Ben Affleck has reflected on 'painful' speculation he blamed ex-wife Jennifer Garner for his alcoholism in a 2021 interview with Howard Stern, which saw the star state he felt 'trapped' in his marriage.
In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter published on Thursday, the 50-year-old actor, writer and director looked back at an interview in which he opened up about his struggles with addiction and the dissolution of his marriage.
In the original interview, Affleck stated that 'Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped,' which led viewers — and even some of his ex-wife Jennifer Garner's friends — to think that he was blaming his ex for his drinking problems.
The Armageddon star described the uproar over the Stern interview as painful, and stressed that the takeaway from much of the public was 'actually the opposite of what I meant. 'Affleck got on the subject after showering his current wife Jennifer Lopez, 53, with compliments over her unparalleled mastery of social media and interviews. 'I view these things as land mines, where if you say one wrong thing, your career might be over,' he explained. 'I had a really painful experience where I did an interview where I was really vulnerable, and the entire pickup was something that was not only not right, it was actually the opposite of what I meant. 'He continued: 'The idea [was] that I was blaming my wife for my drinking.
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