money Ben Affleck Thanks 'Thoughtful' Ex Jen Garner as He Continues to Open Up About Sobriety
Ben Affleck has nothing but kind things to say about his ex Jennifer Garner.
The actor recently sat down with Good Morning America‘s Diane Sawyer to discuss his road to sobriety and public divorce from Garner. After showing the pre-recorded interview with Affleck, Sawyer read aloud a public thank you that he made about his ex wife.
“What I want to say publicly and privately is, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being thoughtful, considerate, responsible, and a great mom and person,’ ” Sawyer, 74, read.
During the interview, Affleck, 47, admitted that he never thought his battle with addiction would result in his and Garner’s divorce.
“I didn’t want to get divorced, I didn’t want to be a divorced person, I really didn’t want to be a split family with my children,” he shared. “It upset me because it meant I wasn’t who I thought I was and that was so painful and so disappointing. In myself.”
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Affleck has recently been open about his addiction and split from Garner. In a new interview with The New York Times, published Tuesday, the actor admitted, “The biggest regret of my life is this divorce.”
“Shame is really toxic,” he continued. “There is no positive byproduct of shame. It’s just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing.”
“I drank relatively normally for a long time,” he told the outlet. “What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart. This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems.”
Affleck and Garner, both 47, announced their separation in June 2015 and settled their divorce in October 2018. The two first started dating in 2004 and married the next year, later welcoming three kids — daughters Violet, 14, and Seraphina, 11, and son Samuel, 7.
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The actor, who’s been in rehab multiple times, entered rehab again in August 2018.
In October 2018, he broke his silence about his treatment in an emotional statement on Instagram.
“This week I completed a forty-day stay at a treatment center for alcohol addiction and remain in outpatient care,” Affleck revealed in a post. “Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle. Because of that, one is never really in or out of treatment. It is a full-time commitment. I am fighting for myself and my family.”
