Jennifer Lopez is single. It’s something that was speculated about for the best part of a year before the news broke that she had filed for divorce from her husband-of-two-years, Ben Affleck.

As a new divorcée in the public eye this means any man Lopez is seen with is likely to become a rumoured romance. Case in point, last week she stepped out in London with a tall, handsome stranger on her arm and reports immediately followed that she had a ‘new man’. There was even Google searches, yes really, for ‘J Lo new man’ and ‘J Lo new boyfriend.’

The actress and singer was in town for the premiere of her new film, Unstoppable, which was incidentally produced by her ex-husband. You can see, then, why her frolicking around the city with a ‘new man’ might seem like a good story – but alas, we hate to break it to you, he was just a bodyguard.

According to the Daily Mail, said ‘hunky bodyguard’ has been working with Lopez in a security capacity for about a year and accompanies her for Amazon projects. A source added, ‘He is a new addition to her security team, but he is not the only one. She has several security guards around her whenever she goes out, they are just hard to see.’

An A-list celebrity having a team of security guards is hardly breaking news. All this chatter about Lopez’s relationship status speaks to the heightened and often frenzied press attention afforded to A-list stars when they are newly single. Even though the ‘new man’ is not really a ‘new man’ at all, there is no doubt Lopez will be linked to someone else soon.

Only two weeks after her divorce from Affleck was announced, Lopez was pictured holding hands and having a deep chat with Matt Damon at the afterparty of the Unstoppable premiere in Toronto. Damon is, of course, a long-term friend and colleague of Affleck’s and it’s more than likely they were discussing the breakup, but still came whispers of their ‘intimate conversation’ which reportedly lasted ‘more than 20 minutes’.

Affleck is not immune either. He spent a noticeable amount of time at his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s house towards the end of his relationship with Lopez. Before the divorce had been publicly confirmed, various pictures of Garner and Affleck talking on the street sparked rumours that they might be getting back together. Despite the fact that they were almost always seen with at least one of their three children, or the fact they have remained close friends and co-parents since they split in 2015.

In August, it was also falsely reported that Affleck was dating American socialite, Kick Kennedy. Apparently, the pair had been ‘spending time together’ after being spotted at the Polo Lounge in the Beverly Hills Hotel, as well as ‘other locations’, and were therefore a couple. The story got so out of hand that Affleck’s representative released a statement to say ‘the rumours are not true’.

False starts and baseless rumours aside, Affleck and Lopez seem to be making a conscious effort to deescalate speculation around their divorce wherever possible. Affleck recently sung his ex-wife’s praises while discussing her performance in Unstoppable. He told Entertainment Tonight, ‘We really believe in the power of storytelling when the people involved in it are deeply connected to the story. Jennifer is spectacular. We believed in the right people.’

While last month in her first sit down interview since the divorce, Lopez touched on how difficult the past year has been and how it nearly ‘took it out of [her] for good’, but she did not go into any detail about the breakdown of their relationship. She also posted about Affleck being a ‘hero’ on Father’s Day in June, despite citing 26 April as the official date of their separation.

They are clearly trying to forge a cautious and considerate path when it comes to speaking about each other in public. If not for their own sense of peace, for the sake of their children who reportedly grew close during the course of their relationship. When Lopez and Affleck eventually move on with other people, we can expect them to do the same.

Saying that, there are no real signs to suggest either party is keen to jump into a new relationship any time soon. That’s if a year of having their every move dissected by strangers on the internet and their relationship flaunted on the front page of every tabloid wasn’t enough to put them off for life.

After all, it was only a month ago that Lopez hailed the benefits of being single. ‘Being in a relationship doesn’t define me,’ she told Interview magazine. ‘I am capable of joy and happiness all by myself.’