Ana de Armas says having a high-profile relationship with Ben Affleck was 'horrible' and drove her out of Los Angeles

• Ana de Armas called her relationship with Ben Affleck "horrible" because of the paparazzi attention.
• "That's one of the reasons why I left L.A," she told Elle for a cover story.

Ana de Armas told Elle that the attention on her high-profile relationship with Ben Affleck was "horrible."

"That's one of the reasons why I left LA," said the "Knives Out" actor, who's currently based in New York.

"Going through it [myself] confirmed my thoughts about, 'This is not the place for me to be,'" de Armas continued. "It became a little bit too much. There's no escape. There's no way out."

De Armas began acting at 14 years old in her native Cuba and then moved to Spain where she took mostly television roles, according to Elle. The 34-year-old didn't move to Los Angeles until she was 26 years old and rose to fame quickly in the US after starring as Marta Cabrera in the Oscar-nominated "Knives Out," which was released in 2019.

She met Affleck in 2019 while filming the Hulu thriller "Deep Water" which was meant to premiere in 2020, according to Glamour. Their relationship was heavily chronicled by the media.

By spring 2020, they were quarantining together and going on PDA-filled walks. Affleck even made appearances on de Armas's Instagram account, most of which are now deleted. But he can be heard in the background of a video she posted of herself hitting a piñata the day after her 32nd birthday on April 30, 2020.

De Armas had met Affleck's kids with ex-wife Jennifer Garner by May 2020, and they purchased a lifesize cutout of her to put on their dad's lawn. For Affleck's 48th birthday in August of that year, she bought him a custom motorcycle, People reported.

The couple resumed filming "Deep Water" in November 2020, but had broken up by January 2021.

The "Blonde" star's distaste for Los Angeles was rumored to have played a part in their breakup. "Ana doesn't want to be Los Angeles-based and Ben obviously has to since his kids live in Los Angeles," a source told People at the time.

In her new Elle interview, De Armas described Los Angeles as a place that makes people believe they need something that they "don't have" or that "something's missing."

"It's a city that keeps you anxious," she continued. De Armas is currently dating Tinder exec Paul Boukadakis and is living in an apartment with him in New York. Affleck reconciled with his former fianceé Jennifer Lopez, who confirmed the rekindled relationship in July 2021. Affleck and Lopez got engaged again in April.