A good sport. While Ben Affleck looked like he was unhappy accompanying wife Jennifer Lopez to the 2023 Grammys, he insisted it was a fun evening.
“My wife was going, and I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be good music. It might be fun,’” the Air star, 50, reflected to The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, March 16. “At movie award shows, it’s speeches and, like, sound-mixing webinars. But I thought this would be fun.”
Affleck attended the February awards show with Lopez, 53, who was there to present the award for Best Pop Vocal Album. (The golden gramophone ultimately went to Harry Styles for his album Harry’s House.) At several points in the ceremony, the camera panned to the “Waiting for Tonight” singer, who was smiling and dancing alongside her husband, who seemingly looked unimpressed throughout the evening. Instantly, memes were born.
“I saw [Grammy host Trevor Noah approach] and I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling,” the Gone Girl actor told THR. “I leaned into [Jennifer] and I was like, ‘As soon they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.’ She goes, ‘You better f–king not leave.’ That’s a husband-and-wife thing. I mean, some of it is, I’m like, ‘All right, who is this act?’ Like, I don’t keep up. My wife does, obviously.”
As the internet weighed in on Affleck’s night out, some users assumed the Oscar winner was intoxicated that night. Over the years, the Justice League alum had been candid about his journey to sobriety and his past struggles with alcohol abuse.
“I’ve gone to events and been pissed off. I’ve gone and been bored. I’ve gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch. Nobody ever once said I’m drunk. [But at the Grammys] they were like, ‘He’s drunk.’ And I thought, that’s interesting,” he explained. “That raises a whole other thing about whether or not it’s wise to acknowledge addiction because there’s a lot of compassion, but there is still a tremendous stigma, which is often quite inhibiting. I do think it disincentivizes people from making their lives better.”
Lopez and Affleck — famously dubbed Bennifer — first dated in the early 2000s but called off their engagement in 2004. Nearly two decades later, they reconciled and tied the knot twice in 2022.
Since their reunion, Lopez and the Good Will Hunting star have combined their families into a blended brood. Affleck shares daughters Violet, 17, and Seraphina, 14, and son Samuel, 10, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, while the Hustlers actress is the mother of twins Emme and Max, 14, with ex-husband Marc Anthony.
