Bennifer Breakup
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez went their separate ways on what was supposed to be their wedding weekend. Who pulled the plug on the relationship? Where did the couple really spend their weekend apart? Access Hollywood got all the details on the Bennifer breakup.
On what was to be the start of her wedding weekend, Jen boarded a plane Friday afternoon at Burbank airport without Ben and arrived in Miami later that evening.
Meanwhile Ben, who was rumored to be in Vegas, spent Friday night at Larry Flynt's Hustler Casino in Gardena, Calif.
"I said to Ben, 'You know, the guys here would rather play poker with her than you,'" Larry told Access.
Flynt said Ben stayed at his poker club gambling from around 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. "If she'll call me I'll let her know that he didn't get out of line. He was in really a truly great spirit, an upbeat spirit," said Larry.
On Saturday Jen, no longer wearing her engagement ring, spent the day at Miami Beach with some friends. Although she didn't look it, according to sources Jen was devastated at the news that Ben had broken off their wedding and was said to be in disbelief.
Later that afternoon, Jen reportedly left her heavily guarded Miami compound for pampering at the Mandarin Spa. That evening she enjoyed the nightlife at South Beach.
Ben was spotted Sunday having dinner with friends at the popular Mexican chain restaurant Baja Fresh. According to People Magazine, his decision to end his relationship came after a heart to heart with his mother. Ben seemed to be coping well though. He even stopped to sign autographs on his way out before climbing into his Rolls Royce and heading home.
According to sources, Ben called friends mid-week to let them know that he was going to call off their relationship -- something he would have known when he made the very public appearance with Jen at The Ivy the same day they announced their wedding postponement.
Donald Trump saw the footage and wasn't surprised. "I watched them walking out of that restaurant last night and that didn't look like a love fest, so something happened," Trump told Access.
Over the weekend at the Rosa Cha Fashion Show in New York, Cris Judd, the man Jen was married to before she met Ben, said he knows all too well that relationships can be challenging.
"Marriage is tough as it is, so you have to work at it," said Judd.
At the Edge-Mar Center for the Arts Event, Ben's friend Christian Slater, who reportedly was with Ben for an impromptu bachelor party at a Vancouver Strip Club two months ago, summed up perhaps what the rest of us are thinking.
"I'm pretty 'Bennifried' out. I mean, who gives a flying Affleck, that's what I say," said Slater prior to the breakup.
Jen and Ben timeline
How did the couple who were so in love just days ago end so fast? Access took a look at the timeline of how they became Hollywood's royal couple.
They first got to know each other working on "Gigli," which began shooting in December 2001. Then in March 2002, the first sign of affection came as Ben took out a full-page ad filled with lavish praise for Jen as she was honored as ShoWest Female Star of the Year.
"I just thought I'd write a paragraph saying what a professional, what a decent person I think she is," Ben told Access.
Jen was pleasantly surprised by the ad. "He's a poet. It's beautiful. I mean I was just like, 'Wow." We worked together today, so I saw it and I said, 'Thank you so much for that.' He was like, 'I mean it from the bottom of my heart. We've had a really great working experience together and people should know,'" said Jen.
Keep in mind, Jen was still married to Cris Judd at the time. But in what now may turn out to be the only interview ever of Ben and Jen together, the pair assured us there was no hanky panky.
"When did you fall in love?" Access Hollywood's Pat O'Brien asked the couple in July 2003.
"It was like we became friends first, that is the honest to God truth," said Jen.
"Yeah that is the truth," added Ben.
In April 2002, Jen opened her new restaurant Madre's. It was Ben who came up with that name. She arrived at the opening with Cris, but danced with Ben at the party. Just two months later, Jen and Cris announced they were separating.
"You know, it's just two people, it didn't work out," Judd told Access.
Ben and Jen began dating almost immediately. On July 22, 2002 in New York, Jen introduced Ben as her boyfriend. Two days later, Ben gave her a Harry Winston diamond bracelet worth a reported quarter of a million dollars and brought her a birthday cake on the set of "Maid in Manhattan." The next day Jennifer and Cris' divorce papers were filed.
In August 2002, the pair started shooting the upcoming "Jersey Girl." Then, Jen and Ben shot the "Jenny from the Block" music video where Jen's got a "rock" on her finger that's not "fooling" anyone.
It was indeed an engagement ring that she was wearing and in early November, Access broke the news that they were engaged.
The couple's first public event together was the New York premiere of "Maid in Manhattan." However, they were not interviewed together.
Next up, the radiant couple induced hysteria at Ben's "Daredevil" premiere. Then in July, Ben and Jen fever hit a new high with our exclusive interview with the couple. It was the one and only interview of them together.
Later that month, they rolled up to the "Gigli" premiere in a Rolls Royce. Finally, last Wednesday Jen and Ben made a very public appearance at The Ivy on the same day they announced they were postponing their wedding due to "excessive media attention." That outing may very well have been their last public appearance together.
