HAS BENNIFER MADE YOU RECONSIDER YOUR EX?

The internet’s evolution has been dizzying enough to make that revolutionary image seem like a cave drawing, and the whole of Bennifer 1.0 seem like a moodboard for early noughties nostalgia. So why has their reunion captured the zeitgeist so emphatically once again? Gone is the reign of the tabloids, the omnipotence of the paparazzi, the golden hue of Hollywood, so isn’t it odd that we’re obsessed with the reprise of the couple that embodied it all, even in a post-MeToo age governed by Instagram and/or TikTok?

Well, not really. We’ve always been nostalgic for the couples of yore, especially those who seem to define a hallowed era, but the Bennifer 2.0 effect runs deeper than romanticised memories of a simpler time. ‘With less and less to grasp on to in a world spinning out of control, celebrity-worship offers a revival tent of belief. It soothes the faithful with reports of pink diamonds and jewel-encrusted toilet seats,’ claimed a Guardian piece entitled ‘Thanks Be To Bennifer’ back in 2003. ‘Maybe the monarchy is failing, and the GNP is ailing, but never fear, dear, Ben and Jen are here.’ With pandemic malaise, not to mention the Kimye bombshell and a summer of unexpected celebrity couplings (see Pete Davidson and Phoebe Dynevor), that ‘revival tent’ is even more inviting.

Then there’s the irresistibly hopeful, heartening, human quality of celebrities giving things another go. In doing so they satisfy our secret hope, enhanced by the false intimacy of social media, that they’re just like us – a little broken after a tumultuous year but still out here, looking for love in the same old places, emailing their exes after too much rosé. The pandemic certainly seems to have made us mere mortals willing to rekindle old flames; bolstered by the dearth of other options and a distanced world free of obstacles, the Ex Factor has never been stronger.

Sceptics will call it a publicity stunt, and maybe they’re right. Since the extremely well-documented rise and fall of Bennifer 1.0, each party has enjoyed moments of greatness, but also more than a few flops – professional and romantic. Together, Jen and Ben are more powerful, more relevant, than they are apart. Are they just out to maximise profit, enhance their public image and access the seemingly infinite cachet of celebrity super-coupledom?

Let’s hope not. In an interview with People in 2016, Lopez said the end of the Bennifer affair was largely down to tabloid pressure: ‘I think different time, different thing, who knows what could’ve happened, but there was a genuine love there.’ Now that they’re older, wiser, and have, we like to think, a relationship built on friendship and an acceptance of each other’s flaws, maybe that love will win out. Although probably not if we all keep obsessing over it...