Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had a famous third wheel on their Malibu beach date yesterday, Affleck's longtime best friend Matt Damon, in yet another sign that Bennifer 2.0 is getting
very serious. TMZ ran photos of Damon walking with Lopez and Affleck. The two were holding hands, Lopez in a belted white dress.
Damon has been a vocal supporter of Lopez and Affleck's back-on romance. He spoke to Extraat the end of July about how thrilled he was that Affleck has found love with Lopez again. “I’m just so happy for him,” Damon said. “He’s the best. He deserves every happiness in the world. I’m glad for both of them.”
Damon joked a little about Bennifer during a July 27 interview on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle Show. “You're very happy for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez," Cagle said to Damon, teasingly. “I know you love getting asked about that.”
“Right. But how else would I be? Like, would I be unhappy?” Damon responded jokingly, “Like, 'I hate true love. It sucks. Yeah. Yeah. I wish them nothing, but you know, hardship.’”
On July 27, Entertainment Tonight got detailed intel from a source about how smitten Lopez and Affleck are with each other. “J.Lo and Ben's relationship is serious,” the source said. “They have insane, on another level, chemistry. They are both super passionate and are head over heels with each other, just like they once were. This time around, however, they both really feel like this is it.”
Lopez and Affleck first dated from 2002 to January 2004; they got engaged during that time and ultimately called off their September 2003 wedding before permanently splitting. They began dating again in May 2021.