This trip to Paris seems to be many things for our Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck. It’s a honeymoon after they eloped to Las Vegas last weekend; it’s a family trip; it’s a moment of peace finally and for once aboard a boat on the Seine; it’s a time to get one’s tears out, to cry a little at dinner, and be comforted by a new wife and old, old friend.
And it’s a birthday trip! Happy birthday, Jennifer Lopez. Fifty-three looks good on you (which we know because she released a kind of body lotion for her beauty brand along with some nudes for the occasion). To celebrate Mrs. Affleck’s birthday, the pair enjoyed dinner at La Girafe, a spot below the Eiffel Tower. Balloons marked the occasion, and they left their blended family at home. Violet, Seraphina—Affleck’s daughters with Jennifer Garner—and Emme—Lopez’s daughter with Marc Anthony—sat this dinner out though they accompanied their parents to Paris.
Here is the scene, per the Daily Mail and quoted in full because nobody can improve upon the description: “According to a source Jennifer immediately comforted her love with a hug after he was seen breaking down while sitting at a table that was surrounded by balloons in honor of her birthday.”
Where they tears of joy? Pain? A man overwhelmed? A man underwhelmed? Listen, it’s normal to get a little emotional on one’s birthday. On one’s new wife’s birthday? Now, that simply fits into everything we love to project onto Ben Affleck, our humanoid manifestation of existential angst.