Ben Affleck surprised fans when he made headlines this week for saying he felt "trapped" in his marriage to Jennifer Garner, and suggested he would likely still be drinking had they not parted ways.
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The Hollywood actor was married to ex-wife Jennifer from 2005 until 2018 and together they are the proud parents of Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and nine-year-old Samuel.
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However, following the social media backlash, Ben was quick to clarify his remarks during a chat with Jimmy Kimmel. "I would never want my kids to think I would ever say a bad word about their mom," he explained.
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Ben, 48, thought his earlier interview with Howard Stern had been "meaningful" and didn't realise how his comments had been perceived until after it aired.
"I had gone on and said how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first and went through our stuff," the actor said regarding the tweets he read.
"And they said that I blamed my ex-wife for my alcoholism and that I was trapped and just made me out to be the worst, most insensitive, stupid awful guy."
Jennifer and Ben were married from 2005 until 2018
He concluded: "That's not true. I don't believe that. It's the exact opposite of who I am, what I believe."
During the episode of The Howard Stern Show, Ben touched upon his personal struggles and how he tried to save his marriage for the sake of their kids.
He recalled: "I can't leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, so what do I do? So what I did was like, drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
Although he "loves and respects" Jennifer, the dad-of-three knew they "couldn't be married any longer".
"We had a marriage that didn't work, this happens, with somebody that I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn't be married any longer," he added. "Ultimately, we tried, we tried, we tried, because we had kids. Both of us felt like we don't want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage."
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