadian strip joint (all innocent, he insisted). In August, Gigli opened and closed, with the $50 million movie "grossing" just $6 million. In December, his sci-fi thriller Paycheck opened and languished, with the $60 million movie taking in $51 million through last weekend. Adding insult to injury, the original posters for Paycheck featured a drawing of an anonymous male, rather than a photo of the real-live Affleck.
"It certainly looks like he has some image-fixing to do," Henry Shafer, of the research firm Marketing Evaluations, told the Wall Street Journal last month.
Affleck will next be seen as a solo act in the holiday-themed comedy, Surviving Christmas. Lopez steps out of Bennifer with Richard Gere in the Hollywood remake of the hit Japanese romance, Shall We Dance?