Ben Affleck has hailed his ex-wife Jennifer Lopez a "pioneer" who he "learned a lot" from.
The Animals actor-and-director has an "enormous respect and regard" for the career of the Hustlers star - who he married in 2022 but split from two years later, 20 years after they had called off their first engagement - and thinks she works harder than anyone he's ever met.
Speaking on iHeartPodcasts’ My Cultura Network podcast The Moment with Jorge and Paola Ramos, Ben said: "It would be hard for me to sum up briefly the things I got to learn from knowing Jennifer and witnessing her.
“You have to understand, I think to understand Jennifer Lopez, honestly, is to understand somebody who really is a pioneer who did things when he was told they’re not possible and you’re not welcome and by kind of force of will.
“And even when there were gates that were erected in front of her, she was able to use social media to demonstrate, ‘Actually, look at this, there is an audience for me and for what I’m doing.’ Her whole sort of career has been marked by — and this is a tough business, anyway — but definitely doubly so for her, triply so, and I think you have to afford her the credit of a kind of. . . they give an Olympic diver a degree of difficult. I think she’s got a 4X on what she’s done."
Ben, 54, hit out at the double standards Jennifer has faced.
He continued: “Personally, there are many things that have nothing to do with any of this, but in terms of professionally, watching her do what she does, I think that she’s exposed to a degree of criticism — still — that I think in which there is an implicit or at least subconscious double standard.
"I stand in enormous respect for what she’s been able to achieve, and she’s always done it by saying, ‘Even if nobody else believes in me, I’m going to bet on myself.’ She’s also taken real risks, invested her own money, she’s done all the things that we’re told, ‘This is what great American entrepreneurs do.’
"She’s done them to spectacular success and I have nothing but respect for her.
“She also is probably the hardest working person that I’ve ever known. I feel like I work pretty hard, but around her, I’ve always thought like, ‘Woo, damn, you know, that’s really something.’ ”
The Good Will Hunting star is "not surprised" by his ex-wife's continued career success because the "extraordinary" singer-and-actress "deserves" to do well.
He concluded: “I learned a lot, not just from her, but from her family and the people I got to know through them."
The podcast's hosts told Ben his thoughts on Jennifer's career “resonate a lot with our audience", and he replied: “Well, that’s just the truth. She’s pretty extraordinary, and I’m not surprised at all to see her having ongoing success, and I wish it for her. She deserves it in every way.”