Ben Affleck said tabloids "deliberately mischaracterized" comments he made about ex-wife Jennifer Garner and his battle with alcoholism.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Air director addressed the controversy that ensued after his 2021 interview on TheHoward Stern Show went viral following comments he made about Garner, whom he divorced in 2018. At the time, Affleck said he would "probably still be drinking" if they were still married, causing a public uproar that accused the actor of blaming Garner for his addiction.
During his chat with THR, Affleck reflected on the incident.
"I had a really painful experience where I did an interview where I was really vulnerable, and the entire pickup was something that was not only not right, it was actually the opposite of what I meant," Affleck told the outlet. "The idea that I was blaming my wife for my drinking. To be clear, my behavior is my responsibility entirely. The point that I was trying to make was a sad one. Anyone who's been through divorce makes that calculus of, 'How much do we try?' We loved each other. We care about each other. We have respect for each other. I was trying to say, 'Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it's your job, your marriage, it's just that as your life becomes more difficult, if you're doing things to fill a hole that aren't healthy, you're going to start doing more of those things.' I think I was pretty articulate about that."
One viral clickbait headline, however, changed the interpretation of his comments, Affleck said.
"It was the New York Post who deliberately mischaracterized it in order to make it clickbait, and everyone else then picked it up," he continued. "It didn't matter how many times I said, 'I do not feel this way. I'm telling you, I don't blame my ex-wife for my alcoholism.' So, yeah. It's hard."
Affleck clarified his comments about Garner in a subsequent 2021 interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
"I had gone on and said how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first and went through our stuff. And they said that I had blamed my ex-wife for my alcoholism and that I was 'trapped' in this marriage," Affleck told host Jimmy Kimmel at the time. "Just made me out to be the worst, most insensitive, stupid, awful guy."
Garner and Affleck, who is now married to Jennifer Lopez, share three children together: Violet, 17, Seraphina, 14, and Samuel, 11.
The actor also opened up to THR about sharing custody with his ex and prioritizing time for his kids.
"One of the reasons I [decided to run my own company] was, I'm divorced. I share custody. I don't want to go to Austin and New Orleans and Georgia anymore and not see my kids. It just doesn't work," he said. "These years are too important. If I miss them, I'll regret it for the rest of my life. And then I thought, 'OK, well, if I'm in Los Angeles and I'm in an office and I'm doing this work, I can step out for the basketball game or the jazz performance.' So I protect those things."
