Why Ben Affleck Wasn’t With Jennifer Lopez at the 2023 Met Gala or After Parties

Jennifer Lopez gave the world a pleasant surprise yesterday when she attended the Met Gala and an after-party in two gorgeous ensembles, despite being photographed with her husband Ben Affleck in Beverly Hills on Saturday.

Affleck didn’t wind up joining her for the New York City festivities despite attending with her before in 2021, but there’s no drama behind the absence. The Daily Mail reports that Affleck was unable to go only because he had “work commitments he could not get out of” in Los Angeles.

Lopez instead brought her sister Lynda Lopez as her plus one to Casamigos’ Met Gala after-party. Lynda shared a photo of their night out on Instagram, writing, “#Aboutlastnight Stayed up late wayyyy too many nights this week… #mamasnightout ❤️” Lopez appears with her in the second slide of the carousel:

On the Met Gala red carpet, Lopez wore a custom Ralph Lauren halter dress with a black top and light pink skirt and accessorized with a black fascinator in her hair and opera gloves. She responded to reporters who shouted, “Mrs. Affleck!”

For the after-party, Lopez switched into a classic black and white look. She wore a Ralph Lauren blazer, white blouse, and a dark skirt with a high leg slit and topped it off with Lorraine Schwartz jewelry.

Though Affleck wasn’t with Lopez at the Met Gala this year, he did join her at the Grammys, where he went viral for his facial expressions.

He reflected on that experience to The Hollywood Reporter, saying, “I had a good time at the Grammys. My wife was going, and I thought, ‘Well, there’ll be good music. It might be fun.’ At movie award shows, it’s speeches and, like, sound-mixing webinars. But I thought this would be fun. I saw [Grammy host Trevor Noah approach] and I was like, ‘Oh, God.’ They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling. I leaned into her and I was like, ‘As soon they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.’ She goes, ‘You better fucking not leave.’ That’s a husband-and-wife thing. I mean, some of it is, I’m like, ‘All right, who is this act?’ Like, I don’t keep up. My wife does, obviously. And yeah, it is your wife’s work event. And I’ve gone to events and been pissed off. I’ve gone and been bored. I’ve gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch. Nobody ever once said I’m drunk. [But at the Grammys] they were like, ‘He’s drunk.’ And I thought, that’s interesting. That raises a whole other thing about whether or not it’s wise to acknowledge addiction because there’s a lot of compassion, but there is still a tremendous stigma, which is often quite inhibiting. I do think it disincentivizes people from making their lives better.”

Senior News and Strategy Editor

Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.