Celebrity watchers have been thrilled with the romcom-esque rekindling of the Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck romance. However, neither of them have really opened up about how they got back together more than a decade after their engagement broke off in 2004.
In a new interview on The Howard Stern Show, Affleck has offered some insight about their new relationship.
Stern asked the ‘Argo’ actor if he hesitated to enter the relationship because he’s a dad and because of the media scrutiny.
“It crossed my mind for sure,” Affleck said. “My responsibility to my children is the highest responsibility. I don’t want to do anything that is painful or destructive to them if I can help it.”
Affleck shares three children — Violet, Serafina and Samuel — with ex-wife Jennifer Garner. They got married in 2005 before separating in 2015; their divorce was finalised in 2018.
In his interview, the actor admitted to having a drinking problem and how he and Garner tried to make their marriage work despite the struggles.
“Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped,” Affleck said. “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.”
“The truth was we took our time, we made the decision, we grew apart,” he added. “We had a marriage that didn’t work.”
Affleck has been to rehab for alcoholism a number of times in the past, the last reported instance being in 2018.
“Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle. Because of that one is never really in or out of treatment. It is a full time commitment. I am fighting for myself and my family,” he wrote on Instagram at the time.
As for Affleck’s new (old?) love; he and Lopez started dating again in April 2021 and have been photographed taking family outings with all their kids in tow.
