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Marriage is never easy, even if you are an A-lister like Ben Affleck.
The Daredevil actor has spoken candidly about his previous marriage to his co-star Jennifer Garner, admitting that he would ‘probably’ still be drinking if the couple hadn’t divorced.
Having initially separated in 2015, the couple finalised their divorce just a few years later in 2018 and many were shocked by their split.
Despite what had outwardly been a fairy-tale marriage, Affleck confessed that they ‘grew apart’ over the course of their 12 year long relationship – which began in 2005.
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Speaking on The Howard Stern show, he told listeners that he’d probably still be heavily drinking if he and Garner had remained together.
“We’d probably be at each other’s throats,” he quipped.
Continuing, he explained: “I’d probably still be drinking. Part of why I started drinking alcohol was because I felt trapped.”
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Despite knowing that their marriage was over, the couple opted to stay together for their children - Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.
However, the decision took it’s toll on the couple and Affleck struggled to cope, leading him become an alcoholic.
“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 [I] drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution,” he told Howard Stern, adding: “But both of us felt like we don’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.”
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Eventually, Affleck and Garner decided to go their separate ways,
“The truth was we took our time, we made the decision, we grew apart," he said, speaking about how the couple had tried to salvage their marriage.
“We had a marriage that didn't work. We tried because we had kids. We did not want it to be the model of marriage for the kids. We did our best. I knew she was a good mom, and I hoped she knew I was a good dad. I had to get sober, and I acknowledge that.”
"We did it amicably. We did our best. Did we have moments of tension? Did we have disagreements over custody? Was stuff difficult for us? Did we get angry? Yes, but fundamentally it was always underpinned with a respect." he added.
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Affleck would go on to seek help for his alcohol addiction and went into rehab, shortly after divorcing Garner.
Whilst the actor didn’t go into detail about his recovery, he did declare that ‘cure for addiction is suffering’.
“You suffer enough before something inside you goes, ‘That's enough’,” he candidly revealed.
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Since then, the actor has gone to reignite his romance with Jennifer Lopez after they first split in 2004.
Over 17 years after they broke their engagement, the loved-up couple wed during an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas last year.
Topics: Celebrity, TV And Film
Katherine Sidnell