After weeks of rumors about meetings in a white SUV, the news broke Monday that Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had rekindled their romance after 17 years.

There were even 📸 to prove it latimes.com/entertainment-…
For those who have forgotten the details or were too young to be aware of them at the time, here’s a brief refresher (thread) latimes.com/entertainment-…
• Affleck and Lopez fell for each other in 2002 on the set of “Gigli.”

• By July, Lopez announced her plans to divorce Cris Judd.

• By November, Lopez and Affleck were engaged and canoodling on a yacht in a music video.

(More details 👇)latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
However, days before they were set to wed in September 2003, they postponed their wedding, citing the *overwhelming media frenzy*.

They permanently split a few months later, and within a year and a half, both were married to other people latimes.com/entertainment-…
A Times story from 2004 examined Affleck’s career slump and the particular animosity generated by his relationship with Lopez latimes.com/archives/la-xp…
There were undoubtedly elements of bigotry and chauvinism to much of the original Bennifer backlash.

And part of the exuberance about their reunion is the opportunity it presents for a media do-over latimes.com/entertainment-…
Lately, modern culture has reconsidered the narratives about young female celebrities like Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Jessica Simpson, whose personal issues became fodder for tabloid mills latimes.com/entertainment-…
The recent #FreeBritneyMovement has helped pressure the media into reevaluating how to handle celebrity relationships and crises.

(Affleck also complained of the sexist, racist coverage his ex-fiancée was subjected to throughout their relationship)
latimes.com/entertainment-…
The media was wrong about almost everything circa 2003-04, writes @MeredithBlake — wrong about Britney Spears, wrong about Justin Timberlake, wrong about weapons of mass destruction.

But in things are much different now with hindsight in full view latimes.com/entertainment-…
Celebrity coverage is different now: Social media reduced the value of paparazzi & broadened the definition of "celebrity."

The "most famous" 👇depends on who you ask

• TikToker w/ 70M followers
• Oscar winner w/ no social media
• British Royal family
latimes.com/entertainment-…
Regardless, writes @MeredithBlake:

"Star power ain’t what it used to be. And for Affleck and Lopez, as they apparently try to rekindle a romance that withered in the spotlight, that could be a good thing" latimes.com/entertainment-…

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More from @latimes

14 May
The fund created to help the restaurant industry hit hard by the pandemic is already running out of money.

latimes.com/politics/story…
The $28.6-billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund allows restaurants, food trucks, bars, bakeries, breweries and wineries to apply for grants equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss — up to $10 million per business and $5 million per location.

latimes.com/politics/story…
In just 10 days since applications for the grant opened, the Small Business Administration has received 266,000 applications asking for $65 billion in aid, more than twice the amount provided by Congress.

latimes.com/politics/story…
Read 4 tweets
13 May
Jamiah Hargins knows the frontyard at the corner of Angeles Vista Boulevard and Olympiad Drive like the back of his hand.

He and a small team of volunteers spent a month cultivating the land, installing equipment and planting rows of vegetables. latimes.com/california/sto…
It’s enough to cause people in this View Park neighborhood, including their regular mailman, to gawk at the lush green grass transformed into the Asante Microfarm.
According to the USDA, large swaths of South L.A. suffer from low access to fresh food.

In View Park, a majority Black neighborhood where families earn more than $92,000 per year, the nearest grocery store is an Albertsons more than a mile away. latimes.com/california/000…
Read 6 tweets
13 May
A group of creatives and executives with disabilities in Hollywood is pushing employers to start including accessibility as part of inclusion initiatives latimes.com/entertainment-…
At the iconic red steps where women are expected to wear high heels, this talent manager either had to be carried or use a side entrance and be separated from her clients.

And inside, accessible seating was reserved latimes.com/entertainment-…
For talent manager Eryn Brown, who needs leg braces to walk, accessing many of the buildings and events was a struggle.

And she almost left her new Hollywood career because of it latimes.com/entertainment-…
Read 8 tweets
12 May
Chrissy Teigen has apologized for bullying Courtney Stodden a decade ago.

But that doesn’t mean the two are all buddy-buddy now.

latimes.com/entertainment-…
Teigen had posted a midday Twitter thread addressing her history of bullying Stodden online.

Stodden suspects Teigen is acting out of self-interest rather than sincere regret over sending comments like “I can’t wait for you to die.”

latimes.com/entertainment-…
Read 8 tweets
12 May
Taxes may be one of life’s certainties. But paying to pay them isn’t.

The United States’ onerous tax code is thanks in no small part to companies that profit when you use their software or services to file.

latimes.com/business/story…
In 2019, ProPublica chronicled TurboTax maker Intuit’s long effort to separate taxpayers from a bit more of their money.

H&R Block has also spent millions of dollars on lobbying to maintain the status quo.

propublica.org/article/inside…
At the turn of the millennium, Intuit and similar companies were staring down an existential threat: the possibility that the government would create a tax-filing system that most Americans could use for free.

latimes.com/business/story…
Read 9 tweets
12 May
Dakota Johnson — who had a tense moment with DeGeneres on the Nov. 27, 2019 episode — is being celebrated on Twitter as a heroine for her supposed role in the talk show ending latimes.com/entertainment-…
DeGeneres, meanwhile, told the Hollywood Reporter that while allegations of a toxic environment on her set “destroyed” her, she is ending her run because the show was “just not a challenge anymore” latimes.com/entertainment-…
News of her departure comes nearly a year after staffers on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” reported a toxic work environment on set.

Last summer, she ousted three top producers in response to the accusations latimes.com/entertainment-…
Read 12 tweets

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