Ana de Armas Reveals That Fallout Over Ben Affleck Split Was So ‘Horrible,’ She Had To Move

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Ana de Armas, 34, is enjoying life in New York City. But the reason she absconded to the Big Apple from Los Angeles is far from glamorous. The actress admitted in a recent interview with ELLE that the fallout resulting from her breakup with Ben Affleck became so “horrible”, she ultimately made the decision to move.

In the magazine’s August issue, Ana opened up about making her way across the country to start anew in a different city without the constant media scrutiny attached to her high-profile relationship. “That’s one of the reasons why I left L.A.,” Ana said of her seven years in the city. “Going through it [myself] confirmed my thoughts about, ‘This is not the place for me to be.’ It became a little bit too much. There’s no escape. There’s no way out. … It’s always the feeling of something that you don’t have, something missing. It’s a city that keeps you anxious.”

The Blonde actress dated Ben, 49, during the coronavirus pandemic that broke out in 2020. The pair met while working on Deep Water and immediately hit it off, a partnership that would blossom into a relationship that lasted over a year. While COVID-19 raged on, the couple remained in quarantine together, often leaving the house to grab coffee or walk their dogs – all of which the media chronicled tirelessly, both pre- and post-breakup.

Now, Ana spends her time in New York City with boyfriend and Tinder executive Paul Boukadakis. Though the pair have been spotted and photographed spending time together, they live a much less-publicized existence with more opportunities for privacy.

It’s no wonder Ana says she loves living in New York then, as it also affords her closer proximity to family in Cuba and Spain, her previous residence ahead of moving to the United States. She’s also left social media behind, for the most part, noting that she’s “barely” been on Instagram over the past year and she deleted Twitter “years ago”.

Since Ana and Ben split in 2021, Ben has moved on as well, rekindling his romance with ex-flame Jennifer Lopez, 52. The pair announced their second engagement in April.