Jennifer Lopez Previously Said She Wanted to Take Ben Affleck’s Last Name in 2003: ‘Gotta Make Sacrifices’

usmagazine.com:

Always part of the plan. Jennifer Lopez previously confirmed wanting to take Ben Affleck‘s last name during their initial engagement in the early 2000s.The Marry Me actress, now 52, spoke about making the change to her legal moniker — but keeping her stage name — during a conversation with Pat O’Brien as part of the July 2003 feature Ben & Jen: A Dateline Special. “I think I’m going to stay with Jennifer Lopez, but my name will be Jennifer Affleck, obviously,” the Grammy nominee said while cooking in her kitchen.Upon realizing that the abbreviation for her married name would be “Jaff,” the New York native teased, “It doesn’t have quite the same ring to it, but you’ve gotta make sacrifices!”O’Brien reassured Lopez that Jennifer Affleck is “a good name,” and she wholeheartedly agreed. “It’s not bad,” she said. “I’ll take it.”The couple — known by fans as Bennifer — were engaged from 2002 to 2004, but they ultimately pulled the plug on their wedding days before the September 2003 ceremony due to overwhelming media attention.

Lopez went on to marry Marc Anthony, with whom she shares 14-year-old twins Max and Emme. The Argo director, for his part, was married Jennifer Garner from 2004 to 2018.

Affleck and the Juno star, 50, share Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, and son Samuel, 10.Nearly two decades after their initial romance, the Town actor and the “Let’s Get Loud” singer rekindled their old flame.

Us Weekly confirmed in May 2021 that the pair were “full-on dating,” and Affleck proposed the following April.“I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again,” Lopez gushed in her “On the