At the recently-held Los Angeles premiere of the film “The Mother,” a perceptive body language expert observed striking moments of disagreement and ‘non-aligned thinking’ between the famous couple, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck while on the red carpet. Not for the first time, the pair, who exchanged vows in Las Vegas last July, displayed palpable signs of tension and unease at the event.
Ben and Jennifer while posing on the red carpet animatedly exchanged gesticulating gestures, only to seamlessly transition back to their familiar display of affection and picture-perfect kiss.
This occurrence brought to mind their previous public encounters, notably when Lopez admonished Affleck for what she perceived as his lack of enthusiasm during their appearance at the Grammy Awards ceremony in February.
Of her keen observations from their recent promotional appearance, body language expert Judi James highlights Jennifer’s commanding presence, while stating that Ben’s posture reflects a plea or a submissive appeal to his wife amidst a disagreement. James astutely deciphers these dynamics through meticulous scrutiny of their body language cues and nonverbal communication.
She told MailOnline: ‘This red-carpet appearance was full of moments of contrasting body language moods from Ben and Jennifer. The photos do seem to suggest a moment of disagreement or non-aligned thinking.’
‘Jennifer is upright, confident and commanding as she looks Ben in the eye, points and apparently directs with her index finger. We can’t see her face but there is no apparent rounding or fullness of her cheek to suggest she is performing a mouth smile here. Ben’s response looks at odds with her state. He seems to have bent his knees to get his head level with hers and his close-quarters eye-contact suggests pleading or questioning.’
Judi adds, ‘His face looks rather drained and his mouth has fallen open, which can be a signal of disbelief. The stare has become more intense in the second photo and his brows are raised, again as though he is questioning her.’
‘His lower teeth are showing now and he has adopted the pointed finger gesture, again as though he is questioning something she has said. She looks calm here.’
Even though the couple shared a red-carpet kiss in front of waiting cameras, Judi admitted the gesture could be construed as disingenuous. ‘Their posing rituals on the red carpet involved all the usual kisses and loving smiles, although these can always be ignored as projected poses rather than spontaneous, intimate moments. Where we could still see more authentic signs of love and affection between them that will hopefully balance these other poses came with their sweet hand-holding as they walked together.’
Judi continued, ‘There was one very dutiful moment when Ben adopted a security guard pose, straight on to his wife and with his hands in the fig-leaf pose, while she turned her back on the camera to re-apply her lip gloss.’
Judi concluded the couple’s smiles after the incident looked warm, knowing, and grateful while providing some emotional balance. However, the couple had gained attention for the incident at the Grammy Awards in February, which involved Jennifer urging Ben to pretend to enjoy himself on camera. This occurrence followed a previous incident where Affleck was captured on camera expressing visible anger while confronting Lopez at the premiere of her film, “Shotgun Wedding,” on January 18.
