Ben Affleck Has a Message for Ex-Wife Jennifer Garner on Mother’s Day

Ben Affleck is thanking ex-wife Jennifer Garner for being an amazing mom to their three kids in honor of Mother’s Day. The Way Back actor, 48, shared a rare post on Instagram Sunday honoring Garner, 49, and giving fans a peek into his life over the years with daughters Violet, 15, and Seraphina, 12, son Samuel, 9, and their mother. The Yes Day actress beams in the handful of photos Affleck posted, holding their children throughout the years and even sharing a special bedtime message in a video.

“So happy to share these kids with you. Luckiest parents in the world. Thanks for all the good you do,” the proud dad captioned the gallery. “Happy Mother’s Day. Love, their Dad.” Affleck does make one personal appearance in front of the camera in the post, posing as the Tin Man alongside Garner as Glinda the Good Witch and their kids during a family Halloween Wizard of Oz costume from years ago. The couple is diligent about keeping their children out of the public eye, and Affleck made sure to blur their faces in the photos before sharing them on social media.

People loved the sweet sentiment of Affleck’s praise towards his ex, with one follower commenting, “How lovely – coparenting at its best!” Another echoed, “This is really sweet and a great example of coparenting. Good for you both!” while a third added, “Thanks for sharing those family pics! No matter what happened, you all are always family.”

Affleck has been open about how his own alcohol abuse contributed to the end of their marriage in 2018, telling The New York Times in February 2020 there was nothing more he regrets in this life than not being able to make their marriage work. “The biggest regret of my life is this divorce,” the now-sober star shared at the time. “Shame is really toxic. There is no positive by-product of shame. It’s just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing. … It’s not particularly healthy for me to obsess over the failures — the relapses — and beat myself up. I have certainly made mistakes. I have certainly done things that I regret. But you’ve got to pick yourself up, learn from it, learn some more, try to move forward.”

He continued of his decision to get sober that while he “drank relatively normally” for a long time, “what happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart,” which in turn created more marital problems. Confronting his family history of alcoholism, Affleck said he made the choice to get sober, leaning on fellow sober stars like Robert Downey Jr. and Bradley Cooper throughout his journey.