Ben Affleck Shares Brutally Honest Details About Jennifer Garner Divorce

It’s been years since Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced their divorce. The pair, who officially split in 2018, share three children together — Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, 9. Years after their divorce, Affleck is speaking out on his marriage to Garner, and he’s not holding anything back. 

Affleck appeared on The Howard Stern Show recently and the conversation turned to his former marriage, according to Entertainment Tonight. The actor began the conversation by criticizing the “f—ing horrible lies” that he saw about his split. Then, he shared his own account of how their marriage came to an end. He explained, “The truth was, we took our time, we made a decision, we grew apart. We had a marriage that did not work. This happens. It is somebody I love and respect, but to whom I should not be married any longer.” He continued to say that they tried to make their marriage work for the sake of their children, but they ultimately decided that their relationship was not the example that they wanted to show them.

“And then we said, ‘You know what? We tried. We tried, because we had kids,’” he added, “And then both of us felt like, ‘We don’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.’” Affleck said that if he and Garner had stayed married, he felt as though he would continue to be plagued by his addiction to alcohol. He explained that their marriage “was part of why I started drinking alcohol, I was trapped.” Even though they didn’t see eye to eye on everything, they did manage to split on amicable terms. 

“Did we have moments of tension? Did we have disagreements over the custody? Was stuff difficult for us? Did we get angry? Yes,” Affleck shared. “But fundamentally it was always underpinned with respect. I knew she was a good mom. I hope that she knew that I was a good dad. I was. I had to get sober, I knew that too and I acknowledged that. I said, ‘You’re right. I’ve got to quit drinking.’”

Since separating from Garner, Affleck has found love again. This year, he made headlines after he rekindled his relationship with his former fiancée, Jennifer Lopez. The couple has since made numerous public appearances and, most recently, they attended the premiere of Affleck’s film, The Tender Bar, in Los Angeles.