Imagine if you were an A to B list celebrity with a type A personality and an old school approach to social media – meaning that you don’t use it at all and you rely on the press to tell your story. At some point, would you stop trying to control the narrative from afar and just give up or would you give in and use Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat or one of the many other tools your contemporaries are using? I’m asking because I find it comical how thoroughly Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have used the traditional press to tell their conscious uncoupling story. They’ve used it so much that it’s hard to tell an official source from a tabloid report. That just came to mind when I read a report in In Touch that they were planning a second honeymoon followed by denials in People,E!, Gossip Cop and US Magazine (I may have missed a few). All the reports in the major outlets have the same insider quotes stating they’re not together so I guess that’s the side we’re supposed to believe.
Since the couple announced their split Ben, “has been relentless in pursuing Jen, and he finally convinced her to go back to Turks and Caicos with him,” says the insider.
“She hasn’t made him any promises, but the fact that they are going away together to their special place says a lot about the future of the relationship. Ben sees this trip as a huge step — he wants it to be a second honeymoon.”
But she’s being cautious with her emotions. While Jen still hasn’t filed for divorce, “She wants to make sure Ben’s actions match what he’s saying,” the insider tells In Touch.
“She’s making him jump through hoops, and he’s willing to do it because he wants things to go back to the way they were between them,” – From In Touch
“There are no plans for a second honeymoon anywhere. Jennifer did not take Ben back. They are 100% still separated and focused on coparenting for the kids sake.” – People, US and Gossip Cop
[From In Touch, other sources cited in text]
They’ve been doing this for over a year now, and as I’ve said many times they probably have a team of public relations people working for them – or two teams it’s hard to tell. You know they’re reading all the reports so they’re on them immediately. We’ve heard about every up and down in their relationship, maybe it’s time to just step away for a while and let it be. Garner thinks that’s impossible though, remember how she told Dr. Oz they could “move to Timbuktu” and still get papped? Maybe if they didn’t let all the photographers and news outlets know the minutiae of their lives they could still live in L.A. and avoid the paparazzi and the tabloids. Matt Damon does it somehow. Also, of course people think they’re still together. They haven’t filed for divorce, they’re still living together and Ben still calls Jen his wife in interviews. Plus these same celebrity-friend outlets reported just two weeks ago that they were maybe reconciling and that things have changed. Now they’re calling those stories false? They were probably true at the time.
These photos are of Jennifer Garner filming a Capital One commercial on Tuesday and outside church this past Sunday. Some outlets were calling her pregnant but it’s just a fug, ill-fitting dress. There’s also a still from her upcoming movie, Nine Lives. Credit: Fame, WENN and Getty
Don’t Angelina and Brad live in Los Angeles? If they can do it and only get photographed at the airport, Jennifer Garner sure as hell could.
Timbuktu, huh? Were she and the kids papped last week when they were in WV? No, they were not. Get over yourself, Jen. PS. Everyone should read the piece that was published yesterday on these two on E News (the one titled Why It’s Time to Accept That Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck Are Separated).
It was a great article. The only problem is it addressed the fans not the tabloids and jen’s pr team. If they all would be quiet I think everyone really would have moved on right away.
Yeah, reading it you’d think that the fans were the ones taking pics of them and writing all of these articles, not paps and staffers. The author of the article failed to see that she/he is actually part of the problem…
I think we long ago established that Matts situation is not comparable to theirs. I am not saying that they dont court paps sometimes, I am saying that Matt and his wife would never have it to the same magnitude even if they tried.
As for the divorce, Ben didnt hit the road as soon as the coast was clear (and its been clear for awhile now). These people want to be together. Relationships are complicated,. They are probably working on it, no decisions have been made and some days are probably rosier than others. I bet my left arm they are probably also in counseling. Good for them.
lol okay, thanks for the laugh
It is laughable on so many levels, but mostly that she would consider reconciling.
Or more accurate to say sad.
She’d be a damned fool, but I suspect she’s considering it if it hasn’t happened already.
Fair enough about mansplaining damon’s situation being different but what about the jolie-pitts? They also live in LA and were in England around the same time and are way mess papped. Garner wants to ne papped, thats why she is. She is not only ones in Hollywood but few Will have had the nerve to testify against paparazzi intrusion with crocodile tears on their fce
Great point. Brad and Angelina will always command high prices for pictures, but they manage to go unnoticed unless they have a project to promote.
I’m with you.
I still believe she wants to stay married, he wants out but is too cowardly to file. I don’t think she will ever be the one to file and it will wait until he decides to remarry. (And he will remarry).
Jen is such a fake and a liar. Not only was she not papped in West Virginia but the paps didn’t even get pics of the kids at the airport. I honestly think that she’s been calling the paps for years to maintain minivan interest in her and her family but publicly spins a different yarn. She always looks so thrilled to see them, big smiles all around, while the kids look scared. What a great mom.
Jen went to WV on an early Friday morning by herself as per Facebook fan reports. Kids probably flew with the nanny either public or maybe private on Ben’s plane. Ben had been back in LA before the kids left but after Jen left. Most likely that is why they did not get papped. There was no pap pics in WV but there were tons of social media sightings of her and children.
Social media fan sightings are not the same as paparazzi. We didn’t get pics of the kids leaving town (or returning) because they were evidently traveling with someone who doesn’t have the paps on speed dial.
Agreed. She spends ALL KINDS OF TIME in Charleston and no one (other than the occasional fan on the street that happens to recognize her) photographs her. She’s not as popular as she likes to pretend.
Leave us alone!! I feel like if they stopped calling paps, got divorced and didnt talk about this shit in the press (and had more quiet mistresses! – lets not forget!) no one would care and they could live their lives in peace like they claim they want to….They are feuling this narrative. Do celebs think we’re dumb. Look, if angelina and brad can do it then everyone else can too!! Ben and jen are no angelina and brad so….
Amazing. I think they have entered Aniston’s media PR zone.
Not JA’s greatest fan here but she knows when to go away and comes back when she has something to promote or sell. Garner is promoting her family which means the public never gets a break
We’ve had reports in the UK that she’s pregnant. Has anyone else heard anything along those lines?
There are other pictures of Jennifer Garner in that AWFUL dress, which were printed earlier this week. I get that Jennifer and Ben troll, but that dress is next level. You can’t tell so much from the angle of the picture here, but in others, you can see that there is a very deliberate padded piece that is sewn over where her hips begin and goes to about her chest area, like it is a handmade baby bump. The dress widen her hips and gave her a prominent bump. And she was walking around as though she wanted people to write, Jen Pregnant with Fourth Child.
It’s awful. It looks like Great Aunt Phronsie’s housecoat.
I was going to comment on the dress. There IS extra padding in the front. Unreal that there are actually people who still think that she’s some wide-eyed, corn-fed innocent from Appalachia. She’s the new Aniston as far as I’m concerned.
@Kay
Funny thing is that Jen G now has the same PR guy as Jen A…..That could explain things.
That is the same kind of dress beyonce wore when she was pretending to be pregnant lol. Remember how it folded when she sat down?
Beyonce sitting down during that interview in that dress!!!
OMG
I can’t believe how she got away with that and how so many believe that she was ever pregnant.
Yup – JG is cunning and plays the innocent, homespun Pollyanna sickenly well, no?
She’s a fraud and a master manipulator.
And if she is considering or is back with that do*che – she deserves him.
I’ve said this before, but E! has been holding firmly to the “not reconciling” story for a while now, even while People and Us and all of the others have been doing the “Ben wants Jen back” stories. Yesterday’s E! article again says that all of the stories to date about Ben trying to woo Jen back have been false. Although I didn’t like E!’s tone, as others said above – it seemed to put the blame on “the world” (readers) vs. the media outlets. Newsflash, E!, last I checked, you’re an entertainment site, not the Wall Street Journal, so not sure why you’re chastising people on the subject? But it does seem like someone – maybe Ben’s camp? – has been feeding E! The “zero chance of reconciliation” side for a while.
I’ve always thought they’d probably reconcile, mainly because Jen doesn’t truly want out and won’t file. But there hasn’t been any actual evidence these two are doing anything but co-parenting for months. Haven’t even been seen together except for 7/4. I think the speculation is mainly because neither one Is publicly dating, but it’s hard to believe they could continue indefinitely like this if they’re not reconciling. E! reiterates they were already separated for 10 months when they split, which would mean neither has dated now for 2 years. If that’s really the case, then Ben at least has to be seeing other people. But it doesn’t seem to leak out. Why are they so worried about moving on? Is he worried about being crucified in the press? The “for the kids” thing seems a bit over the top after this long – Goop and Chris seem to make it work fine for the kids, but they still cut the cord.
I’m convinced that she rushed home from the airport on 7/4 just to attend the parade and get in the paparazzi shots. As for dating, there have been a few sightings since the public separation of him with a blonde, once in Vegas and another going into the Beverly Hills Hotel. When he wants to do things quietly and under the radar, it appears that he can. There is simply no way that he’s gone two years without sex. I’m sure he has hookups who are discrete.
Ok so let’s all agree that they really are separated and will or will not file paperwork. If I see absolute silence on this – then I buy it. Otherwise this is just more of the same.
What I find crazy here is that basically since the Europe trip People and Us magazine, 2 outlets that supposedly their PR people feed information to, have been on and off telling us that they are inching toward a reconciliation. Yesterday two real tabloids published what is most likely fantasy stories, and now those same magazines are reporting they are 100% separated. It’s almost like their PR people are saying today you can talk about a possible reconciliation and then the next week use the mag as an absolute denier. People and U.S. Just look plain stupid here.
Another interesting note: when Gossip Cop intially denied the “back together ” story from OK – it was a mild denial saying while they are on friendly terms, it’s ridiculous to say they are back together. But they have not filed yet, so if there is a reconciliation we will be the 1st to tell it. Later the article was amended to cut out the last line and add the “they are 100% separated….” That all the outlets ran on their pr behalf.
Me thinks this is to calm the speculation ahead of Jen promoting her new movie.
I do have to say that the in touch article about the 2nd honeymoon really entertained me, kind of like fan fiction.
I read the gossip cop article when it was first posted bc I follow that account on twitter and it was never edited. It never said anything along the lines of “if there is a reconciliation we will be the first to tell you.” Not sure why you are lying about that. The way the article appears now is the way that it was written when first published.
Yeah I agree with landlubber — I read the GC post when they tweeted about it and there was no line about ‘haven’t filed yet, we’ll be the first to tell you if they get back together, blah blah.’ And frankly they wouldn’t write that anyway. From the beginning they have been firmly on the “THEY’RE DIVORCING” train and have never wavered. They’ve been shooting down stories right and left for months, with many things coming directly from Jen’s PR rep.
In fact Gossip Cop went on a mini rant on twitter yesterday about other tabloids using their quotes without sourcing them. Because they had the denials first or whatever.
I’m not lying. I’m not on a Twitter feed. Just reporting as I saw it. Of course I can’t prove it.
Of course he has casual hookups but that’s just what they are – casual. Some girl tweeted (a few months ago) that she saw him at her apartment complex in LA a couple times during the week. Now we all know he doesn’t live in an apartment, it doesn’t take a genius to figure out why he was there.
I wonder if he’s still hooking up with gal? That would explain a lot.
I wouldn’t expect a man who just exited a 10-year marriage and has three young children to jump into a serious relationship right away. Would you? But the poster above seems to think that Ben has to be celibate and pining for Jen if he hasn’t taken a new girlfriend public yet and that is just… no. And I thought those pics of him leaving someplace with wet hair looked like apartments bc of all the cars. That was a month ago. Maybe he is seeing someone regularly.
@landlubber J is a Ben + Jen 4evah stan so of course she would make up something like that. Read through her posts in any Affleck or Garner article on this site.
I’m still annoyed that that poster named Jane, who is supposedly a known insider around here, posted bad info. Ruins the whole site for me really. lmao
I’m going to get crucified apparently for saying this, but despite any thoughts here, I’ve never been a big fan of Ben and Jen together. Never thought they made any sense as a couple at all. Even though I think they could possibly reconcile, that’s always been because I have thought Jen won’t let go, not because I think they’re a fairy tale couple.
With that said, I can vouch for what @J said above about Gossip Cop. She’s not lying. I read the GC story when it first posted, and it did have a line at the end to the effect of how it’s ridiculous to say they’re reconciling, but that GC agreed they had been on more friendly terms recently and GC would be he first to let people know if a reconciliation happened. Basically, it was a CYA statement. I haven’t looked at the story since then, but if that line is gone now – it was definitely there when it first posted.
And to the poster above who said I believed Ben had to be celibate if he’s not pining for Jen, not true. I’m simply saying, it’s Ben two years. People expect them to move on at this point. So, why the need for secrecy?
I sort of don’t buy any possibility of them as a romantic couple at this point, but I suppose there is a chance they’re still figuring things out in the background but don’t want to confirm this to media in case things don’t end up working out between them (strong possibility.)
Ben Affleck and Gal Godot never hooked up. FFS, it is patently unfair to any woman he has to work with, that they are unable to work with him without being smeared as a hookup.
^
That Gal rumor comes from Lainey. She has some legit sources and pretty much all of her blind items come true, so……
@Joni I thought Lainey’s blind info mentioned a dark-haired co-star or two but it was widely believed to be Olga Kurylenko and/or Gemma Atherton and/or Emily Ratakowski (they def hooked up on the set of Gone Girl — def). Which item specifically makes you think it was Gal?
Secrecy because Ben Affleck is more obsessed with his image than 99% of Hollywood. He knows how it will look if he’s dating a bunch of PYT before he is officially divorced especially since his cheating is what split them up. He also knows that whoever she is (or they are), the press will figure out everything about them and they’ll be followed and harassed. No way to avoid it really. Honestly, he could be in a serious relationship with someone and he is protecting her privacy. THAT’S more plausible to me than ben and jen working anything out behind the scenes but pretending not to in case it doesn’t work out. That is pure fantasy. If there were any chance of getting back together they would still be in therapy and would never have announced their intention to divorce. We would have never known the difference.
@Jojo I noticed that you’ve started to change your tone since people were calling you out as a bennifer stan in other posts. LOL I don’t buy what you’re spinning. You wrote an essay about them in this post. You care a great deal about whether or not they get back together. You’re as bad as J. The two of you carried on a week-long conversation in a post that was days and days old. Enough said. Just come out as a stan who wants them to be together 4EVA and be done with it.
@onion – how can he take a new girl public if she’s married???
Is it common knowledge now that it was gal with him in Canada awhile ago long before he separated from JG and nanny gate?
That dress in the first picture needs to be burned immediately. That is truly awful.
This source is one of their reps off the record since they gave the same exact quotes to everyone.
I agree with that E! article, people really need to let it go at this point. They have a couple stans out there (on the DM and on Tumblr) that can’t accept the truth and are making up robsten style conspiracies theories.
They gave the quotes to gossip cop, everyone else just repeated it but didn’t source GC. Look at GC’s twitter from yesterday. They were annoyed.
Which one of them has a project coming out? That’s my only takeaway from this publicized round 334897657367358793258 of are-they-or-aren’t-they.
Both do: Suicide Squad (him), Nine Lives (her).
Until Ben himself withdraws his filing and confirms a reconciliation I do not believe it. His camp has firmly denied all reconciliation from the beginning. He is miserable with her but maybe ok to co parent together. He always looks happier when she isn’t tagging along 24-7. Jennifer will never divorce him she is staying around hoping he will change his mind. I’m sure he won’t like the huge payout she is entitled to. I just wish Ben would finally pull 8 plug already. They never made sense together. Jennifer has dated other good looking men in the past before him. She should move on or focus on another project besides trying to win Ben back.
ONTD has a post up about Ben & Jen today. I found this comment from a user re: Jen following nannygate interesting. Seven nannies in a year?
“She tried using the agency I work for to find a new nanny, but she went through like 7 girls in less than a year. I was thinking she can’t be THAT difficult to work for, since she has like three nannies already, but the last girl she employed is in my “Babysitters Club” groupchat, and she said Jennifer would always say how insecure she is around her. It kinda made me mad. Like damn, what has Ben done to her to have her that fucked up in the head that any young girl is a threat to her like that? Or what does she think of herself, because she’s still a decent actress who can book jobs. I think it’s Ben though. #BlameBen”
I think they haven’t file because of finances. No prenup and ten years while they were both working, with lots of properties, residuals, etc. it can’t be easy to deal with that level of accounting quickly. They are done, but the details live on. That doesn’t make a good story for either though or get them lots of PR in the wait.
I’m starting to think it’s Jen’s team planting all those stories about their reconnection because there’s no chance I will ever be convinced that someone like Ben who usually looked emotionaly detached from his wife thougout their marriage is now suddenly someone begging and jumping though hoops. Come on. Does that make her feel more important and more valued?