Ben Affleck‘s appearance on The Howard Stern Show was more candid than usual. He not only opened up about being trapped in a loveless marriage with Jennifer Garner but also revealed how he overcame his drinking addiction.
Affleck in conversation with Howard, the show’s host, revealed about his divorce from Garner in 2017 and how it impacted his three children, Samuel, Serafina, and Violet, and most importantly how it impacted him. He said, “Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped.”
He also revealed that divorce between the couple was a long-time decision, but what kept them together until 2017 were only their three children. He said, ‘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.” Affleck continued and said he finally realized that they didn’t want their trapped relationship to “be the model that our kids see of marriage.”
Ben also talked about how his divorce with Garner was not dramatic like the media portrayed, “We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens. She’s somebody I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn’t be married any longer. 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?” he continued. “Yes, but fundamentally it was always underpinned with a respect.”
Ben also revealed that his drinking addiction took a toll on his children, which made him realize that it is high time to stop and focus on his children who are the most important people in his life.
“When I felt as if it impacted them. The cure for addiction is suffering, you suffer enough that something inside you goes, ‘I’m done.'” he added. “I’m lucky because I hit that point before I lost the things that were most important. Not my career or money—it was my relationship with my kids.”
