On the same day Jennifer Lopez celebrated her 55th birthday, her husband Ben Affleck closed escrow on his new $20.5 мillion ‘bachelor pad.’
The Last Duel star, 51, bought his new home in the Pacific Palisades on Wednesday, July 24, as the singer marked her birthday without him.
Coincidentally, that was also the day the Hustlers star finalized the sale of her four-bedroom New York City penthouse for $23 million, according to People.
Affleck’s purcҺase came days after they publicly listed their shared Beverly Hills mansion for a staggering $68 million.
The pair have not been seen together in months amid ongoing rumors of a split and have spent most of the summer apart on different coasts.
The new home, designed by architect Cliff May, features five bedrooms, six bathrooms, breakfast and dining areas, a separate family room, den, walk-in closets, media room, powder room, guest house, and other high-end amenities.
Meanwhile, Lopez sold her four-bedroom, 7.5-bath duplex penthouse in New York City. A source told RadarOnline: ‘Ben’s decision to move into his own home is the final insult.’
This development is the strongest sign yet that Affleck’s marriage to Lopez may be heading toward divorce.
The couple listed their Beverly Hills home for sale earlier this month, after purchasing the estate for $60 million last May, but they didn’t find any immediate buyers.
They recently spent their second wedding anniversary apart amid reports that they’re living in separate homes.
While Lopez stayed in their marital home, Affleck has been living in a $100,000 monthly rental near his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s Brentwood house.
To honor her milestone birthday, Lopez threw a royal-themed early birthday bash in the Hamptons, New York, over the weekend, which Affleck did not attend.
He and Garner, 52, were married from 2005 to 2018, and they share children Violet, 18, Fin, 15, and Samuel, 12.
Reports of Affleck and Lopez’s marital troubles began circulating in May after the pair hadn’t been seen together since late March.
A source told In Touch at the time: ‘Ben already moved out, and they’ll likely have to sell the dream house they spent two years searching for. They’ll never stop loving each other, but she can’t control him, and he can’t change her. There’s no way it could have lasted.’
One of Lopez’s LA-based friends told the Daily Mail: ‘If it is only a question of putting the work in, then you had better believe that [Jen] will turn it around. She has thrown her heart and soul into her love story with Ben and will not give it up without a figҺt. From what I hear, there is still a lot of love there, so there must be hope.’
Meanwhile, Lopez is currently in New York City, after recently celebrating her birthday in the Hamptons.
After hosting a Bridgerton-themed party, where Affleck was not in attendance, Lopez thanked her fans for their birthday messages in a post.
The On The Floor hitmaker told her 251 million Instagram followers that she was ‘overwhelmed’ by the outpouring of love she has received from around the globe.
Later in her post, Lopez admitted to being ‘fragile’ and declared her fans as her ‘biggest gift.’
Earlier this summer, reports surfaced that Jen and Ben have been living apart for ‘months,’ amid speculation that they are headed for divorce.
Meanwhile, Us Weekly claimed on Wednesday that there is a ‘sliver of hope’ that Ben and Jennifer could get back together. ‘Jennifer suggested they just take time to figure it out,’ the source said.
It was also added that Bennifer 2.0 ‘still haven’t made a decision’ regarding splitting.
The duo tied the knot at A Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas on July 16, 2022. They said ‘I do’ again in a more lavish ceremony the following month in Georgia.