Simu Liu came to Jennifer Lopez’s defense when she was cornered with a question about her marriage to Ben Affleck.
While promoting their film, Atlas, in Mexico City on Wednesday, May 22, Lopez, 54, was asked by a reporter whether she’s “divorcing” Affleck, 51. A video shared by Glamour México y Latinoamérica via X showed Liu, 35, stepping in.
“OK, we’re not doing that,” he said. “Thank you so much, guys. We really appreciate it.” Lopez waited for a beat before saying, “You know better than that.”
Liu went on to address the person who asked the question. “Don’t come in here with that energy, please,” he added. The interview was wrapped up immediately after the awkward exchange.
The actor also praised Lopez. “If I could just end on one thing. “Jen is a producer on this movie and the reason why I’m here and the reason why Sterling [K. Brown] was in this beautiful movie was because Jen cares,” he said.” Jen cares about things like representation and diversity — and she’s a boss!”
Lopez, who looked touched, thanked Liu for his kind words.
Atlas follows a brilliant data analyst (Lopez) with a deep distrust of AI. After a mission to capture a renegade robot goes awry, she must use AI to save the future of humanity.
Despite trying to keep the focus on her project, Lopez’s personal life has been making headlines amid rumors of issues between her and Affleck. A source exclusively told Us Weekly that the twosome recently hit a rough patch in their relationship.
“Jen and Ben are having issues in their marriage,” the insider explained earlier this month. “They started having issues a few months ago as Jen had started ramping up work commitments and prepping for her tour.”
According to the source, Lopez is “very focused on work” ahead of her This Is Me … Live tour next month, adding, “They are on two completely different pages most of the time.”
Affleck and Lopez have been photographed together as people continue to question their relationship status. Affleck and Lopez have been seen with and without wedding rings in recent weeks, with Affleck now hiding his hand from photographers during a Wednesday outing.
Lopez and Affleck reconnected in 2021 after breaking off their engagement in 2004. The pair went on to tie the knot in Las Vegas in July 2022 and had a second ceremony the following month. Since rekindling their romance, Lopez and Affleck have blended their families. (Lopez shares 16-year-old twins, Max and Emme, with ex-husband Marc Anthony while Affleck is dad of three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: Violet, 18, and Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.)
Earlier this year, Affleck was by Lopez’s side when she released her This Is Me … Now: A Love Story movie.
“I was like, ‘I don’t write, I don’t do this,’” she recalled at a press conference in February. “He was like, ‘You do, you write, you direct, you produce, you choreograph, you do all the things. Start stepping into that, start owning a little bit of who you are.'”
Lopez continued to gush about her and Affleck’s enduring love, telling Variety that same month, “I’ve been on this journey, and I’ve been trying to figure it out. Now I feel like because Ben and I have rediscovered each other — and now that we’re married — I have something to offer. This is the defining piece of work that’s going to close that chapter so I can move on to the next part of my life.”
