Before reuniting back with Jennifer Lopez and reinventing himself, Ben Affleck had to go through a painful and difficult divorce with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Even though the duo maintained a pretty strong bond for most of their marriage after Affleck parted ways with Lopez back in the 2000s, in 2015 things would take a turn for the worse, eventually leading to their separation.

Although the BVS star found his match back in Lopez again in 2021, as they tied the knot in 2022, the initial years after his separation with Garner were pretty hard on the actor.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

Ben Affleck regretted divorcing Jennifer Garner

After falling for each other back in the 2000s, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s marriage would go on to last for 14 years, before the duo eventually divorced. However, the divorce wasn’t easy on the BVS star, as he later claimed it as one of his biggest regrets in life. While speaking with The New York Times, the actor admitted his past wrongdoings and expressed his regrets regarding his separation from Garner by stating,

“The biggest regret of my life is this divorce. Shame is really toxic. There is no positive byproduct of shame. It’s just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing. I have certainly done things that I regret. But you’ve got to pick yourself up, learn from it, learn some more, try to move forward.”

But the actor claimed that if he hadn’t taken the difficult decision, he would still be dealing with his alcohol addiction, which was the reason behind his falling marriage in the first place.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner

Ben Affleck claimed that he’d still be struggling with alcohol addiction if he was with Jennifer Garner

With Affleck now happily married to Jennifer Lopez, the actor has been able to get rid of his alcohol addiction and is currently in a much better headspace than he was before in the past few years. And while reflecting on his difficult divorce from Jennifer Garner, the actor claimed that if they hadn’t parted ways back then, he’d still be struggling with his alcohol addiction. He said,

“We probably would’ve ended up at each other’s throats. I probably still would’ve been drinking. Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped. I was like, ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?’ And what I did was drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”

Ben Affleck

after announcing their separation in 2015 and eventually finalizing their divorce in 2018, Ben Affleck stated that both he and Garner maintained respect for each other during the difficult period.