Ben Affleck Was Disturbed At How The Media Attacked First Romance With Jennifer Lopez

Hollywood stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez got engaged for the second time a few months ago, with the Batman star proposing on one knee to take their romance to the next level.

The two met on the set of the rom-com "Gigli" in 2001, and by August of that year, they had become on o of Hollywood's hottest couples. They announced their engagement in November 2002, when Affleck proposed to the singer with a $2.5 million 6.1-carat pink diamond.

The engagement, however, ended partly owing to overwhelming media intrusion, and the two went on to marry other individuals, have kids, and also divorce those partners. In the 18 years since Lopez and Affleck first met, a lot has changed, and the actor has now opened up about the heavy public scrutiny the couple underwent in the early years of their relationship.

During their initial run, Lopez and Affleck were called "Bennifer" by the media, and rumors about their relationship were widely circulated in the tabloids. Although the majority of their followers felt they were the perfect pair, the media was largely negative of their relationship.

Affleck said he was astonished by the abuse hurled at him and the singer in the tabloids while starring in Lopez's new Netflix documentary "Halftime.".

"I said to her once, 'Doesn't this bother you?'" Affleck said. "And she said, 'I'm Latina. I'm a woman. I expected this. You just don't expect it. You expect to be treated fairly.'"

Even though Lopez claimed that being besmeared in the tabloids did not bother her, the constant onslaught eventually wore them down, with the pair then going their separate ways but remaining as close friends.

"Our relationship did suffer because of that," Lopez told Hello Magazine years after her first split with Affleck. "That was one of the reasons. I mean, I would never blame the media for anything, but it definitely played a part in the dynamic of our relationship."

Apart from his feature in Lopez's documentary, Affleck had previously aired his grievances against the media on their treatment of Lopez as a guest on The Hollywood Reporter's "Awards Chatter" podcast sometime last year.

"People were so f--king mean about her," he said. "Sexist, racist, ugly, vicious s--t was written about her in ways that if you wrote it now, you would literally be fired for saying those things you said. Now she's lionized and respected for the work she did, where she came from, what she's accomplished, as well she fucking should be."

At some point, the actress even considered leaving Hollywood as she got fed up with the constant hawk-eyed criticism of her work and relationship by the media.

"No matter what I achieved, [the media's] appetite to cover my personal life overshadowed everything," she said in the documentary. "I believed a lot of what they said, which is that I wasn't really good."

During her February cover story for Rolling Stone, the singer and dancer also reflected on those dreadful moments of media criticism that became a constant feature in her and Affleck's relationship at the time.

"It was brutal," Lopez told the publication about her and Affleck's mistreatment by the media in the early 2000s. "It's one of those things that you bury very deeply so you can move on. We were so in love, it was one of the happiest times of my life. But we were being criticized."

Lopez's Latin ancestry was insulted by the press, according to the publication. Following her 2002 romance film "Maid in Manhattan," one media also noted how "Ben Affleck sleeps with the help," referencing Lopez as the maid. Conan O'Brien once claimed he'd cast "our script intern" as Affleck and "our cleaning lady" as Lopez for a sketch, while "South Park" allegedly labeled her a "mean-spirited b—-h.".

Fortunately for the pair, fate lured them back into one other's arms to reignite their long-dormant love. The pair spent last summer on various European holidays enjoying each other's company, and in September, they walked the red carpet together for the first time as a rekindled couple at the Venice International Film Festival for the premiere of "The Last Duel."

Their new romance entered a new phase as Affleck proposed to Lopez for the second time, this time with a stunning green-hued diamond ring that was equally as pricey as the pink diamond he gave her the first time.

The couple's history has taught them valuable lessons about how to handle their relationship now. They have yet to officially announce a wedding date, but they are anticipated to do so much sooner than later.

Lopez's "Halftime" is now available for streaming on Netflix.