Ben Affleck and Charlie Hunnam were on The Today Show yesterday to promote Triple Frontier which stars so many hot guys my god. I mostly know Charlie from Sons of Anarchy (I watched all but the last season it got so violent) so it was a treat to hear his accent. The interview mostly focused on Ben and his recovery and family life of course, which makes sense as that’s what gets headlines. Ben talked about getting treatment and about his sobriety in general terms. He also praised Jennifer Garner as a mom, which is what he’s said about her for years. He genuinely seems to appreciate her as a co-parent and that’s a good thing. Also he said he did the A-Rod 10 day challenge which is no bread, no sugar, no dairy. He does look slimmer lately.
You look like things are going great in your life
I hate to be shallow about it but I just did the A-Rod ten day challenge. It’s awful for the first couple of days. No bread, no sugar, no dairy. I cheated on the caffeine a little bit I have to say. By the end of that ten days I had three bagels.You’re very honest about some things that you’re battling
Some people are uncomfortable. It doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism. Being an alcoholic is part of my life, it’s something I deal with.It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything, but it is something that you have work at. I feel like I had a problem, I really wanted to address it and I take some pride in that. It’s about yourself, your life, your family.
What kind of a dad are you?
I hope I’m a pretty good dad,” he said. “I certainly try very hard. I’m lucky they’ve got a great mom and she helps out a great deal with making sure that we co-parent in as good a way as possible. I think dads are so important to kids and it’s our responsibility to be there for them, to be present, to be mindful, to be attentive, to be part of their lives, to be as in it as moms. That’s the focus of my life.I can tell you still love her
Of course she’s wonderful. The mother of your kids [is] going to be the most important central person in your life.
I just ate two bowls of jelly beans but I’m going through a rough time! I have an excuse. I really don’t see the point of giving up bread, dairy, sugar and caffeine. Those are all the good things in life. Maybe if I needed to de-puff to do a movie tour I would do that, but probably not.
Some outlets are focusing on the fact that Ben said his identity wasn’t going to center around being an alcoholic. As someone to went to AA for a long time I get that. It can feel like recovery demands that you identify with being an alcoholic and that doesn’t work for everyone. I still go to meetings when I need them, but I don’t like to focus entirely on that. It’s hard to find an approach that works for everyone, but I think that it starts with admitting you have a problem and with abstinence.
As far as his status as a dad, he decorated his son’s bedroom with an entire Patriots theme after his son told him that he wasn’t a fan. He could do better with letting his kids pick how they want their rooms. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Here’s that interview. They need to let Charlie Hunnam talk more.
I don’t know..I just find him to be kind of gross. I don’t find him attractive and I think outside of alcoholism (which is a hell of a disease..having struggled with it myself for years) he is a bit of a mess. He is blessed to have Garner in his life..and I still can’t figure out the Snooki’s relationship, I don’t see the chemistry..but that’s just me ☺️
I mean Shookus 😂
I never found him attractive and I remember when he got together with Goop I felt like it was a big downgrade for her, lol. He had a certain brainy-ish schtick that I think some people found attractive. And I agree with the lack of chemistry with Shookus. I always have the feeling that he doesn’t really want to be seen with her.
He’s paraded her in front of the paps many times so that can’t be true.
I was like wth when did he date Snooki then I thought maybe that was just Ben and his girlfriend nickname.
I wouldnt say he’s unattractive, just very “Average Joe” to me.
He is a mess but despite being an alcoholic, we have never once heard anything about him being abusive towards others especially his wife & children. I will applaud him for that.
Cheating is a form of emotional abuse.
@ Dora Yes cheating is a form of emotional abuse. I was just trying to get a girlfriend to see that. It is physical abuse by putting your health in danger with STD. It is mental as well with lying and deceitful.
He’s a gaslighter for sure. He’s lied about several things and he repeatedly blamed J.Lo for his career faltering. We’ve heard that he’s groped several women, there are two instances of it on tape. He completely mischaracterized that.
+1
I’ve alluded to this before on Casey Affleck’s posts. Both Ben & Casey have a disturbing view of women. Who’s worse? Depends on what behavior you will tolerate but one abuses substances the other doesn’t. Ben never apologized but that could be because he was always under the influence, doesn’t remember incidents..we just don’t know. He’s never actively participated in a recovery program so to definitively to say he’s gaslighting.. I mean you might be 100% correct. It’s hard to know because of the abuse of alcohol & drugs.
Didn’t know that, I take my applause back.
@purplehaze They have both abused at least alcohol in the past. Casey has been sober for 5 or 6 years, if he’s still on the wagon.
Thank you! I was wondering if the groping was ever going to be mentioned.
He just seems to be a mess of a person, sober or not.
@ Kebbie.. didn’t know about Casey…he doesn’t talk about it nearly half as much as Ben does. But I did see that he mentioned it recently. Again, how much of their actions were influenced by alcohol? Genetics? Environment? Both? You have two brothers who have acted inappropriately at best & at worst, assault ( groping, harassing, etc). If only one had acted this way..then I wouldn’t be making this statement but both & with the family history of alcoholism..it’s like lighting a match where there is already gasoline.
“ I will applaud him for that.”
Please don’t.
We should be done giving men cookies for doing what they are supposed to do.
Didn’t he drunkenly grope the girl on MTV on camera?
How did you manage to miss the Hilarie Burton groping thing? He abused her on camera. Colbert pinned him to the wall about it. I’ll be curious to see if Ben ever goes on his show again. He had no idea that line of questioning was coming.
She called him out publically and I think he ended up apologizing. Then there’s that interview with a Canadian reporter where she sat on his lap and he was acting like a drunk pervert, but she defended it said it was consensual. It was still unprofessional behavior.
@Maya
So now men should be applauded for not beating their wives and children? Should we give him an award too? Father and (ex) Husband of the year?
Have we forgotten he did physically assault other women?
Perhaps we should set the bar higher for congratulatory applause, don’t you think?
🗣Charlie Hunnam! ❤️
All day. Every. Day.
What is going on with his face?!? Is it just the television makeup? or botox? He looks so weird.
I was thinking the same thing. Dude got some weird Botox or fillers and he should stop messing with his face. Men are lucky to be able to age naturally without taking a major career hit so he should just ride that wave.
I feel like his voice sounds different, too. He’s just as loud as ever, but he’s lost a bit of the Boston accent. Now he’s just loud and obnoxious, without the quaint accent to make it endearing.
I totally noticed too. Looks like another round of botox & fillers and/or a little lift? His skin is unnaturally smooth and tight compared to what it’s been. Enough already.
Yeah, he looks puffy to me. Not much better than when he was out on his benders, tbh. Just a little more cleaned up.
That’s what I was thinking too! He talks about being an alcoholic, he talks about sobriety, but, imho, he doesn’t look that sober. He STILL looks puffy and bloated.
Not here to judge it though, alcoholism is a nasty beast of a disease. Several of my loved ones struggled with it their whole lives.
Oh gossip media, you do love to manipulate! All sorts of outlets were going with the “Ben admits he still loves Jen!” headline like it was some spontaneous declaration. When what actually happened was he was prompted (and kind of trapped) by a…statement, not even a question. I mean…what else could he have said? Hilarious.
Nope. These were pre-planned, rehearsed questions given to them by his publicist. Loving Jen is an important part of his rehabilitation image. She is his shield from bad press. He wasn’t trapped.
Ah. I can see it. Here I was giving Hoda some credit. 😏
However it went down, it still mystifies me there are people who want them back together. I feel for the kids of course, but as a romantic couple? Good lord no. She seemed to love and adore him and worship the ground he walked on. He…seemed to think she was a good mother and like their image. Ouch. That was never a healthy pairing.
I think he is suffering from Narcissistic personality disorder. Agree, all the questions were prearranged before the interview and he was using Garner’s name for his promotion. His «love for the wonderful Jen» was just a lie he said to improve his image and to whitewash his cheating scandal.
He sounds stiff and impersonal.
I like Ben. I see him as a self saboteur more than anything else.
He is great in interviews. As much as I love seeing Charlie Hunnam, when it comes to movies, I want to hear what Ben has to say. He knows his stuff.
Yes, he should be grateful to JG forever. Not only she is the mother of his children, but she was the one who took him out of his messiness, got him a burger and made him check himself in a facility. Where was Shookus? Where was the nanny? Where were his friends?
God, that picture of Jennifer driving him to Jack in the Box. How did I forget about that? Jennifer’s fourth child.
That’s exactly what I was referring to!
The picture made my jaw dropped as how low a successful and smart person like him was letting himself go dur to addiction.
That’s the pictures that made me really reevaluate the whole “Jen is desperate to get him back” argument. What I saw was a mother who was trying to keep her children’s father alive. I have no arguments for Jen. She did more than most ex-wives are capable of.
Where were all of those people? I dunno, practicing tough love and letting him hit rock bottom in hopes that maybe he would clean himself up on his own for once? But his and Garner’s toxic, codependent cycle continues. He’s the mess and she’s the martyr, doing it all to save him. Yawn.
I like his films and don’t really think about him otherwise.
Affleck’s been at this publicity game for a long time and knows exactly what to say. His actions speak louder than his words, though. Jen’s so wonderful? He treated her like total GARBAGE for years and dragged their family through the tabloid mud. He’s still using her for good press and soundbites like he always has. Coparenting is the focus of his life? The same day, we get pics of ol’ Jen doing the school run by herself while he jets off somewhere with his girlfriend. He’s still getting his cake and eating it, too. Jen does all the work, he shows up occasionally, talks himself up in interviews, but spends his time exactly as he wants to. It amazes me that people still fall for his little charade.
*applauds* He’s a cheater, a liar, a drunk and a groper but he mentions Doormat Garner or the kids in an interview and all is forgiven and forgotten, like aw ain’t he sweet?? He’s so smug lately because it’s all working out exactly as he planned. He used her to rehab his image once before and he’s doing it again. That’s all she ever was to him, really.
Matt damon, I think he cannot rehab his image now with Shookus by his side. Especially if they are drinking together again.
I so wish you were really matt damon!
Remember when he won the oscar for Argo and he talked about how marriage was hard work and just embarrassed her in front of the whole world. Jeez.
completely agree with you @mimisnowball. It doesn’t seem genuine or like he’s learned anything. He just gets to do the same thing that has always worked for him in the past. And the sad thing is i don’t doubt people will buy it. But it’s not because they believe him, but because they want to. Ben can still be considered pretty bankable. He and industry people know as long as he does this old song and dance he’s rehearsed and performed a hundred times before, he’ll still be profitable and have a good career without being held accountable to anything personally or professionally.
Ben & Jen both would never have had their children if they never got together. I think they both clearly love their children. Just like any other divorced couple, I am sure there were plenty of good times, & great memories.
One thing about Ben , he does not seem to have any other guy friends, other than Matt & Matt lately is spending a lot of time with Chris Hemsworth & Matt is not around as much. ( I know that Matt & Ben are producing a movie together but do not see each other as much) I think that Ben was very much alone after he split up with Lindsay.( Even the Playboy model was not enough to fill that void) Enter Lindsay Shookus.
I hope Ben continues to stay healthy…he has 3 beautiful reasons to continue his sobriety!
I hope he’s successful at getting and staying sober, because he’s talented. But I don’t know…
Yeah I think Ba talk nice abt jg a part bc to rehabliate his image but she is also good to him…I don’t think he make up something that is not true…
She may well could be hell to live with ( we don’t know)!but she is a good woman who always made him look good. I still don’t understand why he has to leave her she was a perfect recepie of a wife for him he needs a type of her all around no?
She obviously don’t like for him to go back to lisday woman or any of his exes . It’s hard for her that obviously….
I used to like Ben Affleck waaay back in the day. He seemed like a decent dude. But whenever I see him now the first two things that come to mind are “ugh” and “eww”.
I appreciated his talk about alcoholism. As someone who’s battled a drinking problem myself, I totally get that. Unfortunately, some people want you to define yourself that way, and that doesn’t work for me. I’m an entire person – a mother, daughter, friend, journalist, law school student – beyond my struggles with alcohol. For me, if I forever see myself in the context of “alcoholic,” it puts a barrier between me and the rest of my life, and the rest of my life feels pointless and I feel like a failure and “why even try” sets in. I think Ben’s kind of a douche as far as relationships go, but I do root for him and don’t judge him for that one particular part of his life.
Ben is living his best life. He has a few kids with a low self-esteem type who will always carry a torch for him and never, ever cut him off no matter what he does to her. She’s content to do all of the real parenting and all he has to do is throw her a bone or two every once in awhile. Meanwhile he’s still screwing around with the woman who allegedly broke up his marriage in the first place, and not even hiding it. All the women in the world and he goes out of his way to be with her. Says a lot.
Low self esteem type who will never cut him off no matter what he does to her could describe Shookus. She is his doormat now. And I don’t think he’s living his best life. I think deep down he really doesn’t like himself and he can never really be happy and stay sober until he does.
Naaaaah, Shooks is the good-time girlfriend only, not the doormat. It got ugly for him with the drinking and she bailed. She has Emmys to win and didn’t have the time or the desire to sit around and wipe his drunk butt for him, especially with doormat Garner in the wings eagerly waiting to do it. She let Jen take time out of her life to mommy him back to decent health and now Shooks is back. She’s using him and he’s too stupid to see it.
LOL My go-to after a period of no carbs/sugar is always bagels too.
She’s a great co-parent?? Methinks she does the heavy lifting in that co-parent relationship. What a jerk.
This is Ben’s usual pr routine. The week before this movie premiere and junket He was photographed with his kids and also with Jen Garner and as a family – outside a wedding and on a school run. Then he goes into it talking about being a dad , his great ex-wife. The routine has not changed just because they are divorced- it’s the same.
Obviously Ben and Jen agree on this – he gets good pr, the film does better, he keeps up his child support payments and whatever other financial deal they settled on.
Why he thought bringing Lindsay out publicly at this time was s good idea – I’m not sure. I guess most of the public has forgotten how she was the mistress or they just don’t care anymore. Or maybe she has public sympathy after affleck humiliated her in the summer.
@Jenfan
This, exactly this. Everything you said is true. It’s the same old rehabilitative campaign he always performs when it benefits him.
Whomever he is dating should be on the same coast as him. It is very challenging maintaining a relationship on both coasts let alone a relationship where there are 4 children involved & someone who struggles with sobriety…. Unless someone in that relationship decides to relocate, this relationship will fail again…. I do not think Lindsay would move out of NY, even for Ben Affleck, but I could be wrong…..
He has always coasted on Jennifer’s good reputation to reflect well on him. For him to remind the public that they’re associated only benefits his image.
What a low bar we have set for him by praising him for just acknowledging his ex-wife (who is a good mother) is a good mother. So now we’re supposed to forget how he’s bros with Weinstein, cheated on his wife for years, excused the assaults his brother committed (and helped his awards campaigns) and even assaulted women himself. Yeah, real man of the year this one.
I still laugh when I think about how Ben humiliated Jennifer Garner for years, over and over, and she just took it. It took her 13 years to figure it out. What a dumb-ss.
He humiliated all the women of his life. He humiliated also Shookus with Bunny. I still laugh with her keying angrily his car after his dinner with Shauna. Now she is back again ready for a new humiliation.
Until Shookus wastes 13+ YEARS of her life on Affleck, Garner is Biggest Doormat and always will be.
Yup Ben is an all around narcissist, gaslighter and proven liar. He reminds me of my first boyfriend who I broke up with and then forgave time and time again. At least he didn’t drink like Ben. But I wasted years. Now Shookus is Bens latest victim and she will forgive his humiliations like she has in the past and there will be more. He just knows how to pick em.