Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez end hope for ‘quickie divorce’ as they cut off contact

It looks like Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are done trying to keep things amicable as they end their “fever dream” of a two-year marriage.

TMZ reported Monday that the estranged spouses are no longer speaking to each other, in person or on the phone — a situation that is slowing what could have been “a quickie divorce.”

“The lines of communication are closed and it’s making it difficult to hammer out a divorce agreement,” TMZ reported.

Because Affleck and Lopez have a prenuptial agreement, TMZ said, the only asset they have to divide is the lavish, six-ace Beverly Hills estate they purchased together last year — and which is now on the market for $68 million. Up to this point, neither has turned to attorneys to handle their divorce, and they’ve been leaving it to their respective business managers to work out the division of assets.

But those discussions have stopped because the lines of communications between Affleck and Lopez “have closed,” TMZ said.

The TMZ report comes amid news that the “Good Will Hunting” star has reportedly closed on purchasing a $20.5 million home — or “bachelor pad,” as the Daily Beast said — in Pacific Palisades.

Affleck also was spotted out and about in Los Angeles over the weekend, sporting a new “punk-rock” look: buzzed “faux-hawk” hair cut, leather motorcycle jacket and skinny jeans while riding around on a baby-blue motorcycle, the Daily Beast also reported. The Daily Mail called Affleck’s new appearance his “midlife crisis makeover.”

Meanwhile, Lopez has spent the past month or so away from Affleck and away from Los Angeles, hanging out in the Hamptons with friends and family, and throwing herself an over-the-top, “Bridgerton”-themed style 55th birthday party. Affleck was notably absent from his wife’s birthday party, and some gossip sites observed that the news of his new “bachelor pad” purchase broke around the same time that Lopez was posting Instagram photos of her birthday party.

Not too long ago, Lopez was promoting the idea that their romance was the “Greatest Love Story Never Told.” That was the name of the Amazon Prime documentary she released in February to accompany her album, “This is Me … Now” and her concert tour, which was supposed to launch in June. These projects were largely based on Lopez’s self-aggrandizing view of herself and of her marriage to Affleck — the idea that she had finally found the true meaning of love when they reconnected in 2021, nearly 20 years after they first dated.

But both Lopez’s professional projects and her marriage failed to reach her promotional ideal. Before she abruptly canceled her tour in June, her album had suffered weak sales and middling reviews. Then, reports emerged in May that her marriage to Affleck was in trouble when TMZ and other outlets reported that he had moved out of their Beverly Hills mansion.

It turns out that they may have separated as early as March, but hid their breakup and tried their best “to put on a united front,” Page Six reported, as she was rolling out her album and documentary and trying to generate excitement for her “This is Me Now” tour.

Certainly, as breakup rumors swirled around Affleck and Lopez in May and June, they put on “a united front” as they attended various school and sporting events on behalf of their respective children. Affleck shares three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15 and Samuel, 22. Lopez shares 16-year-old twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Mark Anthony.

As Affleck and Lopez rekindled their romance in 2021, they sought to create the ideal of a happy blended family, with all five children attending the couple’s wedding in 2022. The couple and the five children also celebrated holidays together, and Lopez and her children attended Violet Affleck’s high school graduation, even amid reports of Lopez’s marital drama with Affleck.

And even though Affleck and Lopez have stopped speaking, they’ve left it open for their children to stay in communication with their respective stepparents. Fox News Digital reported that Lopez is free to contact Affleck’s three children, and he does the same with her twins.

Over the past few months, there have been various theories offered for why this “greatest love story” couldn’t work. In one theory, Affleck suffered “temporary insanity” in rekindling his romance with Lopez, and he was now pressing for a divorce, with a source telling Page Six: “He feels like the last two years was just a fever dream, and he’s come to his senses now and understands there is just no way this is going to work.”

In another version, Affleck wasn’t fun, or he didn’t share in Lopez’s kind of fun. It’s clear that he, unlike his wife, didn’t like being the center of attention on Hollywood red carpets or at big awards events like the 2023 Grammys, when he spent the evening looking bored, exhausted or unhappy. Affleck acknowledged in Lopez’s documentary that he “didn’t want a relationship on social media,” while Lopez is always eager to use social media to enhance her brand and global fame.