Ben Affleck says negative reaction to Stern interview ‘hurts my feelings’
By Sandra Gonzalez, CNN
Ben Affleck is trying to set the record straight.
After giving an expansive interview on Howard Stern’s radio show, Affleck faced backlash over some of the comments he made about his marriage to actress Jennifer Garner and how their troubles contributed to his alcoholism, saying if they hadn’t split in 2015, “I’d probably still be drinking.”
“It’s part of why I started drinking,” Affleck told Stern. “Because I was trapped.”
Affleck went on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Wednesday to clarify his statements.
“I would never want my kids to think I would ever say a bad word about their mom,” he told Kimmel.
Affleck shares three children with Garner.
Affleck said after investigating why what he thought was a “honest” interview was causing a stir, he came to conclude that his words had been turned into “clickbait.”
“They had, literally, taken the conversation I had for two hours and made it seem as if I was saying the exact opposite of what I said,” he said. “I had gone on and said, like, how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first and went through our stuff. And they said I had blamed my ex wife for my alcoholism and that I was ‘trapped’ and just made me out to be the worst, most insensitive, stupid awful guy.”
He added: “It’s not true. I don’t believe that. It’s the exact opposite of who I am and what I believe.”
“The Last Duel” star and Garner announced their breakup one day after their 10th anniversary and it took almost two years before they filed for divorce. Both have spoken multiple times about their collaborative approach to co-parenting their kids.
After Kimmel pointed out that Affleck was riled up by talking about the subject, Affleck admitted, “It hurts my feelings, man.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2021 Cable News Network, Inc., a WarnerMedia Company. All rights reserved.
