He revealed that he was unhappy in his marriage, and said, "I was like 'I can't leave 'cause of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on December 15, 2021. It has since been updated.
Ben Affleck has had a love-hate relationship with alcohol and the actor recently opened up about it during an appearance on the Howard Stern Show on December 13, 2021.
Affleck revealed that his issue with drinking began when he was married to Jennifer Garner, with whom he shares three children: Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, 9, according to PEOPLE.
"I'd probably still be drinking. It's part of why I started drinking … because I was trapped," the Argo director admitted to Howard Stern. He revealed that he was unhappy in his marriage, and said, "I was like 'I can't leave 'cause of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Affleck, who has gone into rehab multiple times, said they tried their best to make their marriage work, but in vain. “Ultimately, we tried, we tried, we tried because we had kids, but both of us felt like we didn’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage,” he said, per Page Six.
He then added that the tabloids had it wrong about their breakup. “Everything you read [in the news about the divorce] was bulls–t. The truth was we took our time, we made our decision … We grew apart,” he said. “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.”
However, their marriage came to end on good terms, he revealed. “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 said, adding, “I knew she was a good mom. I always hoped she knew I was a good dad. I knew I was.”
It was not easy to get over his addiction, admits the Triple Frontier star. Once he hit rock bottom, it took him a year and a half to get sober. “The cure for addiction is suffering, you suffer enough, that something inside you goes, ‘I’m done,'” he said of getting clean. “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, and when I felt as if it impacted them, I recognized it.”
“It was the worst day of my life. I made amends … But since that day, I swear to Christ, I have not ever wanted to drink once,” he shared.
References:
https://www.siriusxm.com/channels/howard-100
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Amy Sussman
