Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner Decided to End Their Marriage Years Earlier Than Fans Originally Thought

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner separated in 2013, not 2015, according to Affleck's 2022 marriage paperwork.

The end of Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck’s two-year marriage has captivated fans for months. Now that Lopez has officially filed to end the union, it’s impossible not to notice some of the inconsistencies in other romances the pair had before tying the knot. For example, did you notice that Ben Affleck and his first ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, decided to end their marriage years before announcing it to the public?

Ben Affleck listed his separation date from Jennifer Garner as 2013

It would seem that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner weren’t totally honest with their fans about their separation and subsequent divorce. The couple ended their union years before they announced their separation to the public. According to paperwork Ben Affleck filled out before his marriage to Jennifer Lopez, Affleck and Garner considered themselves separated in 2013. In his marriage license application, Affleck stated that his first marriage ended in 2013, not 2015. The application requires applicants to list when their previous marriage ended, not the finalized divorce date.

The date struck fans as a bit odd. Affleck and Garner announced their plans to divorce in June 2015, just one day after their 10th wedding anniversary. The duo’s divorce was mostly amicable, with the former pair maintaining a friendly relationship for the sake of Violet, Fin, and Samuel Affleck, the three children they share. Still, the divorce took time to work out. It was finalized in 2017.

Reddit users quickly pointed out that, in hindsight, there were hints that things weren’t right between Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner before they announced the end of their marriage. They pointed toward his awkward Oscar speech as proof that the former couple were clearly on the outs in 2013.

Jennifer Lopez’s date of separation aligns with her Marc Anthony divorce announcement

Ben Affleck wasn’t the only one filling out divorce information on the marriage application. Jennifer Lopez also had to list the date that her previous marriage ended. Her provided answers line up with the timeline the public is familiar with. Lopez listed the year of her separation from Marc Anthony as 2011. 2011 was the year she announced the end of her seven-year marriage to the public. Anthony and Lopez finalized their divorce in 2014. They officially filed for divorce in 2012.

Marc Anthony and Lopez have spoken about their marriage and its demise over the years. In 2016, Lopez told W Magazine that divorcing again wasn’t the “dream” she had hoped for, and she had to work to find forgiveness so she and Anthony could co-parent their children effectively. Anthony previously said that the end of their marriage was not “scandalous” and that they had come to a mutual decision that things were not working. The former couple share twins, Emme and Max Muniz.

Anthony went on to marry twice more. He was married to Shannon De Lima from 2014 until 2017. He married Nadia Ferreira in 2023. Lopez’s marriage to Affleck was her fourth.