Ben Affleck reflects on ‘painful’ speculation he blamed ex-wife Jennifer Garner for his alcoholism

Ben Affleck has reflected on “painful” speculation that he blamed ex-wife Jennifer Garner for his alcoholism in a 2021 interview with Howard Stern, in which the star said he felt “stuck” in their marriage.

In a new interview with the hollywood reporter Posted Thursday, the 50-year-old actor, writer and director recalled an interview in which he discussed his struggle with addiction and the dissolution of his marriage.

In the original interview, Affleck stated that “Part of why I started drinking was because I was stuck,” leading viewers, and even some of his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s friends, to think he was blaming his ex for his drinking problems. .

The Armageddon star described the uproar over Stern’s interview as painful, stressing that much of the public’s conclusion was “actually the opposite of what I meant.”

Affleck addressed the issue after heaping praise on his current wife, Jennifer Lopez, 53, for her unparalleled mastery of social media and interviews.

“I see these things as land mines, where if you say the wrong thing, your career could be over,” he explained. “I had a really painful experience where I did an interview where I was really vulnerable, and the whole pickup was something that was not only not right, but actually the opposite of what I wanted to say.”

He continued: ‘The idea [was] that I was blaming my wife for my drinking. To be clear, my behavior is entirely my responsibility.

Affleck clarified that he had been trying to make a “sad” point in the previous interview.

‘Anyone who has been through a divorce makes that calculation of, How much do we try?‘ he continued.

Affleck and Garner, 50, announced they were separating in 2015 and their divorce was finalized three years later.

‘We loved each other. We care about each other. We respect each other,’ he said of his relationship with his ex. “I was trying to say, ‘Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it’s because of your job, your marriage, it’s just that as your life gets more difficult, if you’re doing things to fill an emptiness that’s not healthy, you’re going to start doing more of those things.” I think I was quite eloquent about it.

He went on, stating that the posts had “deliberately mischaracterized [his remarks] to turn it into clickbait, and then everyone else picked it up, and no matter how many times I said, “I don’t feel that way. I’m telling you, I don’t blame my ex-wife for my alcoholism.” So yes. It’s hard.’

Shortly after he made the original comments, Affleck was pelted with criticism, some of which came from Garner’s own friends, who also seemed to have interpreted his interview uncharitably.

“It’s disgusting,” said a source who knows both Affleck and Garner well. page six in December 2021.

“Jen’s been the one to pick him up over and over again when he did horrible things, fell off the wagon or worse,” they said. ‘Jen supported him because she loves him. This is the mother of her children.

Another source close to Garner shared her disappointment and also seemed to believe that Affleck was blaming her for his alcohol addiction.

“Anyone who knows addict behavior knows how disingenuous such comments can be to any addict, but particularly Ben,” the source claimed.

‘It is one of the first principles of AA not to blame for your illness.’

In his interview with Stern, Affleck had said that he “probably still would have been drinking” if he had stayed married to Garner, which also fueled outrage, as some readers and viewers interpreted it as blaming his ex.

He also explained why he had felt ‘stuck’ in the last days of his previous marriage.

‘I can’t leave for my children, but I’m not happy, what do I do?’ and what i did was [I] drank a bottle of whiskey and fell asleep on the sofa, which turned out to be no solution,’ he said.

In addition to Garner’s friends, social media users lashed out at the Argo actor and director.

You were a drunk before you married her! he read a particularly cruel comment on Twitter, while another person described it as a ‘bag of trash’ because he thought he was ‘blaming’ his ex-wife.

Elsewhere in his new interview with THR, Affleck explained that he’s no longer interested in big-budget franchise movies like Justice League because they keep him away from his kids for too long, especially when they choose to film locations across the country, or the globe — to take advantage of tax breaks.

Share Violet, 17; Serafina, 14; and Samuel, 11 with Garner.

‘One of the reasons why [started a production company with longtime friend Matt Damon was], I’m divorced. I share custody. I no longer want to go to Austin and New Orleans and Georgia and not see my kids,” she explained. It just doesn’t work. These years are too important.

‘If I miss them, I will regret it for the rest of my life. And then I thought, “Okay, well, if I’m in LA and I’m in an office and I’m doing this job, I can go out to the basketball game or the jazz performance.” So I protect those things.