REHAB FOR BEN
Ben Affleck spirals out of control again. Now those close to him want him to go into inpatient treatment for his longest stay ever
The man emerging from the LA liquor store looked like he’d had a rough night. Or rather, a few rough nights. His reddened, unshaven cheeks puffed out, and his large midsection stretched against a T-shirt, protruding over his dark jeans. Clutching a brown paper bag, the man looked disheveled — certainly not like an A-list movie star. But it was Oscar-winning writer, producer and actor Ben Affleck. “Ben’s drinking has gotten worse,” says a confidant. “He’s spiraling out of control.”
Which is exactly why people close to him are telling him to go back to rehab, In Touch has learned exclusively. Despite completing two rehab stints for alcohol addiction — in 2001 at Malibu’s Promises and again in March 2017 at an undisclosed treatment center — Ben, 45, has fallen off the wagon, multiple sources tell In Touch. His drinking and party- ing have gotten so bad, many of the people closest to him want him to go inpatient for longer than he ever has before. “People are urging him to go into inpatient rehab,” a source close to Ben exclusively tells In Touch. “This is a disease and he wants nothing more than to be present for his family and his girlfriend.” Adds the confidant, “Ben is in pain and he needs help.”
Unfortunately, Ben’s new girlfriend, Lindsay Shookus, isn’t helping the situation. The Saturday Night Live producer, 37, whom Ben has been dating for several months, has been drinking and partying right along with Ben. His estranged wife,
Jennifer Garner, 45, desperately tried to keep him on the straight and narrow for years. “Lindsay may not know it,” says an insider, “but she’s enabling him.”
The Live by Night star was back to his old ways at HBO’S Emmy afterparty on Sept. 17. When Ben sauntered up to the bar at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood, “He ordered a water,” says a witness. However, once he sat down in a booth with Lindsay and Curb Your Enthusiasm star Larry David, Ben switched to something harder. “A waiter brought a short glass filled with whiskey and Coke,” says the witness. While Ben downed his drink, Lindsay, who’d won an Emmy for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, toasted with champagne. Later that night, Ben was “stumbling,” says a second insider. “It was like old times — but this time he had Lindsay.”
The hard-partying evening wasn’t a one-off. Though Ben has occasionally abstained from drinking when out with Lindsay before — he didn’t touch any alcohol when they dined at NYC’S Mas Farmhouse in August — other times, he has indulged. The first time the pair stepped out publicly as a couple, they split a bottle of wine at swanky Santa Monica restaurant Giorgio Baldi. “He goes for weeks without touching booze, but then he will be out with friends having a good time and will say one drink won’t hurt,” a source close to Jennifer told In Touch at the
Right now, Ben has free rein to do whatever he wants, and he’s doing exactly that”
— A CONFIDANT
time. “He always feels he can go back to controlled drinking, but he ends up back where he started.”
Or worse. Right now, “Ben’s losing it,” claims the first insider. “He’s sloppy, he’s bloated, he’s not himself anymore. He’s going to liquor stores, drinking in public…he doesn’t care.” A source claims there is even more disturbing behavior: “He buys a bottle of hard whiskey or vodka and keeps it in his jacket.”
The drinking and partying have gotten so bad, even Ben realizes he has a problem. “He is trying to figure it out,” says the source close to him. “He realizes this has repercussions on his career as well as on his loved ones.” But others fear Ben is wasting time while he mulls his next move. “He knows he needs to check back into rehab,” says the confidant. “The problem is that he wants to go on his terms. He wants to do it on his time, but like most addicts, that time keeps getting put off. This relapse has gone on too long already.” Adds the source close to him: “He has undergone treatment at inpatient facilities in the past, at the suggestion of people that he has trusted.”
When Ben does agree to get help, he’ll commit 100 percent, says the source close to him. “He’s a big boy, which is why he tries different forms of treatment to combat alcoholism. When he does [ get help],” says the source close to him, “he takes the treatment very seriously and listens to all of the staff ’s advice. If someone tells him that he is OK to leave the treatment facility, then of course he follows that advice.” But re-entering the real world is, of course, the hard part. “There were always supposed to be fail-safes set up around him once he left,” continues the source. “Ben himself has agreed that he needs continual support.”
To that end, he’s had a sober coach in the past. In January, he was spotted walking in LA with the founder of Concierge Nursing Care, Elizabeth Weaver, who reportedly offers services as a companion to those struggling with addiction. (The source close to Ben insisted at the time that Elizabeth was helping someone else in the family, though the source admitted, “I wouldn’t say [Ben] is totally sober.”) Even her talents weren’t enough: By March, he was back in rehab. As Ben said in a statement at the time, “I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting help when you need it and to be a source of strength for anyone out there who needs help but is afraid to take the first step.”
Since then, “He seems to have never truly gotten his act together,” says another source. And people close to Ben hope he listens to them and takes that “first step” once again. The first insider predicts “it’s only a matter of time” before Ben is in rehab again. “But time is running out.” The confidant agrees. “He needs treatment now, and not some fluff y celebrity rehab where he’s coddled,” says the confidant. “It needs to be hard-core, and he shouldn’t wait any longer. It’s a matter of life or death for Ben.” ◼