After spending almost the entirety of last year’s coronavirus lockdown holed up together in Los Angeles, Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas have reportedly ended their relationship. The fallout from the split falls in line with typical breakup behavior — one person just debuted a new ‘do, and the other is getting rid of everything that reminds them of their ex.
Over the holiday weekend, sources close to Affleck and de Armas confirmed that the A-listers had indeed gone their separate ways. According to one source, the breakup was amicable but happened because the stars simply weren’t on the same path anymore.
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"Ben and Ana have split up, and Ben is single,” the insider shared with ET Online. “They had little arguments and bickered like any couple but ultimately the relationship just wasn’t working in the way they both wanted it to anymore. This was a mutual decision."
“They both have a lot of love and respect for each other, but it was time for them to move on," explained the source. "At the end of the day, he chose to be the dad he continues to want to be. Unfortunately they are in different places in their lives.” Refinery29 has reached out to both parties for comment, but did not hear back at time of publishing.
Affleck and de Armas were just shy of their one year anniversary. The exes met on the set of the 2019 film Deep River and were rumored to be dating by March 2020. The next few months saw the couple making the most of the pandemic by spending time together; traveling to Costa Rica, being snapped by paparazzi during midday walks, flirting on Instagram. They didn’t ever officially confirm their relationship — de Armas played coy when talking about Affleck in her April 2020 Spanish Vogue cover story — but they also didn’t go to any lengths to hide what was going on.
Months later, BenAna has officially split, and the newly single stars are going about their business. They seem to be handling the breakup very differently, too. As many people might do after ending a long term relationship, de Armas is spending time with her family in Cuba, and she just got breakup bangs. As for Affleck, he’s doing a deep clean of his house, and the first thing that has to go is the very thing that reminds him the most of his ex-girlfriend: a literal life-size cardboard cutout of de Armas.
A masked man (who many assume to have been Affleck’s brother Casey) was photographed tossing the memorabilia straight into the trash can on Monday, January 18. The scene raises many questions, the most pressing being “Why did Ben have a whole cutout of Ana just chilling in his house?” Affleck’s three children, whom he shares with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, were even seen playing with the cutout over the summer, but it looks like those days are over now. Back to normal toys, kids.