How Jennifer Lopez Blended Her Family with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's: 'Handled with So Much Care'

Lopez is mom to 16-year-old twins with ex Marc Anthony, while Affleck and Garner share three kids

Family comes first for Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck.

Prior to reports that the couple's marriage is going through a rough patch, Lopez has opened up about the process of blending her family with her husband's.

Lopez, 54, and ex-husband Marc Anthony share 16-year-old twins Max and Emme. Meanwhile, Affleck, 51, and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, 52, have three kids together: Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.

"The transition is a process that needs to be handled with so much care," Lopez said in the December 2022 issue of Vogue about blending their families.

She also noted that Garner is "an amazing co-parent," and that the 13 Going on 30 actress and Affleck "work really well together."

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Related: What's Next for Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez? From a Tour to a Film (Maybe) Starring Jennifer Garner

Lopez also expressed her hope for her and Affleck's blended family as they discovered their new normal: "What I hope to cultivate with our family is that his kids have a new ally in me and my kids have a new ally in him."

The Atlas star continued, "Someone who really loves and cares about them but can have a different perspective and help me see things that I can't see with my kids because I'm so emotionally tied up."

In 2022, the couple celebrated their first Christmas as husband and wife enjoying the expanded household. In her On the JLo newsletter, Lopez reflected on the holiday.

"We have blended families, doubled the people, doubled the fun, doubled the love, doubled the presents and tripled the chaos!!" Lopez wrote about their celebration.

In February 2020, Affleck told PEOPLE of Garner, "When you have children with somebody you're connected to them forever, and I'm very lucky she is the mother of my children."

All five of Lopez and Affleck's kids gave them away at their wedding celebration in Savannah, Georgia, which took place in August 2022.

Related: Celebrity Blended Families Who've Made It Work in Hollywood

Affleck and Lopez rekindled their romance in 2021 after splitting up in 2004. They got married in a small Las Vegas ceremony in July 2022, then celebrated at a separate event with friends and family the following month in Savannah.

However, in recent weeks, Lopez and Affleck's marriage was rumored to have hit a rough patch after they hadn't been seen together for over a month and a half.

The two are living separately at the moment, though the couple have been spotted together as of late on multiple occasions wearing their wedding rings.

A source told PEOPLE that Lopez and Affleck’s marriage “is not in the best place at the moment." One source said, “She likes to open her heart to her fans and to the world. He is more introspective and private. This has been difficult day to day.”

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