In the world of celebrity romance, few relationships are as easily forgotten as the one between Ben Affleck and Gwyneth Paltrow — not because it lacked passion or attention at the time, but because it’s now buried under the weight of countless headline-making love stories that followed.
Back in the late 1990s, Ben and Gwyneth were one of Hollywood’s golden couples. Their three-year, on-again, off-again relationship was closely followed by tabloids and fans alike, especially after starring together in films like Shakespeare in Love and Bounce. The chemistry was undeniable, but so were the ups and downs.
But fast forward two decades, and their former romance is often just a footnote in two very public dating histories. Affleck’s highly publicized relationships with Jennifer Lopez (twice!), Jennifer Garner, and Ana de Armas have kept him constantly in the headlines. Meanwhile, Paltrow’s marriage to Coldplay frontman Chris Martin — and their famously “conscious uncoupling” — followed by her current marriage to producer Brad Falchuk, have made her romantic journey equally well-documented.
With both actors now fully immersed in separate lives, many fans forget they were once Hollywood’s “it” couple. But looking back, their relationship marked a formative period in both their lives — before Bennifer, before Goop, and before the media frenzy around celebrity dating became what it is today.
While neither Affleck nor Paltrow has spoken much about each other in recent years, both have acknowledged in past interviews that their timing and maturity levels weren’t quite aligned back then. “He wasn’t in a good place in his life to have a girlfriend,” Paltrow once said, while Affleck has admitted to being young and overwhelmed by fame at the time.
Their story may have been overshadowed by what came after, but for a moment in the late ’90s, Ben and Gwyneth were the couple everyone was watching — even if the world has since moved on.