T.J. Holmes and Amy Robach are still rooting for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck post-divorce.
During the Thursday, January 16, episode of their “I Do Part 2” podcast, Holmes, 47, and Robach, 51, explained why Lopez, 55, and Affleck, 52, were their “big breakup.”
“I was holding on to them [getting back together] until they asked the judge to sign off on the divorce,” Holmes said before joking, “I sent a letter to the judge asking him to not sign off on the divorce.”
Robach recalled Holmes claiming that “someone was going to back out of it” before the divorce was official, adding, “We were rooting for them and we are always rooting for love. But sometimes rooting for a person means also saying, ‘Sometimes you’re better off not together.’ And that is the truth.”
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While Holmes agreed with Robach, he explained why he wasn’t giving up hope.
“Obviously, we talk about Jennifer and Ben here. That was a love story that’s been going 20-plus years,” he said. “We talk about the movies she made with him and them and you’re just like, ‘Wow, love is amazing.’ … I’m still hoping they’ll get back together a third time.”
Robach acknowledged that it was a possibility. “Who’s to say? If they could wait 20 years, maybe they just need for their stars to not be shining so brightly,” she noted. “The public pressure of a public romance is real and it’s tough.”
Affleck and Lopez were first linked after meeting on the set of Gigli in 2001. They were initially engaged from 2002 to 2004 but never walked down the aisle. Nearly two decades later, Lopez and Affleck reunited in 2021 after her split from ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez. Affleck proposed for a second time in 2022, and the couple got married in Las Vegas that summer before celebrating their union with a second ceremony.
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Us Weekly confirmed in August 2024 that Lopez filed for divorce, listing their date of separation as April. News of the pair’s split came after months of speculation about Affleck and Lopez’s relationship, and their divorce was finalized earlier this month.
Holmes previously expressed his disappointment after Lopez filed for divorce.
“3:22 a.m. is when I messaged you,” Holmes said during an August 2024 episode of his and Robach’s podcast. “I messaged you, ‘Good morning. I am so sad. First thing on my phone is about J. Lo filing for divorce.’”
He added: “It just sucks, man. This was it. This was one I could look at and go, ‘You know what, the timing wasn’t right … and then finally, the time is right, and this is it, and this is gonna work.’ Damn, I was rooting for them.”
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Holmes and Robach later showed their support when Affleck and Lopez were photographed spending time together for lunch with their children. (Affleck shares kids Violet, 19, Seraphina, 16, and Samuel, 12, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, while Lopez shares 16-year-old twins Max and Emme with ex-husband Marc Anthony.)
“Look, they’ve blended their families for two years and apparently — in a very lovely way — the kids have all gotten along and apparently miss each other,” Robach noted in a September 2024 podcast episode. “I think it’s a nice thing at the very end of the day that they were all coming together for their kids.”
Holmes agreed with Robach while showing his support for a potential reconciliation. “If there’s hope for those two getting back together, I will forever be in support of Ben and Jen,” he noted at the time.
