The couple at a Vanity Fair party in 2014
(Picture: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)Ben Affleck has spoken about his ten-year marriage to ex-wife Jennifer Garner, claiming he turned to alcohol as he felt “trapped” in the relationship.
The former couple met on the set of Pearl Harbour in 2000, getting together in 2004 and then marrying in 2005.
The couple have three children - Violet, 16, and Seraphina, 12, and nine-year-old son Samuel.
They announced their split just a day after their ten-year wedding anniversary in June 2015.
Speaking on The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday Affleck - who has struggled with addictions throughout his life - spoke about why he turned to alcohol while married to Garner.
He said: “The truth was we took our time, we made the decision. We grew apart.
“We had a marriage that didn’t work.
“We tried because we had kids. We did not want it to be the model of marriage for the kids.
“We did our best. I knew she was a good mum, and I hoped she knew I was a good dad.
“I had to get sober, and I acknowledge that.”
He added: “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 I drank a bottle of Scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.
“But both of us felt like we don’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.”
Speaking about what life would be like if they were still married, Oscar-winner Affleck, 49, said: “We’d probably be at each other’s throats.
“I’d probably still be drinking. Part of why I started drinking alcohol was because I felt trapped.”
Garner has previously spoken about wanting to make her marriage to Affleck work, telling Vanity Fair: “It was a real marriage.
“It wasn’t for the cameras. And it was a huge priority for me to stay in it.”
The couple remain friendly - with Garner seen driving her ex-husband to a treatment facility for his addiction in 2017 after they had split to help him on his journey to recovery.
Affleck also said that while splitting was for the best, it did not come without challenges.
He said: “We did it amicably. We did our best.
“Did we have moments of tension? Did we have disagreements over custody? Was stuff difficult for us? Did we get angry?
“Yes, but fundamentally it was always underpinned with respect.”
Speaking about his addictions, he added: “The cure for addiction is suffering, you suffer enough that something inside you goes, ‘I’m done’.
“I’m lucky because I hit that point before I lost the things that were most important.
“Not my career or money — it was my relationship with my kids.”
Affleck has rekindled his romance with Jennifer Lopez - who he was engaged to before marrying Garner.
