Ben & his guardian angel, Jen
Even though they’re estranged, Jennifer Garner came to Ben Affleck’s side when he suffered a meltdown
ONCE upon a time he was one of the rising titans of Tinseltown – the hunky “Boston Ben” who not only could act, he could also write a mean movie script. This much was proven when he won the Oscar for best original screenplay for Good Will Hunting with best pal Matt Damon back in 1998.
He was flavour of the month again in 2013 when his movie Argo won the Oscar for best picture and he stood tall and handsome on the stage, all shaggy beard and dapper tuxedo and gracious acceptance speech.
Yet it’s no secret Ben Affleck has inner demons dark enough to destroy him – and they’ve now surfaced again with full force. Most recent pictures of the 46-yearold actor show him looking bloated, sweaty and puffy-eyed while his estranged wife takes matters into her own hands.
Because it’s Jennifer Garner to the rescue once again – and Ben must be thanking his lucky stars he was cast opposite her in the movie Daredevil in 2003. That was when the seed of the love affair that led to marriage and children and ended in estrangement was planted – but Jen (46) continues to be a loyal constant in Ben’s troubled life.
He humiliated her by taking up with their nanny, was busted for cheating in a casino, has fallen off the booze wagon several times and hopped from the bed of one hot young beauty to the next.
Yet Jen is the guardian angel who’s been described as “saint-like” by insiders for stepping in each time he hits rock bottom. She was recently forced to stage an intervention after growing increasingly concerned by his erratic behaviour.
The first warning sign was when his steady girlfriend, TV executive Lindsay Shookus, disappeared from his side and was replaced by Shauna Sexton, a Playboy model who at 22 is young enough to be his daughter.
She was the one who celebrated his 46th birthday on 15 August with him. Jen and the kids were nowhere to be seen.
Then he missed an important family occasion when Jen was honoured with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. As she beamed for the cameras, looking
stunning in an elegant Roland Mouret dress and surrounded by her children, sisters and parents, her scruffy ex was taking delivery of a box of booze at his Los Angeles bachelor pad.
A few days later things had clearly reached crisis point and a grim-faced Jen arrived at Ben’s house mid-afternoon, a Bible under her arm and a lawyer in tow.
She went inside to speak to Ben, whom insiders describe at this point as “a mess”. He agreed he needed help and a short while later Jen drove him to a treatment centre in Malibu where he’s set to stay “for an extended period of time”, a source says.
Jen’s only stop on the way was to pick up some fast food, which Ben clutched in the back seat, looking like a chastised child. “Jen looked a little exasperated as she handed Ben the bag of food,” the insider says. “She looked like she’d done this before.”
Which of course she has – several times. She knows the warning signs and knew he was drinking again, insiders say. A few weeks ago she read him the riot act, telling him to sort himself out for the sake of their kids, Violet (12), Seraphina (9) and Samuel (6).
But her words fell on deaf ears. Friends say once the actor starts drinking he finds it hard – almost impossible – to stop. And it’s particularly bad when he’s not working. “He seems to reach a destructive phase then,” a source says.
BEN wrapped shooting the adventure crime drama Triple Frontier in May and political thriller The Last Thing He Wanted in July and has no immediate projects in the pipeline. July was also the last time he was seen with Lindsay, the Saturday Night Live producer he’d been dating for a year.
Reportedly the 38-year-old mom was the one who broke up with Ben. While she’d been supporting his sobriety and going to AA meetings with him, ultimately she made the decision to “step aside”. He’d started deviating from the straight and narrow and she couldn’t stick it out.
“She knew she had to let him hit bottom,” a source tells People. “It was very hard for her to break up with Ben but she knew he wasn’t getting better.”
According to another insider Ben becomes “nasty” when he drinks. “It’s hard to be around him.
“He’s unmotivated and becomes sloppy in his decision-making and appearance. His behaviour was a big turn-off for Lindsay, who prides herself on her work and her motivation for life.”
But it didn’t take him long to find a replacement in the form of sexy Shauna. The leggy model, who was Playboy’s Miss May 2018, clearly speaks his language, having recently announced that her go-to drink is “whiskey – all day”.
But it seems she may be a bit of a fair-weather friend. On the day her new beau headed to rehab she was snapped sunning herself on a beach in Malibu, seemingly without a care in the world.
Jen, however, couldn’t sit back and do nothing. “She still loves Ben,” a friend of the actress told the Daily Mail. “Not in the way she once did, but because he’s the father of her children.
“She wants the best situation for them with their dad,” another friend told Us Weekly magazine.
She was there for him when he checked into rehab early last year and her efforts were duly appreciated by Ben.
In a Facebook post at the time he said he’d sought treatment for alcohol addiction and he thanked his ex “for supporting me and caring for our kids as I’ve done the work I set out to do”.
IT’S little wonder Jennifer has been hailed as a saint.
Throughout their marriage she had to put up with Ben’s vices, including his gambling addiction – which culminated in his shameful banning from
‘Jen looked a little exasperated . . . like she’d done this before’
blackjack tables at a Las Vegas casino in 2014 after he was caught counting cards.
He’s also rumoured to have bedded some of his pretty co-stars, among them Blake Lively, who played opposite him in The Town.
Throughout it all Jen, a committed Christian, worked tirelessly at saving their marriage. But ultimately she couldn’t do it alone.
“She put her heart and soul into fixing the relationship and wanted so desperately to turn things around for the children’s sake as well as theirs,” a friend says. “She forgave him for so much and still he couldn’t change.”
Many thought Jen would wash her hands of Ben for good after he hooked up with their children’s nanny, Christine Ouzounian (now 31), soon after the marriage crumbled in 2015.
But Jen continued to be seen with him time and time again – so much so, many believed they’d soon announce they were trying again. Yet it turns out it was all about the kids. “Both of them are good coparents and Jen especially has been incredibly patient and supportive of everything Ben is going through,” an insider told E! News online.
On Father’s Day in June this year, she penned a touching tribute to him on Instagram. “Our kids are lucky to have a dad who looks at them the way you look at them and loves them the way you love them,” she wrote.
Last year Ben told TV show This Morning, “Jen has set such a good example and a lead that I follow. She’s somebody who I admire and respect and remain excellent friends with.”
It apparently was Jen who put the brakes on their divorce proceedings, wanting to give Ben time to work on his sobriety and health.
The couple, who filed for divorce in April last year, were hit with a warning by the courts recently to hurry things along or risk getting their case thrown out. The latest developments are that they’ve reached a settlement, but the final papers will only be signed once Ben comes out of rehab.
THE star’s first stint in rehab was way back in 2001, just before his 29th birthday. At the time he was riding a wave of success following his box-office hits Pearl Harbor and Armageddon.
In February last year he checked himself in again, telling his fans on Facebook that alcoholism “is something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront”.
He added there’s “no shame in getting help when you need it” and that he wanted to “live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be”.
But by November he was reportedly sliding into bad habits again – not helped by a tough few months in which he was accused of possibly being compliant in producer pal Harvey Weinstein’s sexual abuse scandal and of groping several women himself.
Ben worked closely with Weinstein during the ’90s but when asked in an interview if he’d known about the disgraced mogul’s reign of sexual misconduct, he said he hadn’t.
“I knew he was sleazy and kind of a bully but unfortunately that wasn’t uncommon,” he told the Today Show.
As for the accusations about him, he tweeted an apology, saying he’d “acted inappropriately”, to actress Hilarie Burton after she’d accused him of groping her during a 2003 interview on MTV show TRL, which she’d hosted.
He also had to contend with a couple of box-office busts. His highly anticipated gangster movie Live by Night – which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in – was a flop, as was his superhero flick, Justice League, in which he played Batman.
Fans even called for him to be dropped as the caped crusader.
“He was unhappy and knew he was spiralling,” a friend says. Once again Ben turned to Jen who, along with his brother, Casey (43), got him help.
She went to his side again to support and reassure him – and from her latest actions the message is clear: she isn’t going anywhere.
“After everything they’ve been through, Jen is going to continue to be there for him when he needs her,” an insider told Us Weekly. “From the smoking to the drinking and gambling, Jen has always been the person who can get through to him. She keeps Ben in line as much as she can.” Despite it all, industry insiders say Ben still carries major clout in Tinseltown. “It’s likely he’ll be in and out of treatment more times in the future,” one says. “But the good news is that this doesn’t affect his work. “He’s an Oscar-winning direcyou. tor, he’s well-liked in Hollywood, and there’s a lot of sympathy for him – people still want to work with him.”
Earlier this year Ben’s father, Timothy, a recovering alcoholic himself, blamed the pressures of fame for his son’s drinking problem.
“Hollywood is a disgusting place,” he told the UK’s Grazia magazine. “I think that’s been a major factor in Ben’s drinking. You’re kind of forced to develop a persona that’s hard to shed and go home to your family.
“It affects your whole life. I think that’s one of the dangers of the film industry.”
Ben is currently holed up at The Canyon – a luxury rehab facility deep in the mountains of Malibu that boasts equine-assisted therapy and a meditation dome.
He’s reportedly told Jen he “wants to be a better person” for the sake of their kids and has vowed to change.
Guess time will tell.