Bennifer divorce announcement pending
It's Gossip Time!
Hello and welcome to Gossip Time, a weekly guide to the stars by Allie Jones. This week: an actor gets an Airstream, an actress gets a bullshit story, and Suri Cruise gets a prom date.
Paid subscribers got an in-depth look at Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest this week. Click here to catch up!
Another Friday, another opportunity for Ben Affleck and Mrs. Jennifer Lynn Affleck to make a statement to People announcing their divorce at approximately 4:59 p.m. I don’t want this to happen, but as we inch closer and closer to Bennifer’s two-year wedding anniversary with no obvious resolution between the two of them, I worry that it’s inevitable. J.Lo is on a boat in Positano by herself right now:
Affleck, meanwhile, is having cool-dad time with his son on his motorcycle stateside:
Aaaannnd he got an Airstream delivered to his $100,000-a-month rental in Brentwood. Things are not looking amazing.
According to Us Weekly, Ben and Jen “can’t get on the same page and have been discussing divorce as an option.”
Well, sure. I really hoped that after J.Lo canceled her tour (which she was always going to cancel because no one bought tickets), she and Affleck would sit down and hash out whatever is going wrong. But it doesn’t seem like that has happened. Affleck is still living in his rental, and the couple put their $60 million Beverly Hills compound — that they just bought one year ago — on the market last week. Hard to spin that one, though People tried: A source told the tabloid that the house was “way too big” for J.Lo (sure) and Affleck “never liked” it because “it's too far away from his kids.”
For the past few weeks, People has been attempting to put the happiest face possible on the Afflecks’ marital strain, but that’s just because they want the eventual divorce exclusive. (They did the same thing with Affleck and Jen Garner back in 2015.) Last week, the tabloid reported that Affleck and J.Lo were on “good terms,” whatever that means in this context. “They’re still friendly and see each other every few days,” a source revealed.
Goddammit! They are so getting divorced! I HATE THIS!!!
I perked up for a second this morning, because Affleck’s quotes about J.Lo from an interview he did on Kevin Hart’s Heart to Hart show on Peacock (which is in it’s 4th season? what?) made a bunch of headlines. He told a mostly positive story about how fans swarm her everywhere, giving no indication that the two are having trouble. But the interview was likely shot months ago — Affleck was wearing a sweater and a winter coat in the B-roll.
Should Ben and Jen make an announcement in my off hours, I will attempt to start an emergency chat on the Substack app to discuss. (Memo to me: Figure out how to do that.)
One couple that should get divorced but probably won’t: Justin Timberlake and Jessica Biel. After Timberlake’s mortifying DWI arrest in the wee hours of Tuesday morning in Sag Harbor, “sources” have been going to every tabloid in circulation with Biel’s take on the matter. It sounds like she found out through…the news? But that’s okay, she’s fine.
“She was shocked to hear the news and had no idea as she was working,” a source told Us Weekly. “She was really worried about him.” Biel has been filming a new TV series with Elizabeth Banks in Manhattan while her husband has been partying in the Hamptons for no reason.
Another source told People that Biel is “not happy” about the arrest, but that she insists Timberlake is a “great dad and husband.”
Maybe that’s because Timberlake told her he was “barely drinking,” per Us Weekly. “Justin was at dinner with friends and he wanted to enjoy some downtime and have fun,” a source said. “He and his friends didn’t even really drink that much so they were shocked he was pulled over.”
We still don’t know who these “friends” were, by the way. And is it shocking to get pulled over after you run a stop sign and start driving in the wrong lane? Whatever: Biel “always gives Justin the benefit of the doubt,” the source continued.
Timberlake is scheduled to get back on tour tonight in Chicago. Do you think Biel will fly in to support him?
STUFF BY HILARY DUFF: I keep forgetting and then remembering that Hilary Duff’s new baby’s name is Townes Meadow. I love it.
Finally, I must leave you with the news that Suri Cruise went to prom:
Remember when she was on the cover of every tabloid for wearing high heels at age 3? (They were actually “ballroom dancing shoes for kids,” per Katie Holmes.)
Thanks so much for opening this email. And thank you especially to paid subscribers! Your contributions keep this operation running, and I love you.
Further reading:
Not gonna lie, I still miss Suri's Burn Book.
2024 America needs Bennifer to stay married like 2008 America needed Jennifer Aniston to have a baby