Last week, there was a report on Radar that Ben Affleck was downing straight vodka while at Sundance. As I stated at the time, Ben is a recovering alcoholic who has been to rehab at least once (in 2001) that we know of. While I questioned the veracity of the report from Radar, I have to say that I wouldn’t be surprised if Ben was drinking again. Which is just my opinion, and I’m only making that judgement from photos of Affleck over the past year – he looks like he’s unhappy. Anyway, In Touch Weekly says that Ben is definitely drinking again, and it’s not just one isolated incident at Sundance. ITW claims that though Ben has “fallen off the wagon” a few times since 2001, he has “largely remained sober for nine years… until now.”

At Sundance, “Ben was definitely drinking,” a witness tells In Touch. “He had vodka on the table in front of him. This comes just 10 days after Ben was seen purchasing bottles of wine in LA.

“Ben’s started to have the odd beer and go out to bars,” a friend explains. Ben’s wife, Jennifer Garner, knows that he’s been drinking again – and she’s very upset about it.

“Jen laid down the law and asked him not to do it, and he promised he wouldn’t,” the friend adds. But not long after Ben landed in Utah, he hit the bottle. “Jen was hurt.”

While Jen knows Ben love her and their daughters with “all of his heart”, she worries that there’s a part of him that misses his old life. While recently filming The Town, Ben lit up whenever he was around Blake Lively. “It’s obvious that Ben’s been itching to let off some steam… he’s dying to have fun.”

But if Ben keeps drinking, his four-year marriage to Jen might be at risk. Although friends say he has no intention of slipping back into his destructive behavior, specialists not that “when a onetime alcoholic begins dabbling in drinking again, it can quickly turn into a full-fledged problem.”

Also troubling: Ben has already started smoking again, a friend reveals: “It’s the worry of one addiction leading to another that scares Jen.”

Jen is keeping an eye on Ben to ensure he doesn’t fall back to his old ways, but she knows that nagging could drive Ben away, and she doesn’t want to lose him to his addictive nature.

[From In Touch Weekly, print edition, February 15, 2010]

The ITW report finishes with this hilarious/bitchy/probably-true quote from Gwyneth Paltrow: “Ben’s ideal woman would be a stripper with a Budweiser in each hand.” Touché, Goop. Well… let’s see. If this is true (big “if”), Ben is back to being a recreational drinker, a smoker (which I do believe, just because it’s so ridiculously easy to start smoking again) and a guy who might need to “scratch his itch” with Blake Lively. However, as many may point out, there are certainly people who have gone through AA or other other programs and then, years later, drink every now and then without it being a problem. And quite honestly, it doesn’t sound like Ben is having any big problems, other than his wife is worried. Except for the Blake Lively thing. I don’t think they had an affair, but I do think Ben was flirting his ass off. And that sucks.