While Jennifer Lopez is still Jenny from the block to all of us, there was a bit of a hullaballoo when she revealed that she’d taken her new husband’s (that would be Ben Affleck) last name when they married—which she doesn’t really get, to be honest. In a cover profile for Vogue, Lopez says she changed her legal name to Affleck because it’s more romantic that way. Not because she’s anti-feminist or whatever.
“People are still going to call me Jennifer Lopez,” she pointed out. “But my legal name will be Mrs. Affleck because we’re joined together. We’re husband and wife. I’m proud of that. I don’t think that’s a problem.” She was surprised to learn that the New York Times had published an op-ed about the politics of her taking Affleck’s last name in such trying feminist times. As did Glamour, by the way, to say nothing about the social media commentariat.
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Lopez told the mag she’s just an old-fashioned girl. This is also why there was never a possibility of Affleck becoming Mr. Lopez instead. “It’s not traditional. It doesn’t have any romance to it,” she explained, adding, “It feels like it’s a power move, you know what I mean? I’m very much in control of my own life and destiny and feel empowered as a woman and as a person. I can understand that people have their feelings about it, and that’s okay, too.” I’m not sure if I quite understand the “power move” behind taking your husband’s last name, but I’m definitely on the side of live-and-let-live. “But if you want to know how I feel about it, I just feel like it’s romantic,” Lopez said. “It still carries tradition and romance to me, and maybe I’m just that kind of girl.” Fair enough!
It’s not like this is a huge departure for Lopez either. When she married Marc Anthony, for instance, she also changed her last name, going from Jennifer Lopez to Jennifer Muniz (legally speaking), according to Us Weekly.
If Jennifer Lopez wants to take her husband’s last name because it feels romantic to her, I’m fine with it.
