Hollywood couple Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have announced they are getting divorced, prompting a wave of mourning across the internet. The couple, who have three children and are often referred to as "Bennifer", said they had made "the difficult decision to divorce" after ten years of marriage.
For many they were the ultimate Hollywood happy ending. The two met as co-stars on the 2003 film Daredevil, and both are stars in their own right.
Affleck, 42, has written, directed and starred in a number of hit Hollywood films, and plays Batman in the forthcoming Batman v Superman film. Garner, 43, is best known for her CIA espionage TV series Alias, but has also had roles in Juno and Dallas Buyers Club.
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Fans and commentators were heartbroken by the news of their split, but some saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Celebrity commentator Perez Hilton says "the internet is freaking out" over the divorce. Everyone is upset over the news, says Hilton, or at least that's how it feels on Twitter, where people now go to express emotions.
Hilton lists some of the saddest, and wittiest, Twitter comments. Some asked how they were now supposed to find love in the world. Others wondered if Garner had finally watched Affleck's movies. Another fan pondered who would "get custody of Matt Damon".
In Time, Jack Linshi says the divorce is causing a wave of grief. "While Greece nears economic meltdown and puppies perish in China, over in the States a crisis of equal proportions is unfolding," says Linshi.
Some fans kept their cool and sent the couple best wishes, notes Linshi, but most "whipped out their teary-eyed emojis and caps-lock, and sobbed out their heartbreak into 140 characters".
"Indeed it was only last week that the Twitter-verse was chanting #LoveWins", adds Linshi, "but this week, well, it seems love is dead".
On the Daily Beast, Kevin Fallon joined the chorus of despair. "Hollywood's most adorable couple is divorcing," says Fallon, and "we are inconsolable". Fallon wonders if "there are enough sadface emojis in the world?"
In "the grotesque, vain, and publicity-seeking hellfire that is romance and relationships in Hollywood", says Fallon, Garner and Affleck "were a couple so kewpie-doll adorable" that "they gave the world hope that super-famous people can really find true, lasting love in a hopeless place: Los Angeles".
But through his pile of Kleenex, Fallon says he can see an upside. Affleck has a big Hollywood movie coming up and this could also be good news for Jennifer Garner's career. He adds that they're both "going to be fine".
Ellen Killoran in Forbes is also looking to the future. "Rather than speculate on what was behind their split (which was definitely his fault)," Killoran says, "let's hope that Garner is preparing for a post-divorce career renaissance."
It's high time the actress divorces her agent, stop appearing as the devoted wife in magazine pages and get her next big role, says Killoran, who adds: "Success is the best revenge."
