Jennifer Lopez may be getting the cold shoulder from Ben Affleck, but she’s still close with her other ex husband, Marc Anthony, who a source exclusively tells In Touch has been helping her pick up the post-divorce pieces.
“Jennifer has been praising Marc to anyone that will listen,” the insider says. “She’s so grateful for how he’s helped her through this divorce from Ben.”
The “Let’s Get Loud” singer, 55, shares her two kids, twins Max and Emme, 17, with Marc, 56. The two were married for ten years, from 2004 to 2014, almost mirroring Ben’s relationship with Jen Garner, which lasted from 2005 to 2015. Though J. Lo and the “Vivir Mi Vida” singer had a relationship that went way back before they got together, first collaborating in 1999 on her track “No Me Ames.”
Despite their steaming chemistry in the song’s music video, they weren’t meant to be just yet, as Marc would go to marry former Miss Universe, Dayanara Torres, in 2000, who he eventually divorced in 2004, and Jennifer would date Ben, 52, for the first time from 2002 until they called off their engagement in 2004.
As fate would have it, Marc and J. Lo reconnected, a running theme in her love life, and ended up starting a family together. They announced their separation in July 2011, which J. Lo would go on to tell W Magazine in 2016 was a split that absolutely broke her heart.
“When my marriage ended, it was not easy to find forgiveness,” she explained. “It wasn’t the dream that I had hoped for, and it would have been easier to fan the flames of resentment, disappointment and anger.”
“But Marc is the father of my children, and that’s never going away. So, I have to work to make things right. And that is, by far, the hardest work I do,” she concluded.
Since then, the Maid in Manhattan star’s relationship with her ex husband has only grown stronger and more mature, even after her devastating divorce from Ben in August 2024.
“Marc’s proven he’s someone that she can still count on when the chips are down,” the source says. “He could have easily judged her or done the whole ‘I told you so,’ thing, since it’s no secret he’s never been a fan of Ben, but he’s been totally compassionate and supportive.”
As the insider explains, Marc is now “very happily remarried,” to Paraguayan model and Miss Universe runner-up Nadia Ferreira, “so it’s not a case of him having any ulterior motive.” Rather, the New York native is “simply there as a friend and confidante in her time of need.”
While J. Lo’s relationship with her Good Will Hunting star ex is shaky at best right now, the source notes, “Things weren’t always so rosy,” between her and Marc for many years, either, which actually bodes well for a future friendship with Ben. “They have gone through their tough times, so Jennifer is hoping that eventually she and Ben could have this sort of relationship, too.”
“The fact he’s saying such nice stuff about her publicly does seem to bode well, the problem is he’s still very distant.”
