Bennifer's tale of doomed lovers is the stuff of legend. It's ridiculous. It's brilliant. It lets people make impulsive decisions that only the rich and famous can afford.
June 23, 2024, 6:00 AM(Has been updated 6:01 AM)
Poor, poor Jen. “poor”As I write this, Jennifer Lopez is probably lounging deckside on a luxury boat in the Mediterranean, sipping champagne that cost about the same as a small down payment on a house.
Still, with the paparazzi chasing her around Italy, I find myself softening a little for her as she appears to be trying to get a brief respite from the media storm following rumors of an impending split from boyfriend Ben Affleck, to whom she has been married since 2022.
What melted my frozen heart wasn't her possible heartbreak — anyone who knows Jennifer Lopez knows she's no stranger to short-lived, hectic relationships — but the tide of public opinion turning against her, largely because of Jennifer Lopez herself.
Shortly after the tour was canceled (in her words to be with family, and in the public eye due to rumors of sluggish ticket sales), a strange and little-seen film project This Is Me…Now: A Love StoryA making-of documentary with a disappointing title The greatest love story that was never told As she speaks about her life, her relationship with Affleck, and the rumors of divorce, it seems the false authenticity that Jennifer Lopez has always hidden has started to crumble, and we've had fun watching it crumble.
We've mocked her performative gestures, her insistence on reminding us yet again that she hails from the Bronx, her desperation to portray herself as a folksy woman despite being in the public eye for far longer than she ever was, and watched her recite mundane stories about enjoying mundane food from a local bodega (a corner store to us) as if they were revealing some unexpected secret from her dramatic past.
While we were filming her American Idol In 2014, she proudly showed up at her childhood home only to have the older man who now lives there stare blankly back at her when she shyly introduces herself as “Jennifer” and responds, “Who's Jennifer?” Readers, he still doesn't recognize her, even when she tells him her full name.
Throughout nearly her entire career, she's reminded us time and time again that she's “the real deal,” that she's “Jenny from the block,” and that she “knows where she comes from.” (Those last two examples are from the same song, but you get the point.) Whether promoting movies, releasing albums, or doing red carpet interviews, J.Lo is always keen for everyone to know she's “the real deal,” all while decked out in expensive jewels and designer clothes. usuallyAnd while none of us have ever really bought into it, there was a time when that level of hyperbolic delusion was worshipped — well, at least, in a Y2K sense.
That worship, and that obsession with exposing female celebrities as difficult divas, was misogynistic, but somehow it was also a mark of celebrity approval: Celebrities didn't necessarily have to be considered good people to feel they had earned their place in Hollywood.
In fact, we seem to enjoy shows that remind us that, for better or worse, our lives couldn't be more different. Baby cribs And if there's any opportunity for a behind-the-scenes glimpse of stardom we can get our hands on. Celebrities' clumsy attempts to suggest otherwise (see J.Lo's 1999 straight-up hit “I'm Real”) were part of the pretentious package.
I hate to go back to that era, but I think there's one thing worth bringing into the 2020s: If all famous people were likeable, the world would be a totally boring place. It would be even more boring if they didn't make the impulsive decisions that only the famous and the rich are allowed to make.
Bennifer's tale of doomed lovers is the stuff of legend. It's ridiculous and wonderful. If these two do end up divorcing, here's hoping they'll remarry in 10 years' time in a much more spectacular way, sparking yet another breakup rumor mill.
J.Lo's bombastic, unrelatable choices and pretentious personality are the perfect symbol of a bygone era of unapologetically naive public figurehood, and I think we need to be honest with ourselves about that.
We don't necessarily need to celebrate celebrities' embarrassing or immoral life choices, but let's not pretend that their less risky choices aren't entertaining, sometimes for their very absurdity.
