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Jennifer Lopez Celebrates First Anniversary With Ben Affleck By Going Full 2002

Because Bennifer Pt. II deserves “Dear Ben Pt. II.”
jennifer lopez and ben affleck
Jim Spellman/Getty Images.

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: Dear Ben…

Consider us stopped, because yes, you have. Just like you’ve heard “Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez are a couple” before. Lopez knows, and she’s leaning into the 2002 of it all.

To celebrate the one-year anniversary of her wedding to Affleck, whom she dated and was engaged to in the early aughts before both moved onto other marriages, then reuniting and finally tying the knot in 2022, Lopez teased a sequel track to the love song she dedicated to Affleck two decades ago.

Lopez shared her first musical ode to Affleck, “Dear Ben,” on the album This Is Me…Then, released in 2002. She sang, “I love you, you're perfect / A manifestation of my dreams / You make my body feel / About a million different things / There's no way I'd leave you / It's just not a reality.” As we know, despite that no-leaving pledge, the two broke up in 2004.

But! That was her then, and this is her…now. Correction, This Is Me…Now, as her upcoming album, her first since 2014’s AKA, is titled. Lopez teased the lovey-dovey lyrics to “Dear Ben Pt. II” in an Instagram caption: “Sitting here alone / Looking at my ring ring / Feeling overwhelmed / It makes me wanna sing sing / How did we end up here / Without a rewind / Oh my / This is my life…”

The track is reportedly one of nine songs dedicated to Affleck on the upcoming 13-track album. The new record does not yet have a release date.

In addition to being dazzled by her jewelry in the medium of song, Lopez shared sweet, never-before-seen snaps of the two’s wedding at Affleck’s Georgia estate, a three-day extravaganza that followed up the couple’s Las Vegas elopement. (Lest you think that Vegas wedding was chill, don’t worry, Lopez wore two wedding dresses.)

“One year ago today,” she began her caption, dotting it with a cute little white heart emoji before unveiling (because she’s a bride, see) the new lyrics. In the first photo, Affleck, in a white tuxedo with a black bow tie, has scooped his beaming bride up in his arms. In the second, the two kiss in front of a fireworks-filled sky, Lopez dripping with pearls in another bridal gown.

Sure, it’s a marker of a year since their wedding celebrations, but also a nod to the 20-plus years of history between the couple that led up to now: By tying the knot, Affleck and Lopez blended their families, with five kids between them: Lopez has twins with ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Affleck had three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Lopez called the shift “a really kind of emotional transition, but at the same time all your dreams coming true.” Oh, and Lopez is technically…also Affleck, not actually Lopez. Though she continues to be J.Lo, on the lo(w), she’s legally Jennifer Affleck. “People are still going to call me Jennifer Lopez,” she told Vogue last year, “but my legal name will be Mrs. Affleck because we’re joined together. We’re husband and wife. I’m proud of that. I don’t think that’s a problem.”

Regardless of when the album actually drops, and whether the early-aughts low-rise skinny jeans and pointy stilettos look comes back into fashion, this is Bennifer…Now.