From Bennifer to Benniforever?

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck appear to have gotten married in Las Vegas, according to several news outlets and a marriage license that appears in a Clark County, Nev., public records search bearing the names Benjamin Geza Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.

It also bears a new name: Jennifer Affleck. ("Why not Ben Lopez????" asked Jezebel.)

That information was good enough for TMZ, People magazine and Variety to giddily break the news Sunday afternoon of marriage for the famous duo, who announced their engagement in April. TMZ and People claim to have copies of the marriage license, and a person close to the couple confirmed the marriage to TMZ. People also reported confirmation of the marriage from an "insider," who said of the ceremony: "It was super, super small. [Jennifer's] mom and kids were there. They just wanted to be married so they got married."

More details were not immediately available. When asked about the reports, a publicist for Affleck told The Washington Post on Sunday, "I have just been reading the reports like everyone else."

But the legal union has been a long time coming. The pair originally met in the early 2000s on the set of "Gigli," which, for film critics, was essentially a movie version of clay pigeons. They soon became engaged. While the movie became a box-office punchline, "Bennifer" became a cultural phenomenon. People were obsessed - and heartbroken when they canceled their 2003 wedding.

The couple rekindled their romance in 2021 as divorced parents, to the world's continued fascination. Lopez, 52, has been married three times - to Ojani Noa, Cris Judd and Marc Anthony, and has 14-year-old twins; Affleck, 49, was married to actress Jennifer Garner, whom he divorced in 2018. They have three children.

When the couple got back together, The Post's Emily Yahr wrote of the feelings it stirred up in longtime fans: "Looking back, the cultural phenomenon that was 'Bennifer' really did feel like an all-consuming, inescapable storm. The couple could barely go anywhere without being photographed. The lead-up to their ultimately canceled 2003 wedding was described by one news outlet as 'a week of media frenzy worthy of D-Day.' As actress Mindy Kaling - who parodied Affleck in her breakout stage production - reminisced in her first book, 'Bennifer was so big it was as though two people had never been in love before, and they had discovered it.' "

So imagine everyone's delight when Bennifer reemerged from the gloaming after Lopez split with fiance Alex Rodriguez. Lopez announced the (re)engagement in her newsletter and described Affleck's proposal.

"Did you ever imagine your biggest dream could come true?" she wrote, according to People. "Saturday night while at my favorite place on earth (in the bubble bath), my beautiful love got on one knee and proposed. I was taken totally off guard and just looked in his eyes smiling and crying at the same time trying hard to get my head around the fact that after 20 years this was happening all over again, I was quite literally speechless and he said, 'is that a yes?' I said YES of course that's a YES."

She later told the magazine: "It's a beautiful outcome that this has happened in this way at this time in our lives where we can really appreciate and celebrate each other and respect each other. We always did, but we have even more of an appreciation because we know that life can take you in different directions."

This go-round, it seems as if the couple went through with it. Second time's the charm, as Affleck suggested in a Wall Street Journal magazine profile in December.

"I've had second chances in my career. I've had second chances as a human being. Life is difficult, and we are always failing and hopefully learning from those failures," Affleck said. "The one thing you really need to avail yourself of the opportunities provided from that growth is the second chance. I've definitely tried to take advantage of that. I haven't always been successful, but in cases in which I have, they've turned out to be the defining aspects of my life."