For as much controversy as Ben Affleck stirred when talking about his marriage to Jennifer
Garner, he now says his words have been manipulated.
As his comments went viral, some people saw Affleck as blaming Garner for his addiction.
Today, we’re looking into all the craze around that Howard Stern interview and more.
During the interview, the actor spoke about fame, love, parenthood, and his past struggles.
Affleck also opened up about his 10-year marriage to Jennifer Garner and slammed “horrible”
untrue tabloid stories about their divorce.
Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show, the actor brought up his controversial radio
chat, saying his words had been manipulated.
“We talked a lot about my family, divorce and alcoholism … and how you have to be
accountable and loving,” Ben said of the chat in which he said he’d “started drinking”
because he “was trapped” in marriage.
The actor was happy with the interview, saying he left thinking he should do “more honest,
exploratory, self-evaluating” discussions.
Then he started seeing all the comments come up on Twitter.
The response to Ben Affleck’s interview has been primarily negative, with some users
suggesting he’s blaming his addiction on Garner.
And others expressed sympathy for Jennifer and said she deserves someone who will treat
her better.
“And I was like, what is this?”
Ben said, blaming “clickbait” for reporting verbatim quotes, in which he also said he’d
likely still be drinking if they didn’t get a divorce.
The star did not deny that he had said the things being widely reported.
But he claimed that they had literally taken the conversation that lasted two hours and
made it seem as if he was saying the exact opposite of what he had said.
“I don’t believe that — it’s the exact opposite of who I am, what I believe, and
I would never want my kids to ever say a bad word about their mom,” Affleck said.
Affleck told Kimmel that he was trying to articulate how much he and Garner respect
each other and cared about each other and cared about their kids and put them first.
But, instead, he says he came off in the media as “the worst, most insensitive, stupid
awful guy.”
Not everyone was buying his defense.
“Day 2 of @BenAffleck and his BS.
Again,” one critic tweeted.
Another said the star was “running his mouth again.”
Affleck has spoken highly of Garner in his interviews post-divorce, but the comments
about being “trapped” and drinking clearly bothered some.
And now the source who knows Ben told Page Six: “I do think that the quotes have been
taken out of context, if you actually listen to the interview, he says everything in a
different context.”
However, the industry insider claimed, “He didn’t need to act like he was talking to
his shrink.”
Lopez, for one, is fully supportive of Affleck and feels that any negative characterizations
— both of him and of the rumors of her being angry at him for the Stern interview — are
baseless.
A source close to the couple agrees and says the pair is “in a really great space and
really happy.”
Could he have phrased his thoughts better, or maybe we should listen to the whole two
hours of the interview before making up our minds?
What do you guys think?
Especially considering the journey they’ve been on together for the last 20 years.
We hope Affleck and Garner are in a better relationship than fans seem to think they
are.
And now, let’s look back on how
it
all started…