Ben Affleck has responded to backlash over his comments about his marriage to Jennifer Garner.
Ben Affleck has responded to the backlash
Earlier this week, the 49-year-old - who has Violet, 16, Seraphina, 12, and Samuel, nine, from his marriage to Jennifer - said he would "probably still be drinking" if they were still married, and he has claimed his comments were taken out of context.
Appearing on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live' on Wednesday (15.12.21), he said: "We talked a lot about my family, you know, alcoholism, struggling with real things, how you have to be accountable and loving, how I work with my ex-wife, how I'm so proud of the way we work together for our kids, the best that we can for them.
"I was thrilled. I thought, 'Wow, I should do more honest, exploratory, self-evaluating things.'
"Then I start seeing all this stuff come up on Twitter. And I was like, what is this?"
He admitted seeing the backlash has "hurt [his] feelings, and added people misunderstanding his comments have made him out "to be the worst, most insensitive, stupid, awful guy".
Appearing on 'The Howard Stern Show' on Tuesday (14.12.21), he said admitted that had the pair not divorced in 2018, he would feel "trapped".
He said: "We probably would’ve ended up at each other’s throats. I'd probably still be drinking. It's part of why I started drinking … because I was trapped.
"I was like 'I can't leave 'cause of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."
The 'Argo' star - who reunited with former flame Jennifer Lopez, 52, earlier this year - went on to explain that he and Garner "tried" to make things work, but called it a day for the children before noting that speculation about their split was "bullsh***".
He explained: "Ultimately, we tried, we tried, we tried because we had kids, but both of us felt like we didn’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.
"Everything you read [in the news about the divorce] was bulls***. The truth was we took our time, we made our decision … We grew apart.
"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 any longer. We did it amicably. We did our best."
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