Ana de Armas Explains Why She Left L.A. After Dating Ben Affleck
Stepping back from the spotlight? Ana de Armas opened up about why she needed a break from Los Angeles after dating Ben Affleck.
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The Blonde actress, 34, spoke candidly with Elle magazine in her August 2022 cover story, confessing that she felt “anxious” due to the heightened attention on her relationship with the Argo director, 49. “It became a little bit too much,” de Armas said. “There’s no escape. There’s no way out.”
Being in a high-profile romance “confirmed” for the Knives Out star that the West Coast city was “not the place” for her. “That’s one of the reasons why I left L.A.. … It’s always the feeling of something that you don’t have, something missing,” she added. “It’s a city that keeps you anxious.”
Affleck and de Armas worked together on the 2020 psychological thriller Deep Water, which hit Hulu earlier this year after coronavirus-related delays. The duo sparked dating rumors when they were spotted abroad in Cuba together in March 2020 shortly before Us Weekly broke the news of their relationship. Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, the costars hunkered down together in California and were spotted walking with their dogs several times.
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“Ben is very supportive of Ana and tells her how amazing she is,” a source told Us in April 2020. “Ana’s friends are constantly telling her how lucky she is to have Ben and think he is so charming, cool and fun. They’re so happy for her.”
Nearly one year into their whirlwind romance, Us confirmed the actors called it quits. “Ben and Ana were so close to each other,” an insider revealed in January 2021. “They have their issues, but still want to remain on good terms and keep a friendship.”
The pair hoped to “still maintain some type of friendship” after their “amicable” breakup, the source told Us, adding that the Cuba native “was the one who called things off.”
Three months later, Affleck was spotted cozying up to Jennifer Lopez after her split from fiancé Alex Rodriguez. The Gone Girl star and the singer, 52, rekindled their romance after initially dating in the early 2000s. Earlier this year, Lopez announced she and the Oscar winner were engaged for a second time.
“Saturday night while at my favorite place on earth (in the bubble bath), my beautiful love got on one knee and proposed,” she wrote in her “On the JLo” newsletter in April. “I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time. … It was nothing fancy at all, but it was the most romantic thing I could’ve ever imagined … just a quiet Saturday night at home, two people promising to always be there for each other. Two very lucky people. Who got a second chance at true love.”
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The “Jenny From the Block” artist shares twins Emme and Max, 14, with ex-husband Marc Anthony, while Affleck shares Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 13, as well as son Samuel, 10, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.
For her part, de Armas has been focused on her career, which skyrocketed even further after 2021’s No Time to Die. “I felt very lucky,” she told Elle. “The truth is, I never thought I was going to be an action actor. It wasn’t my thing. You have to be careful, because it’s not what I want to put the focus on. This is not where I’m the most comfortable, to be honest, because I feel ridiculous. And it takes a lot of work.”
Her next project is another action flick, The Gray Man, which also stars Ryan Gosling and Regé-Jean Page. “I was very happy to see that they didn’t rush this relationship,” she said of her costars. “Whatever’s going to happen in the future, I don’t know … but I was happy that the focus was on the mission.”
