JLo defends taking Ben Affleck’s surname
Jennifer Affleck, formerly known as Jennifer Lopez, has defended taking her husband’s surname saying it’s a “power move”.
The 53-year-old singer married Ben Affleck, 50, in an intimate ceremony in Vegas on July 17, just three months after being engaged (for the second time).
Speaking to Vogue for the December issue, Mrs Affleck said that her decision to take her husband’s surname didn’t make much of a difference.
“People are still going to call me Jennifer Lopez. But my legal name will be Mrs Affleck because we’re joined together. We’re husband and wife. I’m proud of that,” she told the publication.
“I don’t think that’s a problem... it’s not traditional. It doesn’t have any romance to it. It feels like it’s a power move, you know what I mean?
“I’m very much in control of my own life and destiny and feel empowered as a woman and as a person. I can understand that people have their feelings about it, and that’s okay, too.
“But if you want to know how I feel about it, I just feel like it’s romantic. It still carries tradition and romance to me, and maybe I’m just that kind of girl.”
Mrs Affleck then went on to divulge more details about the couple’s engagement 20 years ago and why it didn’t work out.
“We were so young and so in love at that time, really very carefree, with no kids, no attachments,” she said.
“We were just living out loud, and it turned out to really bite us. There was a lot underneath the surface there, people not wanting us to be together, people thinking I wasn’t the right person for him.
“I became very guarded because I realised that they will fillet you. I really wish I could say more. I used to be like that. I am like that. But I’ve also learned.”
The couple co-parent five children - Max and Emme from Mrs Afflec’s ex-husband Marc Anthony, and Mr Affleck co-parents Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
Image: Instagram