Ben Affleck has opened up like never before, on his personal life and his relationships with his ex-wives Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner.
The actor, who has been in the news over his alleged growing closeness to his ex-wife, Garner, following his divorce from Lopez, discussed living life in the public eye besides also speaking candidly about the reason for his divorce, co-parenting with Garner and navigating the public scrutiny surrounding his personal life.
Divorce from JLo
During his interview with GQ, Affleck reflected on his participation in Lopez’s documentary, The Greatest Love Story Never Told, and how their differing approaches to fame played a role in their relationship. “Part of it was, ‘Okay, if I’m going to participate in this, I want to try to do it in an honest way and in a way that’s interesting,’” Affleck shared. He acknowledged that while the singer handles public attention with ease, his own personality is more private and reserved.
“As happens in relationships, you don’t always have the same attitude towards these things,” he said. “I love and support this person. I believe in them. They’re great. I want people to see that. You don’t marry a ship captain and then say, ‘Well, I don’t like going out in the water.’ You’ve got to own what you knew going into any relationship.”
Affleck was quick to clarify that their differing public personas were not the primary cause of their split. “I think it’s important to say that wasn’t the cause of some major fracture. It’s not like you can watch that documentary and go, ‘Oh, now I understand the issues that these two had,’” he emphasized.
Co-Parenting with Jennifer Garner
Affleck also spoke warmly about his co-parenting relationship with his first ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children.
“I’m really lucky that I have a really good co-parent and partner in Jennifer Garner, the kids’ mom, who’s wonderful and great, and we work together well,” he said. He described their approach to parenting in the face of media speculation, recalling how they would reassure their children when encountering tabloid stories. “We used to have a thing, my ex-wife and I, when they would see something on a supermarket stand, we would say, ‘You know this isn’t always true because if it were, you would have 15 brothers or sisters,’” he added. Affleck called the media attention, “more of a headache than anything else.”
Handling Public Scrutiny
Addressing the public’s fascination with his life and romantic relationships, Affleck said, “I don’t really care that people are there to take my picture.”
He insisted that his personal life remains relatively calm. “My life is actually pretty drama-free,” he said. “For all the sensational stuff that gets written, if somebody sat down and talked to me about it, their eyes would glaze over with boredom.”
On the work front, he will be seen next in the ‘The Accountant 2‘.
