Ben Affleck is revealing what actually happened with Jennifer Lopez in that viral Grammys moment earlier this year. Viewers watching the 2023 Grammys earlier this year were confused when Lopez appeared to scold her husband. Now, he's sharing what really went down.
Affleck recently sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for a wide-ranging interview. One of the topics of conversation was the now-viral exchange from the Grammy Awards in February when host Trevor Noah stopped by the table he was sitting at with his wife.
"I saw [Noah approach] and I was like, 'Oh, God,'" he recalled. "They were filming us in this shot, but I didn't know they were rolling. I leaned into her and I was like, 'As soon as they start rolling, I'm going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.' She goes, 'You better f------ not leave.' That's a husband-and-wife thing. I mean, some of it is, I'm like, 'All right, who is this act?' Like, I don't keep up. My wife does, obviously. And yeah, it is your wife's work event."
The Academy Award-winning director also opened up about how he felt judged for the interaction following the memes about their alleged tiff, mostly in regards to the remarks that he was "drunk" given his journey with sobriety.
"And I've gone to events and been pissed off," he said. "I've gone and been bored. I've gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch. Nobody ever once said I'm drunk. [But at the Grammys] they were like, 'He's drunk.' And I thought, that's interesting. That raises a whole other thing about whether or not it's wise to acknowledge addiction because there's a lot of compassion, but there is sill a tremendous stigma, which is often quite inhibiting. I do think it disincentivizes people from making their lives better."
Despite memes indicating otherwise, Affleck said he actually had a good time at music's biggest night.
"I had a good time at the Grammys. My wife was going, and I thought, 'Well, there'll be good music. It might be fun,'" he said. "At movie award shows, it's speeches and, like, sound-mixing webinars. But I thought this would be fun."
While this was Affleck's first time addressing the seemingly tense interaction, Lopez used the viral moment to jokingly tease her husband's "happy face" while celebrating his new movie.