A few months ago, we heard an interesting story which I believed at the time and still believe now. Apparently, Leah Remini, one of Jennifer Lopez’s oldest friends and closest friends, was never a fan of Ben Affleck. Leah is Leah – of course she’s going to speak her mind, and she told Jennifer Lopez that Ben is an a–hole who would break her heart again. Instead of taking that advice to heart, J.Lo cut off Leah and married Ben (and Leah wasn’t invited to the wedding). Crash cut to this year, J.Lo and Leah are friendly again after Leah was like “I told you so” and J.Lo was like “give me a break, Leah, I get it now.” Apparently, there were a lot of people in J.Lo’s inner circle who felt the same way as Leah too. People like Benny Medina, Jennifer’s long-time manager, advisor and Svengali.

Ben Affleck was never a favorite within Jennifer Lopez’s trusted inner circle — but they went along with the relationship anyway — including the “Argo” star’s once-most vocal critic, Benny Medina. Lopez’s longtime manager’s disdain for Affleck dates back to the star couple’s failed engagement in the aughts, we hear.

“The two of them can’t stand each other. They don’t get along and there’s still bad blood,” a source told Page Six.

Medina was instrumental in making Lopez — who famously began her career as a dancer on ’90s sketch show “In Living Color” — an A-list global superstar. But she parted ways with him in 2003. Sources told us Affleck was a factor in that decision at the time. Lopez then rehired Medina a few years after she and Affleck called off their engagement in 2004, and the showbiz whiz has been one of her most trusted confidantes ever since. However, he’s apparently been mum on Bennifer 2.0. Another source told us that this time around, Medina “kept his mouth shut” about their rekindled romance and marriage.

“His attitude was, ‘I’m gonna say nothing.’ [There] was no, ‘Good for you,’ but also, [he] wasn’t negative,” the source claimed. “He knows her and he knew she was going to marry him no matter what, so what’s the point?” the source told us.

Bennifer 2.0 did, however, fracture Lopez’s friendship with longtime bestie Leah Remini, whom she met via her ex-husband Marc Anthony. A source previously told us that Remini encouraged Lopez to think about the reason they broke up in the first place before she jumped back on the love boat with the “Gone Girl” star.

“Because he is selfish and not fully committed as a partner. J.Lo was so mad she cut off all ties,” they claimed. (Lopez did not invite Remini to the wedding). The two reconnected this year, with Remini offering support amid Lopez and Affleck’s alleged marital woes according to the source.

“No one, except [Lopez’s] mother, likes Ben Affleck. He’s a triple-A a–hole,” the second source said.

The insider pointed to the couple’s current situation. Sources recently told us “The Town” star has been holding off filing for divorce from Lopez so as to not humiliate her further, but it’s too little too late. “She’s furious. He has humiliated her. He was the one who initiated getting back together,” a source previously told us. Our second source added, “This was definitely not on her bingo card. She would’ve scratched someone’s eyes out if they told her [they’re] splitting up less than two years in.”

[From Page Six]

I seem to remember some vintage gossip that Marc Anthony didn’t like Medina either, but that was mostly about Marc wanting to “manage” Jennifer’s career himself. Those were some really dark years for Jennifer professionally, and when she got back with Medina, he spent years getting her career back on track. I also wonder if Medina was skeptical of Jennifer’s involvement with Ben’s Artists Equity. As in, Medina probably didn’t like or appreciate that Ben was getting more involved in Jennifer’s career. Anyway… yeah, I absolutely believe that Jen’s inner circle despises Ben, especially nowadays.

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