Ben Affleck has opened up about his marriage to Jennifer Garner, revealing he felt "trapped" and thinks he might still be drinking if they didn't get divorced.
The actor spoke on The Howard Stern Show about his divorce from Garner, whom he married in 2005. They have three children together. He slammed the "horrible lies" that were written about it, calling "anything you read" about the divorce "bulls---."
"We grew apart," Affleck said. "We had a marriage that didn't work. This happens, with somebody I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn't be married any longer. ... Ultimately, we tried, we tried, we tried, because we had kids, and then both of us felt like we don't want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Affleck, who has previously discussed his struggle with alcoholism, went on to suggest he'd "probably still be drinking" if he and Garner were still married, adding, "Part of why I started drinking alcohol was I was trapped. I was like, 'I can't leave because of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' And what I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Affleck has since reconnected with his ex-fiancee, Jennifer Lopez. He previously told The New York Times his divorce was the "biggest regret of my life," but he added, "Shame is really toxic. There is no positive byproduct of shame. It's just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing."
Affleck went to rehab for alcohol abuse in 2018. "Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle," he said. "Because of that, one is never really in or out of treatment. It is full-time commitment. I am fighting for myself and my family."
Continue reading for free
We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.
Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.