Jennifer Lopez Is Either Mad or Not Mad

How is Jennifer Lopez feeling today? It’s a question I have on a post-it stuck to my bathroom mirror to remind me of my priorities soon after waking, but it’s also the subject of this morning’s blog post. Life can be funny that way.

Earlier this week, Ben Affleck appeared on the Howard Stern Show and spoke candidly about his past with alcoholism, and his past with Jennifer Garner. It seems, according to Affleck, the former was a direct result of the latter. “I'd probably still be drinking,” he said, referring to an imagined future in which he is still married to Garner. “It's part of why I started drinking … because I was trapped. I was like, 'I can't leave 'cause of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."

Ben Affleck was roundly criticized for seemingly blaming his alcoholism on the woman who, even after they’d divorced, picked him up Jack in the Box while driving him to rehab. Not a great look. But how does his current girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, feel about the interview? According to one Page Six source, she’s pissed.

“[Lopez] is pissed,” said the source. “She is getting pulled into this because she is dating him. She doesn’t want to be dragged into this. She has met Jennifer Garner. She is trying to get to know her and Ben’s kids.” The source added, referring to Affleck: “It’s reckless and cavalier of him.”

Seems like she’s pissed, then? Well — not so fast. According to a second Page Six source, that’s simply not true.

“This is simply not true,” said this source, “and the focus is on the children.”

Well, well, well. Sort of a two-door riddle situation. I never particularly understood how to solve that riddle, though, so you’re on your own. If it helps, the couple held hands yesterday while Ben Affleck was on his way to a Jimmy Kimmel taping, and in at least one photo Jennifer Lopez gazed upon Ben Affleck with sort of a smile.

For his part, Affleck addressed the Stern interview during the Kimmel interview, blaming the press for mischaracterizing his remarks. "I had gone on and said how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first," Affleck said, criticizing blogs and the like for glomming onto that one part "just made me out to be the worst, most insensitive, stupid awful guy."

And I, too, always hate it when the things I say publicly make me look bad. But, you know, that’s at least in part why I have that post-it. Helps me orient myself.