Ben Affleck admits sobriety relapse: ‘It happens, it was a slip’
Actor, who has been in rehab multiple times, appeared to be inebriated at party, casino
After one year of sobriety — and one day after appearing almost fallingdown-drunk while leaving a Hollywood Halloween party — Ben Affleck admitted that he suffered a relapse.
“It happens, it was a slip. But I’m not going to let it derail me,” Affleck, 47, said to TMZ as he arrived at the home of his exwife Jennifer Garner Sunday.
But photos published of Affleck leaving the party Saturday night and playing poker at a casino a short time later revealed that he had a pretty wild night on the town — during which he was accompanied by a young, attractive blonde woman, according to TMZ.
On Saturday Affleck was recorded on video by TMZ leaving a hotel where he attended the UNICEF Masquerade Ball in West Hollywood.
Wearing a dark suit and Halloween skull mask over his face, Affleck appeared to have trouble walking. In fact, he nearly fell at one point and used the side of an SUV to steady himself before continuing to walk to another waiting vehicle.
Shortly thereafter, Affleck turned up at Commerce Casino, a card room located in the Los Angeles suburb of Commerce, according to photos published by TMZ Monday. Affleck arrived at about 1 a.m., accompanied by a blonde woman, and rolled up to a table that already was full with nine players.
But the pit boss decided to make an exception and had a 10th chair moved to the table so Ben could play. Eyewitnesses told TMZ that Affleck was so inebriated he almost fell off his chair. He got $20,000 in chips. Despite being “wasted,” he took only 12 minutes to win $1,500, eyewitness told TMZ.
“He stumbled out of the casino with his lady friend and that was it,” TMZ added.
On Sunday, when the actor and director visited Garner’s house, he told TMZ that he wouldn’t let his relapse let him get so discouraged he would stop working on his recovery.
A source close to Affleck also told People that it wasn’t easy for the “Gone Girl” actor to admit that he had slipped.
“You could tell that it wasn’t an easy thing for him, but Ben owned his mistake,” the source said.