In the days leading up to Ben Affleck’s rehab stay, sources reported that he was dating that 22 year-old Playboy model because his girlfriend, Lindsay Shookus, wasn’t moving to LA as planned. The source told E! That Ben “feels as if they are over,” meaning that Ben thought they were over and then went out with another woman to force Lindsay’s hand. That’s just my take, especially after Lindsay deleted her Instagram. After that their split was announced like it had already happened. Now that Ben is in rehab and is reportedly ready to sign off on his divorce, there’s a story in People claiming that Lindsay broke up with Ben because he was drinking and she thought he needed to hit rock bottom. As many of you have mentioned, it sounds like Ben’s team is trying to rewrite the narrative now. It may be working.
“Lindsay had been supporting Ben’s sobriety and going to meetings with him. She had him in meditation and they were doing it together,” a source close to the former couple tells PEOPLE. “His recovery was something that was very important to both of them.”
As Affleck, 46, began to spiral in recent months, however, Shookus, 38, felt increasingly helpless, says the source. In the end, she decided it would be in Affleck’s best interest to end the relationship.
“It was very hard for her to break up with Ben, but she knew he wasn’t getting better and that it was time for her to step aside,” says the source. “She was trying to stay as close to him as possible so that he would stay on the right path, but ultimately it just wasn’t possible. She knew she had to let him hit bottom.”
Adds the source: “All she wanted was for him to be happy and healthy. It was a difficult choice but the right one.”
I think that Lindsay pulled away from Ben for being noncommittal and partying constantly, that Ben got mad and made sure he was photographed with Shauna and that’s when Lindsay broke up with him. After that Jen was like “go to rehab if you want a relationship with your kids” and Ben complied. I believe that Lindsay was probably into meditation as this article claims, but paparazzi photos make it look like she was drinking with him regularly. She probably only realized that he was an alcoholic when she saw how out of control he was the past few months. Plus, I doubt he was faithful to her either. Again, I hope that Ben can achieve sobriety and keep it for his own sake. Given that we’ve heard that he’s reluctant to stay in rehab, signs are not good. Maybe he’ll realize how much better he feels though and won’t want to take his misery back.
photos credit: Backgrid
Ummm wasn’t she the one up in Maine buying alcohol with him, telling him “you’re an adult, you can have a drink “, trying to be the anti-Jennifer, cool girlfriend.
+1
Yup. Nice spin, Lindsay. We are not buying it.
He never was sober during Shookus’s time. They were drinking and partying together. I think the main problem of his relationships is him and his mental problems. He is a rich narcissist who believes that he can have any woman he wants. Jennifer could be a good wife for him if he could man up. Lisdsay was a party girl and he didn’t want to marry again so soon after his divorce. He wanted also to party with Bunny and others. He likes the high of chasing a new girl and there are a lot of party girls for Ben Affleck!
Actually, on the first photo they look like a couple of drunks.
+ 1 and I would like to add HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!! That’s some master class spin control!
Meh…. not buying it. Here’s my opinion of how it went down.
Lindsey read the story about Ben and Jen’s divorce being stalled and possibly called off by the judge. She read Ben the riot act and gave him an ultimatum: get divorced now so we can get married. Meanwhile, Jen has being stalled to have leverage over Ben’s behavior (for numerous reasons) and doesn’t want him getting married to this former side piece (for numerous reasons), so when Ben complained about this stuff with Lindsey, she didn’t budge. So he had to Lindsey no dice on the divorce any time soon. So Lindsey took off, keying his car for wasting her time, even though girl shoulda known better. Then Ben, who can’t stand being alone, went trolling for new playmate, hence that Miss May. And went on a bender to distract from how much he screwed up his life. And as usual, Jen has to clean up the mess.
I love it! Give me your number, please, Rapunzel. I need you to analyse a couple of situations we have here, cuz I’m all out of ideas.
+10000
Sorry I didn’t see your post before mine but that’s my take too on the breakup. Both our posts work better with the timeline of events. That news that the divorce isn’t progressing in court was the key pivotal point in this drama.
Do we have any evidence that Shookus wanted to marry Ben? or is it just a obvious thing because she is a woman or? maybe I missed some updates, but nothing indicated that Shookus wanted to marry Ben
My take on it is: Shookus felt good with Ben, they both being party animals and drinking together, but then she realised how much he is really drinking and broke up with him. Ben´s ego was hurt so before the news about the break up was made publish, he went out with that young model, as a protest thing
the moment I saw the news about the young model and him out, I knew he was dumped and it was promptly comfirmed.
E! Online-15 Aug 2018 “Lindsay is crazy in love. She would marry Ben in a heartbeat.”
he looks terrible in these photos. So puffy and sad.
Right? He was a MESS in nearly all of the photos with her.
I heard about Jen getting him to rehab at the same time that I heard he broke up with Lindsay, so I assumed that had also been part of Jen’s ultimatum: dump the enabler and go to rehab, or else.
Not sure how the Playboy Bunny fits into all this. Probably his childish attempt to assert control, like “Fine, I’ll just date someone else you don’t like then!”
This is really over the top. She drank with him!! There are pictures of it! She’s an enabler.
He is a grown up, he made his own choices. I go with the notion that he didn’t want a serious relationship, he wants to be free, but at the same time he cannot be alone and makes poor choices even more when alone.
He really needs to hit rock bottom a la Robert Downey Jr.
Always drinking coffee or ETOH. Hydrate people please
The fact this is trying to put her on a good light, makes me wonder if he will try to get back with her and try to settle the same kind of relationship he had with Jennifer. Screw up, play nice, get back together, repeat.
No way Lindsay has the fortitude to put up with his ongoing shenanigans. Jen does it for the father of her children, Lindsay home wrecked herself to have an affair with a movie star, has shown zero interest in changing her own habits to support Ben’s sobriety, and hotfooted it out of town when Ben made it clear she wasn’t special.
But … maybe some women like that kind of thing?
Nope. She left him when the truth came out that he’s not getting divorced/ free of Jen G. She wasn’t photographed with him after that article dropped. I think he lied to her saying he is finally getting divorced and she brought their relationship out in the open as legit. Finding out that he was still hitched to Jen with no progress of the divorce papers in court, she bounced and left his car in a random garage. The 22 year old was intended to hurt her, he would not care less about his new girl.
This article is PR to not look like she’s the one responsible for his massive relapse. Otherwise she could have just said *he* dumped her for the 22 year old so she couldn’t help keep him sober.
I wonder if she is divorced or not
It’s sad to think that the young man who (co?) wrote and delivered that beautiful soliloquy in Good Will Hunting about achieving one’s potential is a full-blown alcoholic.
Garner is probably one of the few people who knows the “real” Ben that’s been lost to alcohol. Matt Damon, the other one, seems to be AWOL.
Oooh good point. Where is Matt? I agree with everything posted above. Shookus enabled him, wanted a ring, and bounced when it was clear that she wasn’t getting what she wanted. What’s this about her keying his car? I missed that detail.
Isn’t Matt living in Australia?
Yeh where is Matt? And Casey? And Ben’s Mom.
Lindsey is trying to make herself look good here – I don’t think this is Ben’s PR even. Lindsey knew what he was – she was drinking (and maybe drugging) with him for years before hey went public. And then drinking publically with him summer of 2017. And Ben was back in Rehab – though it wasn’t as publically known. A few weeks before she posted a pic of Ben as “the real deal”. And even E had this crazy puff piece about her and him published around his birthday- but now sources say they were broken up then. Lindsey just trying to clean up her own image here. And look like she left him for his own good. Blah! I also think he would not commit to her – there were articles saying how she would marry him in a heartbeat.
This is my question, too! Like, I applaud Jen for shouldering this burden for the sake of her kids even when she ends up being labeled a clinger and worse for standing firm on Ben’s sobriety but WHERE THE HECK ARE HIS FAMILY? Friends? Professional team? Why is it that his estranged, mostly-ex wife the one who in perennially cleaning up after him and doing the hard work?
Matt has a home a few houses near what is now just Jen’s.
Shook us knew. On some level she knew he was an alcoholic. When they vacationed in maine they stopped into a liquor store several times over a few days and bought several bottles of hard alcohol. No way she was helping him recover with that behaviour.
I’on know…I still don’t see Shookus tripping over the divorce thing…heck she was kicking it with him when he was still married in the first place…and I’on see her tripping on him getting married right away to her…I think she liked what they had…and I don’t see her giving up her life to support his…and THAT’S what a wife of his would have to do….however, I DO SEE HER STRAIGHT COLD LEAVING if she caught Ben going back to his garden-variety old ways….which you know…is funny…considering…that’s how she got him….
Yup i bet she caught him talking to Shaunas behind her back so she dumped him and he was pissed at her. Maybe she snooped through his phone or computer and he was mad at Shookus for busting him.
So he started drinking and got angry and while drunk he thought itd be a great idea to get back at shookus by going public with a Shauna and humiliate her. What a nice guy he is
@LALA11_7 100% agree with you; that’s my take as well.
This makes the most sense to me as being cheated on is most likely the thing that would send Lindsay packing. It’s the ultimate disrespect and she thought she was special….
But their relationship was secret before he was separated from Jen. After the news of the divorce filing, she could then legitimately date him in public without being called a home wrecker. Afterall she has to book women too for SNL, too much of a backlash. Their relationship status changed to a couple with the divorce filing. If they are not divorcing she looks like a sucker and a fool. I bet many of her friends called her up when that article dropped. At that point she realized what we all knew: Jen and Ben are never getting divorced.
By the time we saw him with the 22year old, he looked like he was on a drug and alcohol bing. You don’t bother with clean clothes and eat nothing but junk food so you can go back to the drugs.
I think this is Lindsey’s spin. She’s explaining why it’s not her (the girlfriend) taking him to rehab, but his ex-wife. And he didn’t cheat on her, she ended it and he spiraled into the Playmate’s arms.
And I agree. I’m not a huge JG fan (I am rarely a fan of any celeb as I think they are all messed up in at least some small way ;)) but she’s the only one getting him clean. It may be for his kids, but she’s doing it. So I don’t want to hear Kevin Smith or Matt Damon or anyone saying she’s a downer and makes Ben cut them off. Maybe there’s a reason she doesn’t want him hanging with certain people.
I also wondered if the reason she wouldn’t finalize the divorce is that as his wife, she would continue to be his next of kin? She could make medical decisions for him, or be the contact person for things like rehab.
Oh Honey, I think we’re all messed up in at least some small way, whether we’re celeb or not. We all got baggage
Celebrities are different, just by becoming famous, but bless your heart 🙂
Shookus is 100% an enabler. She drank with Affleck and she drank with John Hamm. Have you seen Hamm lately? He looks like crap too. What kind of an idiot drinks with their alcoholic boyfriend? Someone who doesn’t actually care about their well-being.
It must have been easier for her to just have the fun part of Affleck’s drinking and then a wife that cleaned him up. Now she’s got the fun and sad parts. And she bounced! It’s what they both deserve. Ben thinking that he can chase tail while being taken cared off by these women, they don’t care! Shookus being shook that Ben has NO rock bottom, this is who he is. She left a husband and a child to meander in the streets drinking with a man who could never be truly hers alone.
If this is Shookus planting stories to clean up her own image, she needs to stop.
I just went down the rabbit hole of looking into Lindsay and Jon Hamm (and apparently Chris Noth?) and found an old article from nickiswift. It’s from a year ago but lays out a really good history about Ben and Lindsay and how she enabled him. Plus she found Kristen Wiig?! I didn’t know that. I have to give her credit for her work and some of her outfits, but her personality doesn’t seem good. I 100% believe some of these stories coming out now are her own special kind of damage control.
http://www.nickiswift.com/74536/scandalous-truth-ben-afflecks-new-romance/%3famp=1
Sure Jan.
LOL!
Doesn’t she work for SNL? She probably bounced and moved back to NYC since the season is beginning soon. Honestly, I don’t blame her for avoiding the Ben train-wreck. I don’t have personal experience with this, but I imagine being with a spiraling addict is not easy and maybe she just couldn’t take it anymore.
If the reports are true that the divorce is all but finalized, then Jen, Ben and Lindsay knew when it hit that the divorce may get thrown out story was nonsense and couldn’t have been a trigger for Lindsay’s break-up with Ben.
Leaving his car in a parking garage with the keys in it (if true) signals seriously pissed off/scorned ex-gf not a I’m so worried about my boyfriend’s sobriety I’ll walk away and hope he gets help ex.
My general feeling on this is that Ben’s a mess and Jennifer Garner is a boss ass bitch (in the best possible way) and I wish I were friends with her. Trying to decide if I’d ever look back and help out an ex and… nope. That woman’s made of steel. And *with that* I will be seeing Peppermint on opening weekend.
Having children with someone is an extremely strong bond, one that Lindsay doesn’t share with Ben and Jen does. So I think Lindsay just finally didn’t feel like putting up with his sh!t anymore and plus she’s based in NY anyway for work. It was fun while it lasted, but I think she didn’t sign up to take care of a man-child. Jen, I’m sure, is sick of it as well but she’s invested. But I don’t think this was some big, heartbreaking decision Lindsay made for his own good – I think she was just over it. It seems like she likes to party but she doesn’t have the addiction issues Ben has and didn’t feel like giving up that part of her life. I’m not saying that’s wrong of her, but I don’t think she’s some martyr either.
I don’t think that Lindsey broke off the relationship…….Ben did.
I do not think that Lindsay even new the real Ben. He was a functioning alcoholic until he wasnt. Jennifer Garner knew the real sober man & unsober man Ben Affleck.