Ben Affleck talks about his marriage to Jennifer Lopez in an interview with Kevin Hart

In the first episode of the new season of From the heartcomedian Kevin Hart’s interview show on Peacock, Oscar winner Ben Affleck delves deep into his anxieties surrounding his career and his origins in Hollywood. While Affleck largely avoids his personal life, he does share some insight into what it’s like to be married to multi-talented megastar Jennifer Lopez.

Rumors are currently circulating that Lopez and Affleck – who famously got engaged in the 2000s and split days before their wedding – are on the verge of divorce. Some speculate that Lopez’s constant presence on social media has irritated Affleck in their relationship.

In a documentary about Lopez’s self-financed music film This is me… now: A love story, Affleck expressed reluctance to fully embrace his wife’s vision for the film, which included giving her staff access to a large number of love letters between Affleck and Lopez.

In the new interview with Hart, Affleck briefly alludes to Lopez for the first time in a remark to the comedian. “My wife will tell you that I like to talk,” he says in a cut before a commercial break.

Affleck then tells Hart that his children – Violet, Seraphina and Samuel, he has with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner – are very adept at recognizing his weaknesses and exploiting them to make fun of him.

“My daughter always suggests titles for her autobiography,” Affleck explained. “We went somewhere with (Lopez) — I can’t remember because she’s so famous and she’s doing this — people love her and she really represents something important to people,” Affleck said. “(To me) people say, ‘Hey, I like your movie,’ and then they say, ‘AAAHHHH! J-LO!'” he exclaimed. “It’s incredible, you know what I mean?”

“I think it was when we rolled through Times Square,” he continues. “We got out of the car, we were going to a play, and I was like, ‘Screw it, baby, we’re late, we have to walk a block and a half.’ (Lopez) just said, ‘Fine,’ but she didn’t say anything.”

“We walked through Times Square with her and all the kids and all the shit was crazy,” Affleck says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There was a woman smoking weed in a skin-tight purple suit – she’s a muscular woman – and she was running backwards and filming and yelling ‘J-LO!’ Like a herald who then gets everyone else involved and then all the tourists come in.”

“Then we have our five kids, Jen and I, and what feels like hundreds of people, and everyone’s screaming. And my daughter just turns to me and says, ‘J-Lo was my stepmom,'” Affleck continues. “And I thought, okay, that’s a good title.”

Affleck also points to the steady stream of paparazzi photos in which he looks sullen. While some have analyzed the photos and recently concluded that he must be unhappy in his marriage to Lopez, Affleck here refutes that portrayal.

Affleck explains to Hart why he prefers directing to acting: “I’m also a little shy. I don’t like a lot of attention. That’s why people see me and wonder, ‘Why is that guy always mad?’ Because someone put the camera in my face and I’m like, OK, here we go.”

“You have a resting bitch face,” jokes Hart.

“Female dog? Now,” Affleck replied with mock indignation. “I have peace hard face. People project something onto me that I don’t think about myself at all.”