Is Ben Affleck Really Related To Secret Lives Of Mormon Wives' Jen Affleck? What We Know
Ever since Hulu's " The Secret Live of Mormon Wives" was released in 2024, the internet has been on a genealogy rampage to prove whether "Mormon Wives" star Jennifer Lynn Affleck is related to the actor Ben Affleck, or if it's all a hoax. If it's true, that means the "Good Will Hunting" actor not only has another Jen in his life after marrying and divorcing two of them — Jennifer Lopez filed for divorce against Ben in 2024 and Ben's regrettable split from Jennifer Garner — but she would be the second Jennifer Lynn Affleck in the family (J. Lo's legal name since marrying the New England native).
It all started when Jen Affleck — the reality star; not the other two — claimed that her husband Zac is related to the "Gone Girl" actor. She said something about it in the show, throwing out in an interview that Zac is distantly related to Ben and his brother Casey Affleck. In September 2024, People magazine claimed that Zac's father, Dave Affleck, is Ben and Casey's first cousin. Jen told the outlet that although she's never met her purported celebrity relatives, her husband's father met Ben and Casey when they were little. "I'm hoping to meet him one day, too!" she said.
However, much of the public wasn't buying it. That's when internet sleuths went digging for the answers online, searching through celebrity genealogy reports and family trees. The results were unbelievable.
Zac Affleck's family tree contradicts what Jen Affleck has said about his relation to Ben Affleck
A Reddit thread seemingly found the answers when a user looked on multiple different genealogy websites and allegedly found out that the Boston Afflecks are different from the Utah Afflecks and have never moved from their respective sides of the country. At the same time, professional genealogist Dr. Adina Newman — better known as @myfamilygenie on the internet — posted on Instagram to confirm that Ben and Zac are not related.
She wrote: "Ben's grandfather is Myron Hopkins Strong Affleck Jr. (1918-2002), born in Rhode Island. Zac's great-grandfather is Allan Burt Affleck (1906-1994), born and raised in Utah. If they are second cousins once removed, Ben's grandfather and Zac's great-grandfather would be brothers." However, she says that her report shows Myron was an only child. While they don't have any close relation, Zac and Ben could technically still be related at a point that goes back generations upon generations, but that's totally different from what Jen told the world.
The real kicker is that People backtracked on their statement about the men being cousins in the same month they said Ben and Zac were cousins, first removed, reporting that an insider familiar with the Utah Afflecks said the claims were "absolutely not true." The source described each family lineage similarly to what Dr. Newman found in her research. So, either Jen Affleck lied, adding to the list of tragic details about "The Secret Wives of Mormon Wives," or her husband made up an elaborate story to impress his wife.