Jennifer Lopez Reveals the Reason She Walks a Step Behind Ben Affleck While Holding Hands

Lopez said on Live with Kelly and Mark that she and Affleck often hold hands because they’re “very affectionate”

Jennifer Lopez is revealing why she and Ben Affleck don’t always walk side-by-side.

The Hustlers actress, 53, explained on Live with Kelly and Mark why she’s often photographed a step behind her actor husband when they’re holding hands.

“Ben is 6’3 , 6’4, and I am tiny — I’m smaller. I’m like, 5’6. But we make it work,” Lopez said on the show, noting that they often hold hands because they are “very affectionate.”

“He’s taller and his arm’s up, and I walk like a step behind, just to compensate,” she continued. “Which I’m fine with.”

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez. BEST IMAGE / BACKGRID

Hosts Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos, who revealed in March that they too “are arm length incompatible,” agreed with how challenging it was to hold hands due to their differences in arm length. Consuelos noted his arms were 4 inches longer than his body and Ripa’s were 4 inches shorter.

Ripa teased Lopez that walking a step behind her husband was a “good tip” and she and Consuelos would “steal that.”

Earlier this week, Lopez opened up about Affleck taking on the role of stepdad to her two kids.

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck celebrate their first Valentine’s Day as a married couple at Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica. TPG / BACKGRID

While speaking to Hoda Kotb on Today, Lopez raved about the AIR star, saying, “Well, he’s a wonderful, wonderful father. And a father figure to [Max and Emme] as well, because he has his own three beautiful children, and then there’s us.”

“He’s fantastic. He really steps up to the challenge of what that is and what that means,” she continued of Affleck, 50. “And they love him. They love him. And they appreciate him, and so do I.”

Lopez shares twins Max and Emme, 15, with Marc Anthony, 54. Along with being stepdad to Lopez’s twins, Affleck is dad to three kids, Samuel, 11, Seraphina, 14, and Violet, 17, whom he shares with ex Jennifer Garner.

Lopez opened up to PEOPLE last year about rekindling her romance with Affleck years after they’d called off their engagement, saying this time they “had a little bit of fear” about attention on their relationship, recalling the circus that surrounded them the first time around. “Before we kind of put [our relationship] out there and we were naïve and it got a little trampled,” she said.

This time, she said, “We both were like, ‘Wow, we’re so happy and we don’t want any of that to come into play again.’ We’re older now, we’re smarter, we have more experience, we’re at different places in our lives, we have kids now, and we have to be very conscious of those things. We’re so protective because it is such a beautiful time for all of us.”

Lopez’s new movie The Mother premieres May 12 on Netflix.