Three months on from his bombshell divorce from Jennifer Lopez, insiders say Ben Affleck is getting his mojo back – and it’s all thanks to a younger woman. 

After being left licking his wounds, a source tells us that Ben has been working out and working on his flirting skills in the hope to make a success of his new romance. The identity of Ben’s new leading lady is yet to be known as an insider tells Closer that Ben’s pals are all urging him to find a new love interest in a bid to boost his confidence following his marriage breakdown – and they say Ben has his eye on landing a hot younger woman this time around. 

The insider says, ‘Ben wants to go on and find himself a hot younger chick likely in her early 30s or late 20s. The word in his social circle is that he wants a baby mama type, a serious girlfriend because he’s sober, and wants to live a sensible life now. 

‘He was always pretty cocky but since splitting with JLo that swagger has evaporated. He was so used to being this huge heartthrob; it’s a shock for him to feel so unsure and shaken.

‘He really needs a confidence boost right now and those close to him believe that landing a hot new girlfriend could be just the ticket.’ 

And despite leaving fans swooning with his iconic ‘dishevelled and moody’ vibes, the source says Ben is even forcing himself to smarten up and shape up in a bid to appeal to a younger generation of women. 

Months after his split from JLo, 55, last April, Ben, 52, was reported to have been ‘spending time’ with Kick Kennedy, the 37-year-old daughter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 

As we recently revealed, the Hypnotic actor is also keen to join a long line of potential suitors keen to meet with Hollywood’s hot new ‘golden girl’,  TheWhite Lotus star Sydney Sweeney, 27, following the actress’s recent split from Film Director Jonathan Davino. 

A source told us earlier this month, ‘Ben has been crushing on Sydney for a while. He thinks she’s incredibly hot and he’d love a chance to take her out.’ 

Nevertheless, the Hollywood dating pool is just as ruthless as the industry itself, and our insider reveals that Ben has concerns over the condition of his own net before he casts it across the famously fickle ‘fishbowl’. 

The insider says, ‘These are women that are being pursued by plenty of successful men in their own age bracket. It’s no wonder Ben’s questioning his game, the competition is fierce. 

‘When he was with JLo she was always pushing him to get in the gym and workout and that definitely made him more critical of himself. He’s been working out and dieting because he’s worried about how he’ll feel when he does actually strip down in front of a much younger woman. He doesn’t want to feel like a pot-bellied, middle-aged man.’

They add, ‘He’s starting to see himself with a much more critical eye all over, which has never been his style. It’s like night and day if you compare how he was a few years ago, before he dated JLo and now.’ 

Earlier this month Ben was unusually candid when it came to discussing his love life, admitting that he’s surprisingly awkward when it comes to the fine art of flirting.  

Discussing his character, autistic accountant Christian Wolff in his latest film, The Accountant 2, Ben confessed, ‘He wants to have a relationship with a woman, he’s trying to figure out how to do that, like, how to put yourself out there.

‘You know, he’s not comfortable extending himself. He doesn’t really know how to flirt, exactly. He’s not comfortable…like so many of us.’ 

However, for a man that’s been voted People magazine’s ‘sexiest man alive’ and GQ’s ‘man of the year’, it’s already been well-proven that anything Ben touches turns to mush. 

In turn, Ben’s ex, Gwyneth Paltrow, who he dated from 1999 to 2000, did nothing to harm the Marvel hero’s mojo, praising him as ‘technically excellent’ in the bedroom when she appeared on the ‘Call Her Daddy’ podcast in 2023. 

Yet the past two years have seen the tables turn for Ben – who was previously married to actress Jennifer Garner with whom he shares Violet, 19, Fin, 16 and Sam, 13 –  after having appeared to have ridden on JLos coattails. 

Their fiery relationship wasn’t short of tense moments, with Ben being photographed ‘slamming’ the car door during what appeared to be a heated row with JLo in May 2023, just three months after his ‘miserable’ expression at the Grammys went viral, with many suggesting JLo had ‘dragged him along’. 

‘It was more and more apparent they weren’t a good match,’ a source said shortly after their split in August last year, while Ben himself revealed just six months before JLo filed divorce that they were ‘just two people with kind of different approaches trying to learn to compromise.’ 

Letting slip that the main stumbling block to their marital bliss was JLo’s love of the limelight, he added, ‘I said, ‘Listen, one of the things I don’t want is a relationship on social media,’ And then I sort of realised it’s not a fair thing to ask. It’s sort of like you’re gonna marry a boat captain and you go, ‘Well, I don’t like the water.’’ 

Now, after having learnt the hard way through their very high profile divorce, the insider says Ben feels ‘out of his depth when it comes, not only to flirting, but knowing how to land the ‘right’ woman for him. 

The source says, ‘People forget he spent an entire two years with JLo trying to be something he wasn’t. He was henpecked. Now he wants to get out there and date and there’s no shortage of options, but he trips himself up because he’s stuck in an awkward rut that he can’t snap out of. 

‘His confidence has been shaken not just in himself, but also in his ability to pick someone that’s a good match for him. He second guesses everything and he doesn’t seem to have the magic touch he used to.’