Ben Affleck Explains If He Really Blames Jennifer Garner For His Drinking

Ben Affleck is clearing up reports that he blamed his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, for his drinking and addresses earlier comments he made years ago in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

The “The Flash” actor spoke to The Hollywood Reporter for a profile on Thursday. He mentioned that he’s become “very reticent” with press relations after calling his comments a misrepresentation in a December 2021 interview with Howard Stern.

The ‘Good Will Hunting’ actor told the radio host at the time that if he were still married to Garner he would “probably still be drinking,” which immediately made headlines.

But Affleck told the outlet that “the whole thing [press] Pickup was something that not only wasn’t true, but was the opposite of what I meant,” in an interview with the star.

“To be clear, my conduct is entirely my responsibility,” he told The Hollywood Reporter, explaining, “The point I wanted to make was sad.”

He continued, “I’ve been trying to say, ‘Hey, look, I’ve been drinking too much, and the less happy you get, whether it’s your job or your marriage, the harder your life becomes when you’re having things too.’ do to fill a hole that are not healthy, you will start doing more of those things.’”

Garner and Affleck arrive at the Oscars on February 24, 2013 in Hollywood, California.

Jason Merritt via Getty Images

“I think I made that pretty clear,” he said, calling out publications “who deliberately mischaracterized it to make it clickbait, and then everyone else picked it up.”

“It didn’t matter how many times I said, ‘I don’t feel like that. I’m telling you, I don’t blame my ex-wife for my alcoholism,'” he said. “So yes. It is difficult.”

During Affleck’s appearance on Stern, the actor said his marriage to Garner was “part of the reason I started drinking because I was trapped.”

He told the radio host, “I was like, ‘I can’t go because of my kids but I’m not happy, what should I do?’ I drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”

He added: “We had a marriage that didn’t work out — it happens — to someone I love and respect but should no longer be married to. Ultimately we tried, we tried, we tried because we had kids. We both felt that we didn’t want this to be the model our children see of marriage.”

Affleck, of course, is now married to Jennifer Lopez. The couple tied the knot twice in the past year: the first was an intimate ceremony in Las Vegas in July, followed by a much larger celebration in Georgia in front of their friends and family.