Back to rehab! Ben Affleck checks in to an alcohol treatment facility after his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, issues an ultimatum.

32 IN TOUCH SEPTEMBER 10, 2018 Faced with losing his kids, Ben Affleck agrees to let ex Jennifer Garner take him back to rehab

Jennifer Garner was distraught. When she arrived at her ex-husband Ben Affleck’s house around 4 p.m. on Aug. 22 with a woman believed to be her lawyer, it was clear that her children’s father had been on a serious bender. “He was slurring his words and sweating profusely,” says an insider. “Jen was crying and told him he had one last chance to turn his life around.”

And then she issued an ultimatum. “If he didn’t get help ASAP and change his ways, she said she’d go for full custody of the kids,” the insider says of Violet, 12, Seraphina, 9, and Samuel, 6. “Ben was so shaken up by the thought of losing his kids that he broke down and admitted he needed help.” So after a quick stop at Jack in the Box, Jen, 46, drove Ben, 46, to The Canyon at Peace Park in Malibu — his third attempt at rehab for his alcohol issues since 2001. “She knew she had to get him in as soon as possible — she didn’t even let him say goodbye to the kids in his state,” says the insider. “Ben promised Jen this would be his last time.”

SAD SPIRAL

In the nine months since he completed his most recent stint at a treatment facility, Ben had regularly attended Alco-

holics Anonymous meetings and was amicably co-parenting with Jen. But recently, he suddenly ended his stable relationship with his girlfriend of more than a year, Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus, and started dating 22-year-old Playboy Playmate Shauna Sexton. “Shauna likes to drink and party,” says a source (see box, above). And Ben gets into trouble when hanging around other heavy drinkers, notes the source: “It’s a slippery slope.”

Jen, who split from Ben in 2015 following 10 tumultuous years of marriage, recognized the warning signs and was on “high alert” for her ex to relapse, says the source. So when he had a box of alcoholic beverages delivered to his home on Aug. 20, she was ready to intervene. Adds the source: “Jen knows better than anyone that when you mix Ben with booze it usually ends in disaster.” Disaster is the perfect word to describe Ben’s condition upon arrival at rehab. “His detox was absolutely hell,” says the source. But if he can make it through treatment, Jen has reportedly agreed to finalize their divorce and joint custody arrangement. “It’s a good thing she got to him when she did,” adds the source. “She probably saved his life.” ◼

ROCK BOTTOM Ben (on his way to rehab with Jen after a fast-food stop on Aug. 22) “is completely embarrassed about his recent actions, but it’s the wake-up call he needed,” says an insider. PROTECTIVE MOM “All she cares about are her children,” a source says of Jen. “She doesn’t want them to lose their dad to this disease.”