Ben Affleck Claims He Drank Because He Felt 'Trapped' In Jennifer Garner Marriage

Ben Affleck, who has sought help for alcoholism multiple times throughout his acting career, has claimed he’d still be struggling to get sober had he remained in a marriage “that didn’t work” with ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

“I’d probably still be drinking,” he said in a much-criticised interview on The Howard Stern Show shared by Access. “Part of why I started drinking alcohol was because I was trapped.”

“I was like ’I can’t leave ’cause of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?” he added, per People. “What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”

Ben, who went to rehab in 2001, 2017 and 2018 – driven to a facility by his ex-wife in the latter instance years after their separation and following an intervention staged by her – noted that the marriage had hit a dead end for both parties.

“The truth was we took our time, we made the decision … we grew apart,” he said. “We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens.

“She’s somebody I love and respect but to whom I shouldn’t be married to any longer… Ultimately we we tried, we tried, we tried, because we had kids.”

Jennifer Garner’s reps didn’t immediately reply to a HuffPost request for comment. But some observers on the internet found The Tender Bar actor’s remarks to be insensitive and egregiously casting blame on his ex-wife and the mother of his children.

New York Post columnist Maureen Callahan wrote that Ben had given “the cruelest post-divorce interview since Brad Pitt blamed ex-wife Jennifer Aniston, in Parade magazine, for his deep unhappiness and subsequent affair with Angelina Jolie”.

Piers Morgan also penned a column slamming Ben’s remarks in the Daily Mail, branding the actor’s remarks “astonishingly insensitive”.

Check out some of Ben Affleck’s comments in the video below, around the 1:30 mark:

Help and support:

• If you need help with a drinking problem, call the Alcoholics Anonymous national helpline for free on 0800 9177 650 or email help@aamail.org.
• For advice on how to reduce drinking, visit Drinkaware’s website or Alcohol Change UK.
• Find alcohol addiction services near you using this NHS tool.