Another day, another paparazzi outing for our favorite divorcing couple. On Sunday night, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner went to sushi restaurant Nobu, where we’ve seen countless photos of celebrities. (You can see the photo of Ben and Jen on E! Online.) Nobu is not a low key hole in the wall, is what I’m saying, although we know by now that’s not their style. Earlier that day these two went out with their kids to the farmer’s market, where they were photographed looking happy. Then that night they went out to dinner with family, where they also looked at ease. Then they told E! how it’s going with their divorce. Rinse and repeat. People ran a story about their date night too, but they used old quotes.
“They are working hard and enjoying being friends,” a source tells E! News of pair, who are parents to three children, Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3. “Ben wants her to be happy and vice versa.”
“Just because they are getting divorced doesn’t mean they cannot be supportive friends,” the insider tells us. “They will have their good and bad days like everyone else.”
What is their end game here? Because from this side it looks like it’s all about public image. They definitely have that in common. Both are image obsessed to an obvious degree. So far, apart from the nanny blip, this divorce seems to be playing out how they planned. It makes me wonder what’s really going on behind the scenes. Are they just not able to quit each other, are they pushing this “happy family even while divorcing” angle or is it a little of both? How do their public personas bleed into their relationship? Their breakup seems inevitable to those of us in the cheap seats. They’re like a reality show couple in that way.
photo credit: FameFlynet
Good for them,life is to short to be negative.If they can maintain a cordial,friendly relationship how is that a bad thing? It’s apparently working for Paltrow and Martin.
There’s no positivity in this marriage.
JC, give it a rest. No one is buying it.
I think it’s for the kids. When they grow up and Google their parents divorce they want the photos that pop up to be them working together as a family and not Ben escaping to Vegas w their nanny/side piece. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me.
It’s pretty incomprehensible to orchestrate your divorce based on the future googling habits of your children. Utter nonsense. Parents need to be civil to each other during divorce. They need to co-parent and give their children their love and attention and PRIVACY. Making an utter spectacle of yourself in public isn’t going to help the children. She pursed her lips at the farmer’s market the other day, and headlines speculated that things between them were “tense.” How is that helping their children? They’re doing this for their public images and careers, simply. And in a few months, after having the paps on speed dial and getting as much traction out of these staged shots as possible, Garner will then testify before Congress that paps are intrusive and maybe we need to rewrite the First Amendment to “protect” her children. Her continuing to wear her wedding ring is also not “for the children.” How asinine.
Bingo Kate!!! This is about PR and Batman $$$.
But the Nanny “blip” was more than a blip. If/when the kids google the divorce one day, the nanny will be the main headline. There are a lot of pics of the nanny over the course of several weeks. They have been frequenting the Farmer’s Market for years, so it will not be the highlight of the divorce in years to come. What is most sad is that one day they will realize what a loser their dad is, that his true interests are h00kers, gambling and drinking. Terrible
They baffle me. I feel like I’ve seen them together more after they announced the divorce than when they were married. I am not sure what kind of angle they want to push really. The second coming of conscious uncoupling? One thing is for sure, Farmer’s Markets won’t be suffering from loss of sales as long as the Garner-Afflecks are around 😂
They want to ensure that theirs goes down as an amicable breakup. We know theres been drama behind the scenes so now they have to work super hard to erase that. And you dont beat that storyline with just one photo op, it has to a regular consistent message. So thats what they are doing.
I have no problem with this whatsoever. They do have kids together and while I hope that Ben and Jen are good with each other off camera too, it is still useful for the kids not to grow up hearing and reading tales of how your folks hate each other because dad shagged the nanny. Even if they dont speak outside of these photo ops, people will eventually accept that they are over the nanny and have become the new Bruce and Demi. The mean girl in the kids school may always have the “nanny” for ammunition but at least the fact that your folks are publicly known to be close buddies will blunt the force. Damage control of this kind is not a bad thing.
The thing is most people aren’t buy what they are selling and it has actually raised more speculation then anything.
If they are not good to each other off camera where it counts then it doesn’t matter. It like reading or hearing stories how great you parent is, but knowing the truth about how abusive they are in private.
Photo ops and running to the tabloids dose nothing for the kids.
Why shouldn’t they work on being friends. IMO it was a marriage of convenience anyways. After the Bennifer blowback Ben needed a nice wholesome girl next door to clean up his image. I actually liked him with JLow. Garner wasn’t as wholesome as she wanted people to believe.
Just look at those pics of Ben. He seems so happy now that he is free from the chokehold that was his marriage.
@ Neah23
Wrong. Some media watching gossips aren’t buying it but remember that we (the gossips that also pay attention to PR manouvering) are a shockingly small number. The majority of your run of the mill gossips dont know that Nobu is a pap magnet. And most gossips dont even read celeb gossip everyday anyway, they have no way of knowing how frequently the message is being replayed or how many outlets are being sourced by insiders. All they see is two beautiful people who went to the market and then to dinner together. And THATS people who are gossips, imagine how clueless your everyday Joe. All he will see is a passing headline on MSN about how “Ben and Jen are proving that divorce need not be bitter”. He will think to himself what lovely people they must be and make a mental note to queue that Garner or Affleck film he liked so much and get on with his day.
The very reason that publicists go with this beat-it-into-them approach is because it works.
I agree with Desi. The majority of as she said everyday Joe’s do not care for celebrity gossip. They don’t cruise the gossip sites like we do, they don’t buy the rag mags even though they might glance at them while waiting at the supermarket checkout line. They don’t watch TMZ or the celebrity entertainment shows. In other words they could care less what is going on in a celebrity personal life. I have a co worker who didn’t even know Ben was married to a well known actress. Another coworker couldn’t name not one actor in the F4 reboot, not even Michael B. Jordon. She knew him by face but didn’t know his name. She only went because we had to take the kids that we work with. She’s only 27 and had never heard about Terrence Howard shaky past. She was shocked that he was an abuser because she loves him on Empire. There are people that don’t even know that Ben had a drinking problem or is a heavy gambler.
My boyfriend who is in his early thirties pays little to no attention to celebrity gossip. I was talking about Mel Gibson one day and he asked why are people mad at Mel? He is only concerned with sports, his job and weed. If I put a pic of Jennifer Garner in front of him he would say that’s the girl from Daredevil. He didn’t even know her name.
But most of all, once again, most everyday Joe’s just don’t give a damn about what’s going on in the life of a celebrity.
V4Real: Good for them! People should not care about these things.
@ desi
If we’re talking about the average joe then that makes the photo ops and running to the tabloids even more unless. These paparazzi photos are shown on gossip site and sometimes in the celebrity section of news site. Not to mention most of these inside info aren’t making it to cover of these tabloid magazines, so it’s not going to register with the average Joe.
Neah23, I know we’ve disagreed on Ben/Jen before, but I have to agree with what you said here to some extent and what you wrote yesterday for sure…
I think Jen needs the daily pap attention and positive PR support, especially since she’s gotten used to it. Ben got tired of it long ago, and he’s now just going along to get along so they can both move on.
TBH, as sick as I am of this whole divorce drama, in a way I’ve become a bit addicted to it – and may need to check myself into rehab for awhile.
I agree with you also, and I hope that they stop making everything so public. People keep hinting that this may tie into the Batman movie promotion if true then it can’t come out soon enough.
She’s calling the shots, because of the nanny debacle, and she wants him around. And he’s feeling remorseful (esp about the $ he had to pay the nanny) and worried about his image.
Settles into my armchair…
I think he’s very grateful to have her call the shots right now.
I feel a little bad for wishing the nanny had one more card up her sleeve she hasnt played yet. Like the final card is the trump card, proving how extensive their affair really was. Bc we all know this Farmers Market stuff is BS and we would feel validated to know what really went down.
Why are they doing this? Why do they keep either calling the paps or going to known photographer-heavy venues? I know Garner just about invented the “happy family pap shot in furtherance of career and public image,” but can she not tone it down at least now? If they really want to help their children through this divorce, why not give them some privacy? It’s just so unseemly.
Someone asked Colin Firth if he was similar to Mr Darcy and his response (paraphrasing) was that Darcy was serious and introverted and that he was an actor and essentially loved attention. Same with these two-they can’t help wanting people to think of them in a certain way, and that’s also their bread and butter. And/or perhaps they are trying to normalize the situation for the kids by doing what they have always done. Divorce as a process is hard on everyone, there are a thousand ways to get it wrong along the way
Their PR and lawyers must be going out of their way to bury any pap pics of his nanny mistress. Lainey said pics are out there, but no one is buying.
INTERESTING!
I was only interested in this separation when that flambouyant nanny was doing daily pap strolls. If they stopped calling the paps when they go on their daily farmer’s market jaunt and stopped calling People magazine to repeat the talking points about family dinners and caring about their kids, this story would be done long ago.
“Jennifer Garner isn’t taking Ben Affleck back: ‘There’s no way she would ever'”
“Ben Affleck & Jennifer Garner: ‘Still working hard at this… Coming back together'”
“Ben Affleck and Jen went to dinner: ‘They are working hard, enjoying being friends'”
“Jennifer Garner spotted leaving Ben’s hotel room: ‘Coparenting is coming first for them right now'”
“Jennifer Garner is 4 months pregnant: ‘They’re doing their best to remain a team for the foreseeable future'”
Hahahaha. Perfect
Tee hee. Mean girl. LOL.
Haha, the first “fourth pregnancy” headline just hit the air waves after the divorce announcement. They skipped a step in the timeline @Shambles.
It all seems so heavy-handed. Why should people who get divorced be friends? Co-parenting amicably? Absolutely. But friends? Hell no!
Exactly
Why not? If one partner prefers a lifestyle that is not based on coming home after work and being monogamous, while the other has a trad view of marriage, they probably would be miserable as a couple but happy as friends.
Especially since they never really seemed like they were friends before the separation and cheating. I’m not picking up what they are putting down.
oh please…these two are insufferable at this point.
jen looks so pathetic and he looks like a middle aged cliche
And I thought the paltrow divorce was obnoxious. Please just stop it already. Nobody cares about the public image of any of them. Affleck is a fat nannyf*cker, Garner is superboring, nothing can be done about that so let this story die. Or bring back the nanny, at least SHE was entertaining.
I think whatever works for them is fine. Whatever they end up doing will be written about, they know this. Whether they go out as a family, Hide in their house, Go out separately, Go to work, etc. The pap is going to write whatever angle they want, true or not. Maybe the pap is called, maybe they aren’t, but the image of outings (whether engineered or not) that is being placed in front of us is a good one. They’re still doing things as a family and that’s great for the kids. Truth is none of us know what goes on in their lives and we piece together what we want from what we’re shown, which as we all know is oftentimes not reality. I haven’t once seen a picture of an outing where the kids are upset that mommy and daddy are doing things with them so until then makes me no difference what they do or why they do it. Actors and actresses are salespeople of themselves so putting their best face forward is good for them. The kids are all I’m concerned about and so far they seem happy (from what the pics show).
I don’t get the hate here. How is it bad to try to keep or create a friendship post-split? Especially if you have kids. God forbid this couple behave or at least try to behave like adults. And why is everyone so sure Ben and Jen or their publicists are çalling the paps every time they venture out?
I don’t either.
While I do think part of this outing was to try to make the publicity about them more positive, I don’t think it’s a bad thing for their family. They are going to have a lifetime of shared events and co-parenting, so getting along is important. I’d much rather see this sort of thing compared to something like the Kelly Rutherford disaster, custody fights and trashing the ex publicly.
I’d rather see neither of those things. They don’t need to “get along” in our faces especially after all this nanny mess. They’re not doing it for the kids. Kids need genuine family healing in privacy. They’re doing it for career reasons. They come across as big hypocrites famewhores for me now. Why not just let Affleck take his well-deserved public L and deal with it, hopefully for the better. He could have been the hero again if he have handled this mess with dignity. I think what could have been helpful for the kids is a clear statement of their father about this very public and very lengthy story, among other things. Now their father is forever the coward sleaze who leaks PR-bullsh$t, photo-ops to make up and sell his movie anyway. Great parenting^^
And I don’t think it’s hate, it’s the overkill. I don’t particularly care about them, I’m just appalled at all their headlines lately. Well maybe I hate Ben Affleck a little because I saw Gone Girl for the first time after the divorce-nanny thing and it was like the Never-ending journey of the sexist,entitled, utterly boring whining rich As*hole. The writing is also to blame for that. This movie is a shame. MEH.
I think the reason why people feel they are calling the paparazzi is because they can go on the down low when they want to.
For example prior to Nannygate Ben was photographed coming to and from ATL airport while using a private jet. After Nannygate not only was Ben no longer seen at the airport he was able to get around Atlanta for almost two weeks and flying to and from LA with no pictures.
You don’t get photographed as must as a Kardashian/ reality star and not be alerting the paparazzi or going where they know the paparazzi are going to be.
seeing this makes me never want to get married and have kids with someone
Overkill. They could accomplish all of this at a more private pap-free restaurant. I guess it’s stating the obvious, but their kids will know if they they are friendly by the way they interact and treat each other. The photo ops are not for the kids, IMO, but for the public. I get they are trying to do the conscious uncoupling, but do they think we are dumb?
I can’t get over how often they go to the freakin’ farmers market! Seriously, who goes shopping that often? And with the WHOLE family. If they really need more carrots, can’t just one of them go, or send the nanny / housekeeper / PA? And if it’s all just for PR, can’t they find somewhere else to go?
and she brings a nanny? whats with her? ben is there with her, can they not handle their 3 kids themselves?
I think the reason why the nanny is so visible when in the past they kept her on the DL, Is to show that Ben can be trusted around the nanny.
on one hand, i wonder too why 2 adults can’t handle 3 small children without a nanny present, but unless they have her on an on-call basis, they are probably paying her whether she accompanies them or not. my question is, how did they fit everyone in one vehicle? unless they had a chevy suburban/yukon xl, i can’t see it working with just one vehicle. their mercedes would not work. ah, the problems of millionaires….
They go every Sunday – just like I do. Something wrong with that? If they like to go there and go every Sunday what crime is it to anyone on this site? If they like to go to a certain restaurant is it a crime? I don’t get all the bashing. They go where they want to go when they want to go just as they should – pap hang out or not. I love reading about them so am enjoying all the PR events staged or not. You do have the choice to ignore each and every post about them and scroll on by, but you choose not to so you are not entirely bored of them yet obviously.
@Louisa. I know!!! This is the most intriguing question in this entire situation, “Why are they always at the Farmer’s Market?”
I suppose the Farmer’s Market is to L.A. Celebrities what the local grocery store is to “regular folks”? If so, I know the real reason they got divorced. If I took my husband and child to the grocery store EVERY time I went? I’d be getting a divorce too!
Either they greatly enjoy the attention, or this is a very long play until next spring and the movie release($).
Their PR teams are working overtime. We get it!
I hope it all works out well for the kids, whatever their parents’ grand scheme may be. It would take a lot more than many happy family pap strolls to turn the tide on BA, though. There is some serious hate and disgust out there for him. It hasn’t really slowed down, either. He dug himself a very deep hole.
I honestly don’t think so. The tide is already turning. These outings are sending the message that Jen is good with things, Ben has acknowledged and asked for forgiveness, and she has forgiven him – heck even wants to spend tons of alone time with him and be close friends! – so, you can feel ok about doing the same, America. 🙂 I really don’t think there will be any long-term repercussions for Ben, esp. in Hollywood or his movie-making.
The consxious uncoupling part, I don’t mind. Sure, do some outings with the whole family involved. But this is absurd – they’re going to dinner together, counseling, riding in cars together, and spending virtually all weekend, every weekend together. That’s not conscious uncoupling. Yes, be civil, and maybe in time, be friends again, but this is way too soon. She isn’t over him in any way, so there’s not much room for interpretation. I think we can just call it what it is. Ben has wanted out for years, but the nanny disaster was unexpected and I think he’s scared sh#%^less to be out there in the world without the stability of his family. So, he [might be] groveling for now, at least temporarily. I think for Jen, maybe she entertained the idea of leaving at times, but I still believe her end goal in life has always been and still is Ben, Ben, Ben. I know others may disagree, and it’s just my opinion.
Now there’s an article out referencing a report in one of the major rags that Jen is pregnant with 4th child, and that’s what prompted this closeness between them in recent weeks. Seems unlikely, but who knows.
Hopefully, they will seriously work on the counseling (if that is actually happening) and learn to work together in a way that is healthy for both of them. I do think his reputation has taken a serious hit, though. Not with the powerbrokers in Hollywood, but there is a lot of publicity mocking him and ridiculing him. I think it’s his desire to be taken seriously in his craft – which he is no doubt very talented at – and being laughed and mocked about this incident does make it harder to take him seriously. I am still a bit repulsed when I see scenes from any of his old movies – this stuff leaves a bad taste for some, though probably not the majority.
You know JoJo, I think you might be right.
As long as Jennifer will carry all the shopping bags by herself, like she’s always done, she won’t get the loving caring treatment from anyone. Look at him, he’s a big bloke, let him carry a pair of oranges, he won’t die from exhaustion.
As to the rest, it’s all fake and boring. They definitely are not divorcing, and both are making an obvious effort. Good luck. Just stop carrying all the bags by yourself.
They are both so annoying. Let’s not pretend Ben didn’t screw everything in sight and scowled at every family outing. At this point I wish someone had something on them to make them both disappear forever. Like a nanny tell all.
There is some trickery going on here.
You know one day those girls are going to hate him for what he did with the nanny, what an ass he is to do that shit to his family. Shame
What. Ever. They BOTH want good press. Jen wants it because she is a closet control freak and is probably threatening to ruin him if he doesn’t comply. Ben wants us all to shell out $14 to see Batman: The Moob Years so he’s going for sushi and ice cream with a cringy smile. It’s acting. They are ACTORS. Pretty good ones.
“The Moob Years”. The. Best. 😂
There are pictures of the nanny out there and I was able to find them. She is leaving LAX on September 16. To see them, key in Splash News and Picture Agency, Affleck nanny LAX