Jennifer Garner stated to Vanity Fair that Ben Affleck shines his sun on her, a year following their separation. It can be cold when the sun is shining somewhere else. He can cast quite a shadow.’
After yesterday’s shockingly sensitive interview with Howard Stern, I can imagine shadow feeling particularly big and Siberia-level frozen today.
Garner was an intelligent, talented, and beautiful woman. To have her ex, Jennifer Lopez, parading around in public with Jennifer Lopez in more cringe-making PDAs, must have been difficult.
When you think about the fact that Affleck got engaged to J-Lo just before he met Garner and married him quickly, you can imagine how much she feels having her nose so brutally rubbed by Garner.
Ironically, the couple, known as ‘Bennifer,’ blamed their 2003 engagement stoppage on “excessive media coverage”
Now they can’t enough of it – slobbering over each like love-sick puppies whenever there’s a camera within range.
Was that what Ben Affleck was thinking as he decided to insult Jennifer Garner by sitting down with Howard Stern?(Above: Affleck received an alcohol delivery to his house shortly before he was admitted to rehab in 2018)
That’s all their right. If they are madly in love with someone and wish to show the world, good for them.
What Affleck did on Stern’s TV show to his ex-wife is unacceptable.
One rule for any divorce involving children is to not trash the parents in public.
No matter how bad a relationship is, the blame should not be placed on innocent children. It’s always their wellbeing that should take priority.
As someone who went through a divorce, I can speak for myself. My ex has never spoken poorly of me publicly and will not. Partly out of respect for her – we’ve remained good friends, and she’s never dissed me in public either – and partly because I never want our three sons to hear me talk badly about their mother.
This is particularly important when either or both parties have a public profile and the gory details of any divorce battle may get splattered across newspaper front pages or TV celebrity news shows, because once they’re in the public domain – and many things said in divorce litigation are wildly exaggerated or even plain untrue – there’s a 100% guarantee that your kids will one day read it all and inevitably suffer added upset and damage.
What the heck was Ben Affleck thinking? He sat down to discuss Howard Stern’s situation and chose to make Jennifer Garner feel humiliated in the most unkindest way possible.
Affleck, a man who apparently hates media attention and self-indulgently revealed his deepest personal secrets, effectively blamed his ex wife for alcoholism that he suffered during their marriage.
Stern was asked what would happen if the couple had stayed together and he responded that they would probably have ended up fighting. I’d probably continue to be drinking. One reason I began drinking was that I felt trapped. “I cannot leave my children, but I don’t feel happy. What can I do?” What I did was [I]I drank one bottle of Scotch before falling asleep on the couch. This was not the right solution.
Really, Ben?
This is why blind people get drunk at night.
Jennifer was responsible for you being trapped.
The excuse could have been marginally stronger if Affleck wasn’t a well-known hell-raising drinker many years prior to meeting Garner.
He had once blamed his youth drink problems on his father and gave up alcohol for the first time at age 24. When I got drunk, I began to regret some of the things that I had done. Although it is funny to act out or be loud, then you realize that I may have hurt someone’s feelings. Or that I made a fool of myself. This is dangerous for me because I almost have no inhibitions.
In 2001, after falling of the wagon in dramatic fashion at 29, he was forced to enter rehab at Promises in Malibu by Charlie Sheen, an equally hard drinking friend.
His publicist stated that Ben was a smart, self-aware man and had decided to live a more fulfilling life without the use of alcohol. His family and friends support him in his quest to find a healthier way.
Later, Affleck told Hollywood Reporter that he went to rehab because he was 29 years old and had been partying too much. He also wanted some boundaries to help him clear his head so that he could get a sense of who s/he wants to be. This was more of an ‘let’s get straight’ than it was anything else.
If Affleck had not been known for his notorious drinking habits, this excuse may have held a little more credibility. (Above, Affleck with a glass of wine in his hand as he spoke to Bruce Willis back in 2000.
It was a wonderful phrase, but it became a way of life.
Affleck entered rehab again in 2017. He posted on Facebook that he was out of rehab after completing treatment for his alcohol addiction. Something he has dealt with previously and will face in the future. My goal is to enjoy life and to be the best dad I can. My kids should know that there’s no shame in seeking help, and I will be there to help anyone who is hesitant to ask for help. My family, friends and co-parent Jen have supported and taken care of our children as we’ve completed the work that I had set out. This was just one of the many steps towards positive recovery.
There are many more admirable things to say, particularly about his wife, who remained loyal even after their split.
However, one year later, he was again in rehabilitation, this time driven by Jennifer Garner, who was said to have been’very emotional’ and ‘distressed’.
Affleck stated to the New York Times in February 2020: “One thing about recovery that people often overlook is that it encourages certain values. Be honest. Accept responsibility. Do your best to help others. If you are wrong, apologize.
Hmmm.
This all sounds great, but, again, it was just words.
Howard Stern was not honest with him.
Or, perhaps, ‘accountable.
However, he did not take time to express his regret to his ex-wife about all of the pain that he caused by his selfless boozing.
Instead, Ben Affleck did what he’s done throughout his life – he blamed someone else for his own behavior.
He blamed Jennifer Garner for their children’s inability to read the lurid headlines suggesting that this could have been his real cause of being such a drunken deadbeat husband and father.
Affleck actually had an alcohol problem prior to meeting his mum. He also had problems with drinking while he was still with her and later when he separated from her.
It’s as dishonest as it is cruel to say that he got ‘trapped with’ his children’s mother because he drank whiskey each night.
This is a shockingly self-centered and selfish act even by Hollywood standards. However, it’s not surprising for a 49-year old man with a high-narcissism who inked an absurdly large tattoo of a rising Phoenix all over his back. It’s a sign that he’s going through a terrible mid-life crisis.
It’s also a sign that Ben Affleck’s had one great love of his life and it’s neither of the Jennifers…
It’s himself.