Jennifer Lopez is serving her revenge smoking hot. Not only has the recently divorced star started filming her new movie, Netflix rom-com Office Romance alongside hunky director Brett Goldstein, she’s also announced that she’ll be touring again this summer.

Meanwhile, her ex Ben Affleck, 52, whom J.Lo, 55, split from last August before their divorce was finalised in January, was photographed last week looking anxious and stressed as he puffed away on a cigarette while filming his new political thriller, Animals.

And now a source tells us that while his loved ones have been supporting Ben following the split, with his three children all attending the premiere of The Accountant 2 last week, behind-the-scenes they are demanding that he takes one big step following his marriage breakdown – and quits smoking for good. 

The insider says, ‘His children are all old enough now so he can’t really hide it. He doesn’t smoke around them, but they know the smell and they loudly disapprove. Everyone in his life nags him about it, Jennifer Garner, Matt Damon, his mom, he hears it from all sides. 

The source continues, ‘Ben has a very addictive personality and when he does something, he tends to go all in. He doesn’t just have one sneaky smoke at the end of the day, this is an all-day long thing.’

Ben has always been refreshingly candid about his battles with addiction, describing his struggle in 2020 as a ‘vicious cycle’.

The Oscar winner said at the time, ‘People with compulsive behaviour, and I am one, have this kind of basic discomfort all the time that they’re trying to make go away. You’re trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever. But that ends up making your life worse.

‘Then you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can’t break. That’s at least what happened to me.’ 

Previously checking into rehab for alcohol addiction in 2001, Ben later admitted that his relationship with alcohol began to spiral out of control again when his marriage to his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner, 53, began to break down in 2015-2016, before the pair announced their split in 2018. 

Ben – who shares Violet, 19, Seraphina, 16, and Samuel, 10, with Jennifer – checked into rehab again following their divorce after 13 years together but revealed last month that he has been sober ‘for over five years’. 

But now the source says that despite his loved ones urging him to quit smoking, Ben is still struggling to give up his last vice. 

The insider says, ‘It’s a huge struggle because Ben smokes when he’s stressed out and he’s been very stressed for a good year now. He’s finding life very stressful these days, and smoking is the last vice he has left so it’s especially hard to give up.

‘Unfortunately, his smoking habit has gotten worse since his split with J.Lo because he doesn’t have a wife to answer to. He can smoke morning, noon and night and pretty well not hear about it.’ 

However, with recent reports speculating that Ben is growing closer to Jennifer, with the pair seen hugging on a family day trip paintballing just last month, sources have also revealed that his ex is not a fan of his ‘disgusting’ habit. 

In the midst of his divorce from J.Lo in January, an insider, who said Jennifer was ‘terrified’ that Ben’s smoking will ‘kill’ him, shared, ‘She always nags him about smelling like smoke and what a gross habit it is. But her biggest concern of all is his health. She’s appalled that he’d treat his body that way.’

Ben was believed to have been leaning on nicotine gum during his two-year marriage to health and fitness fanatic J.Lo. But after moving out of their Beverly Hills mansion last June, our source reveals how the actor is struggling to curb his habit more than ever without her good influence. 

They continue, ‘He doesn’t have anyone with him 24/7, the way he did with J.Lo. As much as they clashed towards the end, for a lot of their marriage she was a really positive influence on him. 

‘She had him eating much healthier. Sure, there was still some fast food, but nothing like there was before. He has stuck with that good habit since they broke up. And he’s actually gotten better about working out, too.’ 

Now, with US insiders reporting how he was urged by those close to him to give up smoking as a New Year resolution in 2025, our source says Ben is now ‘desperate’ to stop for the sake of his children, most of all. 

Ben spoke of his concerns for his children back in 2019, when a picture of him smoking sparked the meme ‘Sad Affleck’ meme. 

At the time, he said, ‘…as my kids got older and started seeing the internet themselves, that’s the difficult part. Even the “Sad Affleck” meme – that was funny to me. I mean, there’s nobody who hasn’t felt that way at a junket.

‘But then my kids see it and I think, “Oh, are they going to think their dad is fundamentally sad or they have to worry about me?” That’s really tough.’ 

Now our source adds, ‘Ben swears he wants to quit, and he knows he has to do it as it’s not the example he wants to set for his kids. 

‘He hates that he’s causing his loved ones to worry about his health and it’s upsetting for everyone in his life to see him trashing his health with disgusting toxic smoke by choice.

‘But they can’t force him to stop. It’s actually very sad and no doubt the guilt weighs on Ben.’