Key Takeaways
- Ben Affleck said he had never heard about Ana Navarro’s attempt to pair him with Shakira, dismissing it as gossip and adding, “I don’t get set up.”
- Navarro said she pitched the match to Matt Damon at a Shakira concert, but Damon warned that Shakira’s friendship with Jennifer Lopez “could be complicated.”
- Two years after separating from Lopez, Affleck said dating is not a priority because he remains focused on his three children and career, though he is “open” to whatever comes next.
Ben Affleck apparently missed the memo that Shakira was being floated as his next girlfriend.
The actor was asked about the unlikely matchmaking attempt while promoting his new film Animals, after The View co-host Ana Navarro said she once raised the possibility of pairing Affleck with Shakira after his split from Jennifer Lopez.
There was just one problem: Affleck says nobody bothered telling him. “I hear sh*t like that, honestly, first from people like you,” Affleck said to Entertainment Tonight when asked about Navarro’s story. “I never heard that in my whole life. People gossip. Stuff gets made up.”
“I don’t get set up,” he added.
Navarro told a slightly different story on The View. She said the idea came up when she attended a Shakira concert in Miami where Affleck’s longtime friend Matt Damon was also in attendance with his family.
At the time, Jennifer Lopez and Affleck’s breakup had recently become public, while Shakira had already ended her longtime relationship with Gerard Piqué.
Navarro saw an opportunity.
“I was at a Shakira concert in Miami, and Matt Damon was there with his wife and his girls,” she recalled. “And Matt Damon and Ben Affleck are best friends.”
According to Navarro, Damon responded that a Shakira-Affleck pairing “could be complicated” because of Lopez and Shakira’s friendship. Navarro, however, thinks enough time has passed.
“I think Ben Affleck needs to give Shakira [a call], and Shakira needs to give Ben Affleck [a call],” she said.
Affleck doesn't sound like he's reaching for the phone. Two years after his separation from Lopez, the 54-year-old said dating barely registers among his priorities.
“There’s not a lot of room. I’m not running around,” he said. “It’s just not a big priority in my life.”
Affleck said his three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner—Violet, Seraphina and Samuel—come first, followed by his career.
“I’m where I’m at, and I’m great, and who knows what adventures life will bring,” he said. “I’m open to it, but I’m not trying to chase anything.”
That position comes after another very public relationship chapter with Jennifer Lopez. Affleck and Lopez first became engaged in 2002, then ended the engagement in 2004. They reunited nearly two decades later, married in 2022 and separated in 2024, with their divorce finalized in early 2025.
Lopez has since acknowledged that their approaches to living publicly weren't always the same. She told Howard Stern in 2025 that she had “made mistakes” by living her romantic life “very out loud” and planned to keep future relationships considerably more private.
Affleck similarly addressed that difference after their divorce, describing himself as naturally “more reserved and private” while saying Lopez had navigated celebrity more comfortably than he had.
