Their three-year-long on-again-off-again relationship was a central topic in the 90s.
Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow may have had a short-lived romance, but 20 years on and they
are still getting asked about it. The actress hasn’t been shy to let anyone who asks know
exactly what she thinks about her ex-boyfriend and well… most of it isn’t great. From why Gwyneth
needed to be a stripper to be with Ben, to why her parents were happy they broke things off.
It was 1997 when Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow were thrown together by fate. Well, actually
they were thrown together by the notorious producer Harvey Weinstein. He had a dinner
party and invited the young actors to break the ice before they co-starred in the film Shakespeare
in Love as romantic interests. The film would land Paltrow her first Oscar and a boyfriend.
Harvey Weinstein played an important part in Paltrow’s career, according to her, without him,
no one else would have hired her. Eventually, the disgraced producer would make a pass at the young,
22-year-old actress in a hotel room. At the time, she was dating Brad Pitt who stood up
to Weinstein for her. Regardless, the actress continued to work with him and even thanked
him in her Oscar’s acceptance speech. Affleck and the Sliding Doors actress would
also go on to star in the romantic comedy Bounce together. From what everyone could see, the young
couple were head over heels for each other. But as beautiful and accomplished as they both were,
Beneth was, sadly, not built to last. So, in 2000, the couple officially called it quits.
“Ben makes life tough for himself. He’s got a lot of complications, and you know, he really
is a great guy. So, I hope he sorts himself out. I just think we have a very different sort of
value system,” she said about the split. At the time her and the actor got together,
Gwyneth was fresh out of a long-term relationship and engagement to Brad Pitt another future
A-lister, and Ben was pretty much a rebound. The actress dished on Pitt and Affleck during a
radio interview with Howard Stern. She claimed Pitt was "too good" for her when they dated.
Not only that, but her split from him actually upset her parents. Her father
was especially devastated when they broke up because he loved Pitt like a son.
However, her parents didn't mourn the end of the romance with Ben in a similar manner — not
by a long shot. They were never quite sold on the union, and never expected it to last,
but their thoughts weren’t all completely bad. "I think my parents appreciated how he's super
intelligent and he's really, really talented and so funny,
but he was not in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend. I think they were OK with the
two of us not being together,” she said. Yeesh! Her parents weren't the only people who preferred
Pitt to Affleck. During a July 2016 event with close friend Mario Batali, Paltrow told the
audience, "Batali was just teasing me about every boyfriend I brought to Batali's restaurant Babbo
over the years. He liked Brad Pitt if you want to know. Didn't like Ben Affleck that much.” Ouch!
The Gone Girl actor has been pretty tight-lipped about his relationship with Paltrow.
However, during a Good Morning America appearance, while they were dating, Affleck said he believed
Paltrow's perfect man would be someone like her dad. In contrast, she joked Affleck's
ideal woman is "any sort of stripper at Scores" or "anyone that serves cold beer in a bikini."
Although, Gwyneth does still hold her former beau in high esteem and apparently,
they are still friends. “I still like him,” she said. The actress has been a frequent
guest on The Howard Stern Show, and this is where she usually opens up about her past.
In 2015, Stern asked about her relationship with Affleck and if she had even been in love with him.
"How did you know not to marry him? You were never in love with him," he said.
And a shocking question got a relatively shocking answer from the star.
The Politician actress thinks that there are certain boyfriends where you are trying to
work stuff out. Specifically, you’re trying to heal certain stuff from your childhood.
“He was very much a lesson in that way. I'm not sure exactly what I was trying to
heal in that instance, but it was... he was, you know, it was specific," she said. Well,
it’s always great to learn a lesson when you don’t understand what you were meant to learn, right?
During the same interview with Howard Stern, Paltrow was asked if they ended on bad terms
because of that stripper comment. She didn't retract her statement, instead she said,
"Well, that was true at the time." Gwyneth discredited her own taste in
men during her twenties, admitting she was more shallow at the time.
Besides her completely bashing her ex-boyfriend 15 years on,
she did have some nice things to say about him, well, more about his then-wife Jennifer Garner.
"But he's settled down, and his wife is awesome. I had her over for a girls dinner because they’re
my neighbours. She is so beautiful and warm, an amazing cook and great mother," she said.
Even with the shade Paltrow has thrown at Affleck throughout the years, she at least thinks that her
former flame has great taste in women now. Having your ex as a neighbour, that might be… fun?
Looking back, the actress certainly sees the importance of her relationship with Affleck.
She needed that at that time of her life so she could discover what it was she wanted out
of her next partner and also what she could do differently. But other than that, the split was
hardly a bump in the road for either of them. In fact, it propelled them both forward and closer
to happiness. Since dating Paltrow, the actor began dating Jennifer Lopez and the couple were
engaged by 2003, but they broke up a year later. Unfortunately, just as the couple was riding the
high of their engagement, things quickly came crashing down. Ben and Jennifer Garner worked
together on the movie Daredevil and while filming the co-stars fell for one another.
So all that chemistry you see in the movie, that's all real. He called off his engagement with Lopez,
and Garner filed for divorce from her husband, Scott Foley. By 2005, the Daredevil co-stars were
married. They then divorced in 2018, but they continue to co-parent their three children.
Ben went on to date SNL producer Lindsay Shookus , and then spent some time with
Playboy model Shauna Sexton. At least he was trying to find love, right?
In 2021, J Lo and Affleck rekindled their relationship almost 20 years after calling
it quits. This time, they weren’t going to waste any time because in July 2022, they were married.
The world is obsessed with Bennifer’s relationship and couldn’t be happy that their favourite couple
from the 2000s is back together. Possibly, forever. Reflecting back on when she first
met Ben, Jennifer said, "I felt like, 'Okay, this is it. But sometimes I feel like what you think
people are and how you see them when you love them is different than when they reveal later."
Gwyneth also gave her seal of approval for the Bennifer romance. Her ex posted a photo
to Instagram of him and his wife, and the Iron Man actress commented, “Okay, this is cute.”
Fans lost their minds because they loved seeing exes being supportive of one another…
They must have missed all of Gwyneth’s interviews when she slammed Ben.
After dating Affleck, Paltrow met Coldplay frontman Chris Martin, whom she married in
2003 and welcomed two children, Apple and Moses, with. Though she and Chris “consciously uncoupled”
in 2014, they remain close — as in, like siblings – her words, not ours. That isn’t weird at all,
right? She is now married to Glee producer, Brad Falchuk and is happier than ever.
Even though Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck have long moved on since their relationship,
they still get asked about one another and their other respective exes.
For what reason, who knows? Maybe it’s because people still want to see the pair together.
Whatever it is, there doesn’t seem to be one specific reason for the split between Gwyneth
and Ben, they simply weren’t right for each other. The actress has made it clear that they weren’t a
good match… many times! We are happy to see that they have both found love since and remain civil
with one other. Let us know in the comments below what your thoughts on this couple are.
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