Ben Affleck covers Loaded Magazine. The cover image has him looking much like his Gone Girl character, Nick Dunn in that he seems bored yet misunderstood and smoldering. I haven’t been able to read the full interview as it’s not yet available on iTunes, but The Daily Mail has some pull quotes. Affleck credits his wife, Jennifer Garner, with helping him return to Hollywood after the Gigli/J.Lo tabloid debacle. He never mentions Gigli or J.Lo, but he’s talked about that period in his career many times. He’s also previously praised Garner for helping his career, so this isn’t new from him. I’m interested in reading the rest of the article to hear what else he has to say, and what Garner has to say about him. Here’s more:
In the January issue of UK’s Loaded magazine, the 42-year-old “Argo” director says being in a relationship with Garner allowed him to focus on what was important. “Getting to know Jennifer, falling in love with her and being connected with her gave me a foundation to reach out and say, okay, I’m going to do ‘Hollywoodland.’ I’m going to direct ‘Gone Baby Gone.’ Those were the steps forward I needed to put positive stuff on the board,” he told Loaded, according to the Daily Mail…
But just because Garner helped Affleck get to where he is today doesn’t mean he’s eager to make another movie with her.
“My wife and I made ‘Pearl Harbor’ and ‘Daredevil.’ With our track record, I don’t know if anyone’s looking for a three-quel,” Affleck joked. “She won most of the fights in the movie, which was a pretty good predictor of what would happen down the road — my wife holding swords and beating the living s–t out of me.”
I’ve mentioned before that I wish Ben wouldn’t talk about his marriage like it’s a business arrangement, but it makes sense here. He had a home base and a family and that brought him the stability to try again after he felt shut out of Hollywood. He has a strategy for his career and settling down as a husband and father was part of that. I’m surprised that he’s accomplished as much as he has, and I’m especially surprised that he’s about to play Batman in a multi picture deal. He’s an ok actor, but his real strength is directing.
Photo credit: FameFlynet and Loaded Magazine
I think he’s right and he owes Jen a lot..she kinda rebuilt his image. I like them together…He has his flaws of course, their marriage might not be perfect but they are still going strong in the Hollywood jungle of divorces and break ups.
Why don’t we see this dynamic in reverse? Where are the actors who stay at home and provide a stable foundation for their fantastic actress wives?
The only example I can think of is Don Gummer, and he isn’t an actor.
Brad Pitt?
Isn’t that kind of what Kelly Ripa’s husband does? (but everybody seems to mock him. Ditto for Kaley Cuoco’s husband). Evangeline Lilly isn’t married but she seems to have a similar “arrangement”, and people seemed to kind of mock him too.
Isn’t Don Gummer an artist (sculpture?) himself? So despite and while supporting his fantastic actress wife …
I like them together too. Whatever their arrangement is, it works for them so who am I to judge?
I also get what he’s saying. He was all over the place and failing before he met her. He bought his own hype and paid for it. She helped him get back on his feet and instilled some confidence in him, which he sorely lacked at the time. As long as he’s got her and the kids as his foundation, he’s willing to try and succeed/fail some more. Luckily for him, it’s been mostly succeed since then.
I think he’s right. Jen gatner seemed to help him refocus on his career creatively.
I also like them together. I think they are a lovely couple.
I can’t put my finger on it, but I just don’t think he loves her that much. I think he’s grateful to her, and THINKS he should love her, but he just seems bored.
Agreed. I always feel that at any given time in this marriage he has one foot out the door, and a bag packed….just in case…
If it was not for the children they have together, I honestly think he would have ended the marriage years ago. By all accounts he does seem to be a good father who loves his children. As for being a good husband, the jury is still out
Agreed. I truly do believe that J-Lo was the passionate love of Ben’s life. It’s a shame they were both at a place in their ages and lives that wouldn’t allow it to work. I also remember, though, that Matt Damon said J-Lo didn’t pass the family/friends test … whatever that means. Matty didn’t say it like ‘he’ was the one she flunked the test with or if it was a family member or a friend, but she evidently clashed with someone in Ben’s ‘circle.’ Sad.
LOL! I loved how ‘whipped’ Ben was with J-Lo. 🙂
LOL 🙂 Ben DUMPED JLO’s ass at the alter, that’s how whipped he was. LOzl
He liked the sex with JLO sure, but was not deeply in love with JLO, I don’t care how many pink or yellow diamonds she helped him find for her ,
JLO can’t keep a marriage together to save her life. Ben was smart in DUMPING her and he DID do the dumping, she would have married him in an instant , he left her at the alter. She was calling him all that weekend begging him to show , while the wedding tents being set up, he refused and told her no marriage, JLO was the one who got crushed. He walked.
JLO would take Ben Affleck back today if he’d have her. He doesn’t want her.
She was hot sex but not hot enough for him to marry her. He was the one who walked on her.
It can’t be a nice feeling for any wife if one has to live alongside a husband who constantly has one foot out of the door and a packed bag.
I hope Jennifer Garner gets something out of this. Maybe she will restart her career when the children will be older? It can’t be that easy for an older actress but nevertheless she is Mrs Ben Affleck.
I used to think that but not anymore. Children might have been a deciding factor in staying during times he might have left had he been childless, but that’s not really a bad thing if it ends up helping a person grow and re-prioritize. I don’t think he wants out at this point. That doesn’t mean there still aren’t challenging times or “tempting” times in his case, but I’d like to think he’s learned he’s better than that and acting on impulses or wanton desires does not reap any benefits in the long run, but actually makes him foolish. Perhaps he has simply matured. Let’s hope so.
BTW – I credit Jennifer Garner with everything he, she, and they have. I still think she’s too good for him…
He seems petulant all the time, like he wishes he could play around and be married at the same time.
Er – he DOES play around and is married at the same time. He’s not very circumspect about it, either. But this behavior isn’t unusual in Hollywood – actually, it’s rather the norm. Affleck and Garner are just one of many couples who have tacit arrangements. Think about it.
You got that from some text on a website you read? I take it you’ve never met them?
Oh, no, Mark, I know them. They’re my best friends. Because nobody EVER comments on here unless they know the people they’re commenting on. We never go by gut instinct or just voice our opinions. This isn’t a celebrity gossip site, you see, it’s a site for people who actually KNOW the celebrities. Like you do.
GNAT – I’m in love with you.
Gnat brings it
GNAT, you are truly gifted in the art of sarcasm, which in my book, is THEE most entertaining skill ever!!! Don’t ever stop. I mean it. Don’t.ever.stop. We need you.
to me, it seems like he loves her a lot. he talks about with her, he’s able to do this, do that. Appreciative of what she does for him. I think they have a good marriage. She took a step back from her career to have a family and be a fulltime mom. I kinda wish she hadn’t given up her career but then again, it would be hard to have a family with both parents going away on location, etc. Someone has to stay with the kids. lots of men aren’t romantic and so his words might not sound that in love with her but I think he is.
GNAT-I’m in love with you.
She didnt’ give up her career…she was in Dallas Buyers Club and that Kevin Costner baseball movie that tanked big time! She still works when she wants too…
I think he loves Jen Garner and married her and that is why they are still together.
I think he had hot passions and hot sex with JLO but could see past that ,even through his haze of drinking and sex that a marriage to JLO was never going to work?
It’s like she’s a nice, sensible, pair of shoes to him.
Yep, he’s damning with faint praise. You’re never gonna see this guy gush over his wife. It’s all about HIM and what she does for HIM. He’s too egotistical and effed-up to exhibit truly unselfish, loving behavior.
Yes, but some people aren’t gushers. I know he seemed to gush over JLo, but I saw it more as lust. They were young, she was hot and sticking it in his face all the time. He thought that made him special. He has never been good with words and he’s not the soft and fluffy type. I have a feeling, Jennifer Garner does in fact rule her home with an iron fist. She’s stronger than him and if he has any brains which I do think he does, he’s accepted that she is in fact much wiser than him and a better person. That makes people respect you. He talks about her with respect and admiration. I would rather have that than having my ass grabbed and gushed in public as so hot. Both would be nice, but those aren’t her options.
Meh. He’d be like that with anyone and knows it. He probably loves her more and is more loyal to her than he would be to anyone else.
+1
Nail’s head, meet GoodNamesAllTaken.
Spot on, that’s exactly the vibe coming from him.
You know what I think it is? In all the reams of photos of him – solo, working, with his wife, with his kids – he never really looks happy. When he does smile it doesn’t reach his eyes.
GNAT- agree 100%
GNAT, I completely agree. I think he does love her as the mother of his children. He seems to know that she is a good wife, mother, etc. But. I don’t think it’s on the same level as what he felt for JLo. I think that was the love of his life.
JLO was hot passions, he Dumped. Jen Garner is the woman he loved enough to marry and is still with, while JLO is spchasing toyboys and ending marriages still.
He did not love JLO enough to marry her.
He Dumped JLO pure and simple, did NOT want to marry Her.
JLO was hot sex , hot passions he dumped at the Alter and yes he did the DUMPING of JLO no matter how some try and spin it.
He dumped JLo ,did not marry her because he finally woke up from his haze of passion and could see that a marriage with her would,never work.
Imo
Passion could get JLO pink diamonds but it could not get him to take the next step, because he did not love her enough to marry her. Simple as that.
Good Names, I can just picture Jennifer reading that quote rom him and saying to herself “You are welcome, Nick.”
Part of him wants to break free, the other part is grateful because he can sense how much stability she brought into his life. Stability, needed to focus on his (creative) work. But I think some deeper part of him is bored with ‘stability and security’- he seems to be conflicted all the time. I see him as a boy at heart, wanting to play around, and have fun. That’s why we keep reading those casino stories. It always feels like he’s about to jump out of this ‘fixture’ of a marriage, but he already knows he would regret it. I also doubt it would help his creativity to be ‘on the loose’, he seems to have some sort of addictional pattern to deal with. I also think Jennifer is very smart keeping him on a longer leash, the moment he feels strangled, he’ll be gone. I think he loves her like you love a friend, which can be very long-lasting, but might feel as if something’s missing.
Jennifer Garner is a good woman, he is very lucky to have her in his life. He better love, recognize and respect the fact, not just words in a magazine!!!
He totally is right and i’m still surprised by the pic when He smokes
I was thinking that too. I didn’t realize that he was a smoker in “real life”. Gross.
She is his bedrock, and he knows it.
I think they had John Mayer photoshop the cover.
I think he is managing to do something even Don Draper didn’t achieve. The steadfast, devoted homemaker wife who facilitates his great career and lets him have his fun away from home. If that’s how it really is, he damn well should be thankful.
What I get out of this is that she is carrying the overstuffed planner with all of the kids’ and household activities and he is drinking and smoking.
It’s the famous Ms. Magazine “Why I want a Wife” essay set in Hollywood 2014.
After Alias ended ABC gave Garner a development deal for a great deal of money. She could star, produce, whatever the hell she wanted. While she is not the greatest actress she could have had a better career than she does now, which is being the martyr to Ben Affleck. Is that really a accomplishment.
She has a decent career – she’s not doing spectacular work, but she’s working pretty consistently. Personally, I think she didn’t want to have to do another action show (which considering the work she did for a while post-Alias I’m guessing that was the niche ABC wanted her in) because the diet and exercise regimen sounded brutal. And of course television shows are a notorious grind, with long hours.
There’s nothing wrong with choosing to have kids instead of a career, it’s her life.
She looks like she adores him. I am pretty sure if Ben and Jennifer were to separate, it would be if Ben was an idiot and got caught doing some of his usual shenanigans. I don’t think his career could survive another backlash/rebirth. So he better be thankful to her everyday she tolerates everything he does and loves him either way.
He was so boring in Gone Girl. His dopey staring into the distance acting didn’t impress me at all. Fincher made a huge mistake by putting him in the focus of the movie. It’s really annoying that he’s getting so much praise for his performance, when Rosamund is the one who absolutely killed it and stole the show. It feels so sexist. Even when he promoted the movie and everyone was kissing his butt, he never supported her, he just threw an offhand comment about how the role is such a once in a lifetime opportunity for a woman, so basically she should just be happy she’s in it. The rest of the time he was kind of like yeah, yeah i’m great…
I like them, their marriage has relatable issues and I hope they manage to stay together. Ben’s a capital A addict though, so fingers crossed
She looks so pretty in those photos – sans makeup, tussled hair, comfortable. Way better to my eye than any of the red carpet looks.
I feel like those comments about Jen beating the shit out of him are old, from another past interview. He’s told that same story before. I am SO tired of hearing his sob story about what the media did to him and how he managed to claw his way back. It’s really just so boring, and there are people who have had it way worse than him. I wish he’d just be quiet.
Jen’s no virginal Sandra Dee. She was married, left him for a costar, engaged, left him for a costar… got knocked up out of wedlock, shotgun wedding… etc, etc. I think people forget her less than perfect past. She can pack up and leave a man just as easily as Ben can. Her feelings can turn on a dime.
I absolutely agree. I don’t doubt she loves him, but i also think she married him because her career started to decline. Who would be still talking about Jennifer Gardner if she wasn’t Affleck’s wife? Nobody. Same with Jessica Biel.
I can relate to their marriage. My husband was declining professionally and partying way too hard when we met. He was floundering & she loved him & gave him confidence & a beautiful family. He sounds realistic, celebrities who ramble on about their “special” love are the ones who don’t make it. Mariah & Nick I’m looking at you.
So true, jlee…if Ben goes on and on about how much he loves Jen, it would be all “what a phony, what a liar” if he says marriage is work, its all “Ben is so unhappy” If Ben talks and laughs with a co-worker its “he is a cheating douche”…I really hate when I come on here and see Ben stories, because I know it will be nothing short of a “Ben is a cheating, lying, a-hole”! Where is the evidence of any of this…Maybe years ago, when he was young, he was wild, but its seems like he has grown up. Just like Angelina Jolie was wild and sowed her oats in her youth, but has grown into a wonderful, adult woman…
Heidi and Seal. LOL
Well said JLee.
I just hate that he blames the decline of his career on Jennifer Lopez. That’s plain dirty.
YES!!! And he never gets called on it. She was just the evil woman who made poor Ben make all of these stupid decisions. He went after Lopez, hard, while she was married to someone else and did not care. He proposed while she was not divorced. For all of her faults, you have never heard Lopez speak about her past relationships the way he speaks about his.
No one told you to kill your career with absolute crap for the checks and are shocked when the public does not like it or you.
I doubt he had to go after JLO hard, she seems to drop husbands at the drop of a hat when she sets her sights on someone new.
JLO would take aben back right niw if he’d have her. Imo
JLO was way more in love with Ben.
He dumped her , he did not want to marry her, he cancelled the wedding while she was setting up the tents.
A marriage to JLO would have been a disaster, imo
Ben has said many times he picked bad roles or bad movies ( one being Gilgli?w JLO) and that’s why his career suffered.
At least JLo can get and keep a man without resorting to getting pregnant like Jennifer did.
He blames taking many bad roles back to back, grabbing anything. He has said that many times. He has said the media coverage about himself and Jennifer Lopez sold covers, so magazines did more and more covers, but it did nothing for his career. All he could do was sell magazines, but the movie offers dried up.
He didn’t blame J-Lo. He blamed the media for the ad nauseum coverage of them on magazines for hurting his career and him becoming a joke. He has said that’s why he conducted his relationship with Garner in a lower-profile way. That he learned from what happened before.
But mostly he talks about his poor choices after the success of Good Will Hunting and grabbing everything and anything and how Mat Damon made much better choices for his career with his roles.
He became box-office poison, so much so that for his directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, the studio didn’t use his name as director to sell the movie, thinking his name would hurt it, not help.
I don’t think he is BLAMING JLO for the demise of his career…but it was at the time that they were together. that his career was in a nosedive. I have never read ANYTHING where he EXCLUSIVELY BLAMES JLO….I think he was too busy being loved up with her, and drinking too much and gambling, at that time, to concentrate on his career…after they split up, I think he grew up (as we almost all do) and realized that he needed to redirect his career if he wanted to be taken seriously in the biz…
Jen has more talent and personality than Biel.
To me in the photos they look happy and having fun. I realize they are actors but it looks real to me. I have no idea what the references are about him from the previous comments? Was he caught in a cheating photo before Jen.
I don’t think he talks about it as a business arrangement. I think he acknowledges it as it is and I wish more men would too. Marriage is work and the reason a lot of guys are able to soar professionally is because they have a woman at home making that part of his life happy and stable etc. You don’t think about it until the divorce comes and the guy is usually trying to get rid as cheaply as possible and never acknowledges any sacrifice or effort on the woman’s part. And maybe sometimes that’s valid but it’s usually the second, younger, trophy wife who’s the one sitting around eating the bon-bons. (No shade on second wives/husbands… you’re often the necessary correction in life).
I think Ben knows she keeps him grounded. He still gets his freedom and he knows it. If they ever split he might be one of those guys who have a dream life outwardly but be a miserable as s–t.
+ 1
He said back in the beginning of their marriage in an interview she was one of the only people who believed in him and told him to do whatever it would take. He also said in the interview she was drop-dread gorgeous but in a natural way, and that she didn’t even know how beautiful she was. I don’t what what the state of their marriage is now, but they look happy enough to me. I think without his wife and three little ones to come home to, he would be miserable. Does he cheat? I have no clue.
Back in that old interview, the interviewer mentioned his engagement to J-Lo that didn’t work out, so how did he know if it was right this time. He said (I’m paraphrasing) that he knew early in the relationship there were things that weren’t right for long-term but he just ignored it until it was evident by the end it wouldn’t work. He said with Jen (Garner) he just knew.
Jennifer Lopez said in a recent interview that she thinks all of her huge entourage always being around traveling and in the house, her assistants, make-up artists, handlers, hanger-oners, manager, are what contributed to the breakup with Ben and even, in part, with Marc.
I think that’s what he was referring to why it didn’t work out and was wrong for him, and I could see that the relationship probably became suffocating.
Jennifer could live and work quite happily without Ben, I’m not too sure he could do the same without her and I think he knows it.
He LOVED the attention he got from dating Jlo, he just couldn’t take it that she ended up getting the benefits from the relationship, while he became a joke. He was posing for the paps with her like his life depended on it, now he says he was a victim of the media. Please! Yes he had to crawl he’s way back to Hollywood, he went from glamorous fame hungry poser, to super serious fame hungry poser, aka every second men in Hollywood. No wonder they love him. He needs to stop bashing Jlo because he’s doing the same thing with Garner, only in Minivan style. I bet he still hates Jlo for outshining him, well he certainly don’t have to worry about that with Garner. He’s such a touchy diva!
Oh please.
Academy Award winning Ben Affleck was not jealous of In Living Color just getting her Jenny from the Block pop music career going JLO.
He was passionate about her but simply did not love her enough to marry her, but I don’t think he was ever jealous of JLO for a second.
The touchy Diva is JLO, she jumps out of a marriage or relationship at the drop of a hat.
I really cannot stand these two. I loathe him with a passion but sometimes I loathe her and her ‘simple housewife/mother’ persona ever more than I loathe his attempts to be seen as a stand-up family man. They are both so horribly and desperately manipulative.
Just wanted to get that out of the way before New Year and my resolution to be kinder and more sensitive and sympathetic to celebrities and their desperate attempts to make us like them.
🙂
LOL *spit take* Yes, they deserve each other and we deserve better celebrities…
Agreed.
I’ll say it again I LOVE BEN!!!
Me too, I think he’s talented and quite handsome.
I love he and Jen Garner together,
I know so many guys like Ben in life, they have the perfect wife, the perfect house, the perfect job, the perfect kids. And they are bored out of their f’n loving mind most of the time. But if they walked away from their perfect life they wouldn’t be able to survive long. It’s a weird love/hate kind of thing. He loves and respects her but she came along at the right time and looked right and gave her the life she wanted also.
I do think he plays around on Jennifer but as long as he doesn’t embarrass her she lets him get away with it. Cue naked photos released of Blake Lively you mess with a woman’s man and think you can take him, she will take you down hard with some timely released photos.
Speaking of Blake…she has the best PR team ever! after that naked selfie scandal, they managed to potray her as the next Martha Stewart, a modern version of a Susie homemaker and to keep her relevant despite her lacking talent…and surely her marriage and now her pregnancy helped too…
I don’t know. I’ve seen her interviews & she seems like she has a great personality. She seems like the kinda person who can have a beer & hang with the guys. I actually really like them together.
+1000
JG is nice. Him, not so sure. There are always whispers about him and his vices. He is in a Vegas when not filming even wearing a beard to not be noticed.
BTW, this story has been written before and was released when he was campaigning for Argo.