Some heavy, hot couples break up when September interrupts their summer. For Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas, it is a case of reality ruining their pandemic love story.
“The quarantine was unique because they had downtime and really knew each other by spending time at home,” a source familiar with Affleck and de Armas told The Post. “But once the work started, things started to change.”
De Armas has just signed for the film “The Gray Man”, alongside Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling, while Affleck will be the next star of George Clooney’s adaptation of the book “The Tender Bar”.
After months of beloved closures (with dog walks full of PDAs and coffee outings in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Brentwood), it was reported this week that the two had stopped smoking.
Affleck and Armas representatives declined to comment.
Rumors had first circulated about a split when they were not spending the holidays together and de Armas went to Havana, Cuba.
For Armas, LA is just a place to work. According to friends, he has a house in Cuba, where his family still lives and considers it his home.
“She is here for work reasons; like all actors, she lives where her job takes her, ”a friend of Armas said.
“Ana decided she doesn’t want to live in Los Angeles and Ben wants to be close to his family,” said the source who knows the two stars, of Affleck’s three young children with former Jennifer Garner. “His priority is to take root in Los Angeles. They are in different places [in their lives]”.
There was also the issue that, as reported by Page Six, of 32-year-old Armas, she wants to have children of her own, while, according to friends, there is no way Affleck, 48, wants more children. .
And merging with a consolidated family is not always an easy task.
“Ana is fabulous and the kids loved her. I think any setup is difficult for a person to get into a relationship like this, ”said the source who knows the couple.
“That’s why Ben and Lindsay broke up: their kids will always be a priority,” added the sources of Affleck’s romance with “Saturday Night Live” producer Lindsay Shookus, with whom she dated 2017- 2018 and again in 2019 after he went to rehab for alcohol abuse. (A representative of Shookus did not comment).
The Oscar winner has spoken openly about his battle of sobriety.
In February 2020, he told The New York Times: “I started drinking every day. I would come home from work and start drinking and just sit there and drink until I stayed on the couch, ”admitting that a public relapse at a Halloween party in 2019 was embarrassing for him and his children.
But experts also say that despite his past substance problems, Affleck is an involved and devoted father.
They also say Garner, who is described as a fiercely protective mother, approved of De Armas because she seemed to keep Affleck with a uniform keel.
Affleck and de Armas met on the set of the thriller “Deep Water,” which was filmed in 2019, but which saw its release date brought forward to the summer of 2021. They were seen on a romantic getaway. in Cuba in March 2020 before heading to Costa Rica and after. LA just before the first blockade begins.
The pandemic helped them get closer quickly, according to a source close to them who told The Post at the time: “Ben had to get to the set. [of ‘The Last Duel’] . . . and Ana was destined for a world tour [for the James Bond film ‘No Time to Die’].
“Getting to spend so much time together is a real blessing.”
De Armas was seen in the photos wearing what looked like an engagement ring, but was quickly revealed to be a mainstay for “Deep Water.”
De Armas moved into the home of actor Brentwood and in June blatantly planted a piece of cardboard on his lawn, reportedly as a way to troll the paparazzi.
This week, a masked man who looked like Affleck’s acting brother, Casey Affleck, was seen throwing the cutout in a trash can. Casey denied it was him, but reported to “Entertainment Tonight” of the breakup:
“The reality is that I think this year has been very hard for people in a relationship. . . I think Ana is the sweetest, funniest, smartest and most charming person. I don’t think he will have any problems meeting anyone else. “
Casey, who is divorced, added: “And I will be there to take him to Ben, but I don’t think he has any problems. My advice to them would be like, ‘Yes, think hard and hard [the decision to break up], because quarantine isn’t fun if you’re single. ‘”
Although de Armas has moved and is said to be looking for a home of her own outside of Cuba in West Hollywood, the source knows her and Affleck believes all hope cannot be lost.
“They had a very solid relationship and are really upset to have gotten to a place where they have to break up,” the source said. “There is a lot of love there. They were very good to each other and I think this will be a friendship. “