Jennifer Lopez & Ben Affleck Make Out On Instagram For Her Birthday

As someone who has passionately kept up her fandom for Jennifer Lopez since school — I used to tell people I wanted to be J.Lo when I grew up — I wasn’t surprised to see the multi-hyphenate post a bikini-clad thirst trap for her 52nd birthday this Saturday. If you’re someone who follows Lopez, you know she loves a swimsuit photo.

What I didn’t expect, as I slid through Lopez’s latest Instagram gallery, was the final swoony image of her and long “rumoured” boyfriend Ben Affleck making out on a yacht. While Bennifer’s reunion has been breathlessly covered since their first trip to Montana this spring, Lopez herself has remained playfully mum about it. Yet the silence is over. Seventeen years after their initial breakup, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck are an official couple, straight from their own mouths (or, well, her Instagram) — and it's sealed with a kiss.  

In smart celebrity fashion, Lopez gave the smallest of hints that her gallery was hiding a romantic image of her and Affleck, who have been suspected of rekindling their relationship since April when Lopez and ex-fiancé Alex Rodriguez split. “5 2 … what it do …,” Lopez wrote, with an extra heart emoji after the ellipsis. The heart, it seems, is a nod toward Affleck, who holds Lopez in a passionate embrace for the final snap. 

It is difficult not to wonder if Affleck feels overdressed, kissing Lopez in a full button down and what appears to be khakis while she sports a Hot Girl Summer-approved patterned bikini, diaphanous sheer coverup, and sky-high wedges. We do not get any information on Affleck’s yacht footwear, since he does not appear, at all, in Lopez’s photoshoot video from her birthday, which she posted after the kissing photo.  

At least we know Affleck matched Lopez at Leah Remini’s birthday party last month. Remini’s Instagram earlier this week marked Lopez and Affleck’s first official sighting on social media, although it did not come from either of them. Remini’s video shows various photos and videos from her celebration. At the 32-second mark, you can see Lopez, her best friend Remini, and Affleck all smiling for a photobooth picture together. Lopez’s sister Lynda Lopez can be seen in two subsequent party photos, hinting that some members of the Lopez family have spent time with J.Lo and Affleck as a present-day couple. 

Now, it feels like only a matter of time until Lopez urges Affleck to get an Instagram of his own — if only so they can be official over there too.