JEN BREAKS DOWN IN PUBLIC

The divorce is back on! Jennifer Garner can’t hide her pain during a heated conversation with Ben Affleck

In a show of family unity, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner drove together to drop off their three children at school. But after Violet, 10, Seraphina, 7, and Samuel, 4, were safely in their classrooms, things took an emotional turn for the former couple. “Ben and Jen started talking in the car. There was a lot of gesturing, and it seemed intense,” a witness to the Sept. 20 scene tells In Touch. “Jen looked really upset, like she was crying.” As their dramatic conversation escalated, adds the witness, “Ben seemed both detached and, at other times, like he was reaching out to her.”

Her tears aren’t surprising. Days earlier, Ben told Jen, who has yet to pull the trigger on their 11-year marriage and file for divorce, that he is finally ready to end things, an insider exclusively tells In Touch. “The divorce is moving forward — their business managers are hashing out their finances right now — and Ben wants to get on with his life,” says the insider. “Jen started crying when Ben told her. She’s worried about how this is going to impact the kids.”

Ben and Jen, both 44, have been living together in the family home since they announced their split. But now Ben has told her he’s leaving. “He initially didn’t want to move out because he was afraid he wouldn’t have access to the kids if he no longer lived there,” explains the insider. “He feared Jen wouldn’t let them visit him at his own place. She still has concerns about the lifestyle choices that Ben makes, and it’s no secret that he’s been drinking again. Their setup was ideal, but Ben’s had enough.”

Jen asked him to at least look for a house in the same neighborhood. “But Ben isn’t being receptive — he feels Jen is trying to control him,” says the insider, adding that Ben’s made it clear that he expects to be able to have custody half of the time. “That’s just ripping her heart out,” adds the insider. “She feels like he’s trying to punish her.”

But the divorce is what she originally wanted. They announced their breakup in June 2015 following a decade of marriage and just before his relationship scandal with the family’s nanny was exposed. “Ben tried [for months] to get Jen to change her mind and give him another chance, but she refused,” says the insider. “Now the finality of the decision to divorce is hitting her hard. It’s way too late to save the relationship. It’s an incredibly sad time for the family.” ◼