Jennifer Lopez Reveals Why She And Ben Affleck Decided To Elope Last Year

Jennifer Lopez loves a big white wedding on screen, so many fans were surprised when she and her now-husband Ben Affleck chose to quietly elope to Las Vegas in July of last year. 

Appearing on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Wednesday, Lopez reflected on that spur-of-the-moment decision, noting that planning a larger fête with a host of guests had already created stress for her and Affleck. She also didn’t know the elopement would be happening until that very day. 

“Twenty years ago we were supposed to get married, and it kind of all fell apart back then,” Lopez said, recalling her 2002 engagement to Affleck. “And this time, I absolutely had a little PTSD. I was like: ‘Is this happening? Is this really happening?’ And we were so happy, of course it was happening, but I just felt the wedding was so stressful.” 

The turning point, she explained, took place after a tense planning meeting during which the couple was advised to consider moving their ceremony to Italy. 

“Ben just says, ‘Fuck it, let’s just go to Vegas and get married tonight,’” she quipped. “He was like, ‘Go to rehearsal. When you get back here, I’m going to have everything all set up.’ Three of our kids were at camp, two of them were with us, and he was like, ‘They’re going to be our witnesses. Let’s go. We’re doing it tonight.’ And we did.” 

Watch Jennifer Lopez’s interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” below. 

Though Affleck and Lopez were legally married in Las Vegas, they didn’t forgo a traditional affair entirely. About a month later, the couple hosted a second ceremony in Georgia attended by Matt Damon, Kevin Smith and other famous pals.

Lopez will don a wedding gown once again when she appears in “Shotgun Wedding,” due out Jan. 27. The Amazon Prime Video comedy, directed by Jason Moore, follows Darcy (Lopez) and Tom (Josh Duhamel) as an engaged couple whose destination wedding plans implode when they are taken hostage by a band of international pirates on a tropical island. 

The movie also features a scene-stealing performance by Jennifer Coolidge as Carol, Darcy’s soon-to-be mother-in-law. In her chat with Kimmel, Lopez likened the “White Lotus” star to legendary comedian Andy Kaufman. 

“It’s kind of like how her characters are, where she’s there and you’re like: ‘Is she trying to be funny or is she not being funny?’ And you don’t know to laugh or not to laugh,” she said. “And then when you see it later, it’s hilarious.”