Netflix “banned” questions about Ben Affleck in order to prevent Jennifer Lopez from being embarrassed as she promotes her new movie, Atlas, amid their marital issues, an insider exclusively tells In Touch.
“Jennifer doesn’t want any more embarrassing questions asked about the status of her marriage,” the source exclusively tells In Touch, adding that the streaming service was on board with questions about Ben, 51, being off limits.
The insider shares that Jennifer’s costars Sterling K. Brown and Simu Liu are “backing her up during their film’s press tour.”
“You can feel the energy in the room, though. Everyone is looking to see if she’s wearing her wedding ring or cracks in her demeanor,” the source continues.
The insider notes that it is “a bit annoying that people are more interested in Jennifer’s marriage than the film,” though says that the situation is “completely understandable.”
“She’s promoted and gushed about her and Ben’s romance so much that her fans feel obligated,” the source explains. “You can’t blame them. They truly want to know what’s going on.”
Jennifer, 54, has been attending promotional events alone, though she noticeably wore her wedding ring while walking the red carpet at the premiere on Monday, May 20. Meanwhile, the Wedding Planner actress slammed a reporter who asked about her and Ben’s issues during an event on Wednesday, May 22. “You know better than that,” she said while shutting down the question.
Jennifer has been promoting the film after In Touch exclusively revealed that she and Ben are “headed for a divorce” on May 15. An insider shared that Ben moved out of their shared home, and insisted that he was “not to blame” for their issues.
“He’s focusing on his work and his kids now,” the source said at the time. “Ben already moved out and they’ll likely have to sell the dream house they spent two years searching for. They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.”
One day after news of their problems broke, Ben and Jennifer were spotted together for the first time in 47 days when they attended his child Fin’s school play on May 17. The Gone Girl actor sat behind the wheel of his SUV, and photos exclusively obtained by In Touch showed him leaning across the vehicle to open the passenger side door for Jennifer. They were also joined by her child Emme, 15, who sat in the back of the car.
Despite appearing as a united front during the outing, another insider exclusively told In Touch that Jennifer has hired “crisis PR to help navigate” the split and “a divorce filing is imminent.”
Meanwhile, Ben has fueled the split rumors by ditching his wedding ring during several public outings. He was previously spotted without the accessory when he picked up one of his kids from a recital at their school on May 17. More recently, Ben opted to not wear his ring while on set of The Accountant 2 on Thursday, May 23.
