Ben Affleck on Nightline, Part 1. The rest of his segment is below
Last week we mentioned that Ben Affleck would have a segment on Nightline covering one of his trips to the Democratic Republic of Congo. An estimated 45,000 people a month die of starvation and violence in the war-torn nation and by some accounts nearly 2 out of 3 women have been raped. More people have died there in the four and a half year Second Congo War, from 1998 to 2003, than any other conflict since World War II, with 5.4 million people killed to date and millions left injured, homeless and starving.

Some commenters expressed skepticism in our last post that Affleck chose to take up this cause. His trip to the Congo covered by Nightline was his third in eight months. He’s earnest about this and has said several times that he’s just a celebrity and that it’s only natural that people have doubts about his reasons for getting involved. He asks us to focus on the cause, not him.

I haven’t seen other articles specifically with his Nightline footage and I wanted to post it here. Watching his segment was educational for me and I was moved by the plight of the people there. I consider myself a relatively well-informed person and while I was aware there were problems in the Congo I had no idea how difficult it is for the people nor did I grasp the extent of the humanitarian crisis there.

He really brought it home for me with this very simple statement about how the Congolese people were affected by war:

“They’re literally in a living hell. These are people - teachers, farmers, regular people like you and I… with regular jobs. People came through shooting guns and kicking doors down, burning houses and raping women and they had to run for their lives. They’re just decent good people who have been in these places, many of them for years.” [Transcribed from Affleck’s Nightline appearance above]

There’s a new guest essay by Affleck on ABCNews.com along with video of his travels. His Nightline segment is below.

Here’s part of Affleck’s essay, it’s very well written and moving:

Over the last year, I have been traveling to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in an effort to learn more about the country.

I view this as a long and ongoing learning experience to educate myself before making any attempt to advocate or “speak out.” My plan has been to explore, watch, listen and find those doing the best work with and on behalf of the people of the DRC, in an effort to give exposure to voices which might not otherwise be heard.

In short, I want to listen before speaking and learn before taking action. The “Nightline” segment airing Thursday June, 26 is an attempt to take the viewer along with me in that process.

It makes sense to be skeptical about celebrity activism. There is always the suspicion that involvement with a cause may be doing more good for the spokesman than he or she is doing for the cause.

I welcome any questions about me and my involvement, but I hope you can separate whatever reservations you may have from what is unimpeachably important about this segment: the plight of eastern Congo.

Anyone familiar with the Congo has heard the mind-numbing statistics: more than four million dead since 1998 (and many more before then), the most killed in any conflict since the Second World War. 1,200 people a day are still dying from conflict and conflict-related causes such as starvation and preventable disease.

[From ABCNews.com]

He noted that it’s a desperate situation for the people he met with in the refugee camps, because “In the past few months, these families that I met with who never got enough food to begin with have had their rations cut in half. The same forces that are causing our food and gas prices to soar higher at home are pushing these people to the brink of starvation.” Affleck asked a man what it’s like every day in the camp and he said “hunger.”

Affleck took a trip with the UN and armed guards into the headquarters of the most brutal militia group, the FDLR, who committed genocide in Rwanda and are staying in nearby Congo. He spoke with men who said they could not leave the militia out of fear of reprisal at home.

He then went to a hospital and met with a woman who was raped and burned by FDLR soldiers who attacked her village. Her child was killed in a fire that FDLR soldiers set to her hut, badly burning her entire body. When Affleck told this woman’s story he got teary-eyed and looked like he was about to cry. Try and watch her story, it’s part 3 below, and not cry your eyes out.

Affleck’s message is more important than his status as a celebrity or his personal journey. I know I learned a lot about the terrible crisis in the Congo. The segment really moved me.

Ben Affleck on Nightline Part 2:

Ben Affleck on Nightline Part 3, the militia group FDLR and a rape victim’s story:

Ben Affleck on Nightline Part 4, cause for hope and programs to help victims:

Here are links to some charities that support victims in the Democratic Republic of Congo:
Stand Proud for children with Polio.
Treatment for Youth with Disabilities in Congo
Women for Women: help for rape victims in the Congo
IMC: Healthcare for people in Eastern Congo
Theater for Reintegrating Child Solders

Thanks to ABCNews for these photos.

Matt Damon, his pregnant wife Luciana Barroso, his old friend Ben Affleck and Ben’s wife, actress Jennifer Garner, went out for dinner on Saturday night at Nobu restaurant in Malibu. Matt and Luciana were laughing up a storm, but Ben and Jennifer looked a little somber. I can easily speculate that at least one photographer was shouting obnoxious questions at them based on that barely decipherable story by Ted Casablanca that there’s trouble in their marriage. If you watch any paparazzi video they pepper the celebrities with near-constant questions that can seem incredibly creepy and stalkerish.

The last we saw of Matt he was looking super frumpy and a little plump on the Hawaiian set of The Insider. Put a hat and a normal shirt on the guy and he’s the fine action hero dad again. His wife looks gorgeous and I love her outfit and hair.

Affleck appeared on Nightline on Thursday in a piece talking about his work in the Congo. He’s more than aware that celebrities can be bashed for doing charity work, but he feels that he has currency as a famous person and he may as well spend it on doing good in the world.

As for the state of his marriage, Affleck told Access Hollywood that everything is fine and that he couldn’t be happier:

“Things are pretty great,” Affleck said, when asked if he had any vacation plans on the horizon. “We’re very happy. Things couldn’t be better. We’re kind of taking it easy and just kind of enjoying a little downtime at home.”

[From Access Hollywood - site has automatic sound]

The tabloids are going to use these photos and run stories with made up insider quotes that Garner and Affleck are having trouble. I bet you these two are just annoyed at the intrusive paparazzi and the rude questions they shout.

Thanks to Splash for these photos.

Ben Affleck seems to have made wise decisions about his career and personal life in his post-J.Lo time period. He’s taken the appropriate amount of time to stay out of the spotlight, has not starred in another dumb action movie, and has married and fathered an adorable child with a woman who is so down to earth that it’s hard to find anything to pick on her about.

Now he’s taken a Nightline camera crew to The Congo with him to chronicle his personal journey meeting victims of the war and humanitarian crisis there. Affleck realizes that he looks like a tool as an actor traveling to the third world, but he’s willing to take the hits if it means a greater awareness of the vast need in the area for help. Affleck has been to The Congo three times this past year and this is the first I’ve heard of his charity work. His people asked Nightline to cover this story after seeing Don Cheadle visit nearby Rwanda, which borders the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the East. Cheadle went to Rwanda with Nightline in 2005 in an attempt to learn more about the people there after making the film Hotel Rwanda:

He’s been to the Congo three times in the past year. He said his motive was to learn about the war and hunger that have killed thousands of people per month in the past decade in hopes that the outside world would be moved to help, and his celebrity opened some doors.

“It’s fairly clear that in the modern age that there is a currency to celebrity, or celebrity is a currency, really,” Affleck told The Associated Press on Wednesday. “I’ve discovered that you can spend it in a lot of ways, or you can squander it. You can be taxed, as well. I really started thinking long and hard about how to use that currency as long as I had it.”

His representatives approached “Nightline” with the idea of reporting on his journey. Affleck said he was impressed by “Nightline” stories in 2005 where “Hotel Rwanda” actor Don Cheadle visited that country.

“Nightline” executive producer James Goldston admitted to skepticism. ABC News took heat a decade ago for letting Leonardo DiCaprio interview President Clinton, and the idea of a concerned celebrity taking on a world problem has become a news staple.

“I was quite persuaded by how candid he was about the cliche of it, or the potential cliche,” Goldston said.

Affleck deals with that issue in the opening of his essay: “I want to try to bring people along to learn and if they might not tune into this unless there was some celebrity involved in it, either because they’re interested in the celebrity or because they want to see the celebrity kind of make a fool of himself, then so be it,” he says.

He doesn’t act as a reporter, Goldston said. The idea was to present the story as a personal journey, following Affleck as he met with survivors of the conflict, relief officials and even some warlords.

“Nightline” hasn’t done its own story on the Congo since 2002, although Cynthia McFadden recently took a trip to Africa to report on several issues there.

Affleck said one “Nightline” piece isn’t likely to change much, but the goal is to spread the word and hope that people in the United States can identify with some people who are suffering.

[From AP via The Huffington Post]

About 45,000 people a month die in the Congo. One in five children will not live past five. Affleck spoke of the way the people he met touched him and how he understands that there is suspicion of his motives:

“The people here in my experience are really extraordinary people, and they’re dealing with sometimes some extraordinarily difficult circumstances, sometimes even horrific circumstances,” he said. “But I don’t see them as victims; I see them as people who are doing extraordinary things and who deserve to have some attention paid to what they’re doing. I want to kind of bring people along, and if they might not tune into this unless it was some celebrity involved in it — either because they’re interested in the celebrity or want to see the celebrity make a fool of himself — then so be it.”

“People should see actors on television doing charitable work and be suspicious of that, and at the end of watching this I hope they find themselves less suspicious of that and more interested in this and perhaps involved in it,” he said.

[From ABC News]

Ben Affleck’s appearance on Nightline will be shown tonight on ABC at 11:35 pm. He’s right that it’s a cliché that once a celebrity learns about a specific problem it gets coverage, but they also have an incredible opportunity to bring attention to people who are in dire straits. I’d rather celebrities focus on getting help to the third world than making it seem glamorous to carry purses worth enough to support an entire family there for a year.

I’m still annoyed at Ted Casablanca for making me fall for his jargony claim that Brad and Angelina sold their New Orleans mansion. (Jaybird wrote that story, but I’m the one who sent it to her, I have to take the blame.) He said it with such conviction and used so many stupid adjectives that it just had to be true.

Well yesterday Casablanca reported in his roundabout twang that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck were having trouble. Because I promised you guys that I wouldn’t rely on him for information anymore, I sat on my tingling hands and didn’t report it. It’s now at the top of the gossip aggregate site I visit multiple times a day, WeSmirch, and I was just about to reluctantly report it when I saw the denial from their reps.

Here’s what Casablanca said, and I’m rolling my eyes having to read this shit again. If you read between the lines, you can tell he’s just making assumptions because they’ve been seen out separately in photos.

Terribly unfortunate scuttlebutt has come my way. Sources insist to me that Jennifer Garner is considering splitting up from her hubby, Ben Affleck. Say it ain’t so, baby-cakes! Nevertheless, waiting on comment now from both parties. Could this be the reason Jen and Ben are always seen cooing over adorable daughter Violet separately, rarely as one happy family unit? Perhaps. And certainly, those who know the former Alias star well insist Ben’s mama has never particularly cared for the gal who broke Michael Vartan’s heart to hook up with Benny-Boy in the first place. Waiting on official PR responses to that little familial naughty nugget as, well, for what it’s worth. Much has to be divided, I’m told…planes, property. Wonder—if above baddie biz is true—if Benny-boy will be the gentleman Vartan was when he was cast aside? Let’s hope. I mean, don’t leave Vi-hon with the sitters too long if ya decide to hit the card tables, Mr. A!

[E! Online via Gossip Rocks]

Yes, terribly unfortunate scuttlebutt indeed. Well the reps for the Garner-Afflecks say it’s 100% fabricated:

A report by E!’s Ted Casablanca that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are considering breaking up is “100% completely fabricated,” Garner’s rep tells Usmagazine.com.

The E! report speculated a potential split was “the reason Jen and Ben are always seen cooing over adorable daughter Violet separately.”

But Garner’s rep tells Us: “There is not one ounce of truth to it.”

[From US Weekly]

I’m glad I heard that before I reported this, even with the severe disclaimer I was about to slap on it. Now I have another reason to ignore this guy other than the fact that his writing makes my head spin.

Was the brief blip in traffic worth it for Casablanca? I ask myself that very question when I post celebrity upskirts.

Ben and Jen are shown at the White House Correspondents Dinner on 4/26/08, and with their daughter Violet, two and half, registering her for “the First Presbyterian Nursery School in Santa Monica” on 6/16/08, thanks to WENN.

Entertainmentwise is reporting what could be a new quote from Ben Affleck. He’s bitching about how his career tanked after he made the stupid decision to make a terrible movie with J. Lo, have an affair with her (and let’s face, she was married for a few weeks at that point) and show up at multiple events and premieres by her side. You would think he would avoid reminding us about that well publicized period in his life, but he says that showing up in J.Lo’s “Jenny from the Block” video was career-ending for him. Entertainment wise presents this quote from Ben as if it’s something he just said, but it’s probably from an older interview and they’re rehashing it:

He says, “If I have a big regret, it was doing the music video. But that happened years ago. I’ve moved on.”

But Affleck insists he isn’t blaming Lopez for his career nosedive: “It not only makes me look like a petulant fool (to blame Lopez), but it surely qualifies as ungentlemanly? For the record, did she hurt my career? No.”

[From Entertainmentwise]

Affleck appeared in a tank top in the video, with it’s catchy but annoyingly repetitive refrain assuring us that J.Lo is just like us despite the fact that she’s so rich and famous she can get guards to bring her cuticle cream in jail. He rubbed Lopez’s bikini-clad booty and seemed transfixed by it, which helped us understand how he got into that PR mess in the first place.

Ben talked about the effect of his relationship with Lopez on his career back in October when he was doing press for Gone Baby Gone. I hope for his sake that this quote is re-hashed reworded version of stuff he already said in order to promote his movie. He meant well and was just trying to be open about it. He should have released that, like his relationship with Lopez, things never quite end in the media and keep getting recycled and repeated ad naseum. At least he learned from his mistakes and ended up with a woman who made him sell his Bentley and doesn’t ignore her children.

Here’s a link to the video which features Ben and J.Lo generally laying around looking rich.

And here’s J.Lo making sure her twins are well cared for and not promoting the needless killing of animals at the Christian Dior show in NY yesterday, thanks to PRPhotos.

WENN is reporting that security at a Wichita, Kansas airport was put on “red alert” when a “European man” was “[stripped] down to tight shorts and [danced] in the lobby of Wichita Airport.”

Baron Cohen is filming a movie as his flaming Austrian TV personality Bruno, and the Wichita locals didn’t take kindly to his half-dressed invasion of the airport. They also had no idea who he is. I found the original story about this on Kansas.com, and there’s no mention of Baron Cohen or Bruno, so it’s safe to say that more people are fooled by this character than his better-known Kazakh incarnation, Borat:

Officials at the Wichita Mid-Continent Airport are rewriting their policy on commercial filming inside the terminal after a film crew stripped down and started dancing at the airport.

The crew had permission from the airport to film a scene on March 18 based on a “European man” visiting America.

But security workers became concerned when they began dancing in tight short shorts, kissing and fighting in the lobby.

Security couldn’t find anything illegal about the performance, but asked the crew to leave.

Brad Christopher, assistant director of airport operations, says it won’t be as easy to film at the airport in the future.

[From Kansas.com]

I love how this is reported completely straight-faced, and they have no idea that it was comic Baron Cohen, calling him a “European man.”

At least one celebrity was said to be fooled by Bruno for the upcoming film. Mike Walker reports in the current issue of the National Enquirer that Ben Affleck called up comedian Sarah Silverman and told her that he did an interview with an “openly gay European fashion journalist” who asked him inappropriate questions like “how do you like (n-words)?” Sarah clued him in that it was Sacha Baron Cohen in his Bruno character. I’m not so quick to believe that Affleck wasn’t in on it, but maybe we’ll see how good an actor he is once the movie comes out.

Here’s a clip of Bruno interviewing some Christian guys, thanks to Hollywood.tv for linking it. It really is religion day today.

Ben Affleck and wife Jennifer Garner were in the Boston area over the weekend to host and appear at a fundraising dinner for presidential candidate Barack Obama. Affleck has never been one to shy away from political causes– he and buddy/co-star Matt Damon campaigned in favor fair health benefits for labor unions back in 2004 and Ben not only appeared on the Bill O’Reilly show, but held his own against the host. Affleck told O’Reilly during that broadcast that he is a social liberal but didn’t consider himself a Democratic “party guy.” But since meeting Barack Obama at the Democratic National Convention on Boston, Affleck has become a big fan of the candidate.

They may have been drawn by a chance to meet Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, but the hearts of the 450 people who packed Rumor last night belonged to one man: Barack Obama. The sold-out fund-raiser at the Theater District nightclub was hosted by the Hollywood power couple to rally support for Obama’s bid to win the White House. “I’m here because I’m trying to raise money for a campaign and a candidacy that I believe in,” Affleck told the media shortly after hopping out of a black Chevy Suburban with his wife and his mom, Chris. “I’m just trying to do my part.” Affleck met the Illinois senator when they were both in Boston for the 2004 Democratic National Convention and said his “admiration of [Obama] has grown” since. The Oscar winner seemed particularly proud to participate in a gathering that regular folks could go to, noting “it’s not a $1,500-a-plate event for the elite.” (Tickets were $250 for a VIP reception and $50 for the main party.) Among those spotted were Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa, Red Sox GM Theo Epstein ’s brother Paul and his wife, Saskia Grinberg, and Wellness Community-Greater Boston CEO Ron Lipof. The politically savvy Affleck, who has donated at least $4,600 to Obama’s campaign according to public records, wasn’t going to be drawn into the recent flaps between Obama and Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton, who won the Massachusetts primary. “This is not about casting aspersions,” the “Gone Baby Gone” director said. “If I were to choose between the two, it would be Barack.” Garner stayed above the political fray, saying she really likes Boston and “would move here in a heartbeat, but it’s six hours from where I work.” But Garner, who’s in town filming “The Ghosts of Girlfriends Past” quickly corrected herself saying, “Whoops, I’m working here at the moment.”

[From Boston.com]

I liked that Ben chose to throw this fundraiser in his hometown instead of Hollywood. It would have been so easy for Ben and Jen to turn this into a Tinseltown glamour event, but instead, he decided to keep it a little more low-key and focus more on the candidate than his own star power. My only complain was that his new life partner, Jimmy Kimmel, couldn’t make an appearance.

Pictures of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were taken on Sunday outside Rumer nightclub where the fundraiser for Obama took place, thanks to Splash News.

Never let it be said that all big stars have big egos. Okay maybe they do, but a couple of the biggest were more than willing to lend their famous faces to Jimmy Kimmel’s revenge video, “F’ing Ben Affleck.” The video was (not surprisingly) an instant internet sensation – really, you can’t get a better time slot for that type of thing than right after the Oscars. Ben Affleck says he was all too willing to don a shiny lame top and blow dry (what’s left of) Jimmy Kimmel’s hair - if it helped best BFF Matt Damon’s video with Kimmel’s girlfriend Sarah Silverman, “I’m F’ing Matt Damon.” Sounds like Kimmel and Silverman have a very mature, deep, and profound relationship. Screw that, it sounds like they have fun, and isn’t that more important? Affleck gave a great interview to Entertainment Weekly where he talked about the process of making the video, and how they got such big stars to agree to it.

What was the backstory on scoring Harrison Ford? Didn’t you hear that he was a fan of the ”I’m F—ing Matt Damon” video?
He either said that to my brother or to Jennifer [Garner, Affleck’s wife]. So that kind of stuck in my mind when Jill [Leiderman, exec producer of Kimmel] called me and we were trying to get people. The first name that came to me — because I’m such a huge fan — was Harrison Ford. Jill called me back 10 minutes later: ”We got Harrison Ford!” And I was like, ”What??? Harrison Ford said yes???” He was awesome. I think people were naturally a little bit intimidated by him, and didn’t want to push him at all. He saw his wardrobe looked kind of normal and was like, ”Don’t we have anything here that’s mesh?” That beat gets the biggest laugh in the whole video, where he’s got his chain and he’s in the convertible and he blows a kiss. It’s the most incongruous moment in the thing because he’s the most rugged, masculine guy in the world, and there he is in his West Hollywood outfit blowing kisses.

Were you surprised that all of these celebrities wound up participating?
Brad [Pitt] said yes, and that was really cool. And then Don [Cheadle], Cameron [Diaz], I mean, Huey Lewis, all the musicians who populated the ”We Are the World” aspect of it… In some ways, my favorite part of it is Josh Groban. I mean, he’s just hollering. The way he sings just full-throated cheese at the piano and the shaft of light, I mean, it’s spectacular. Every time we got one of those people, I felt like, This is either really great or it’s really terrible for me, because I’m gonna have to be living with this ”I’m F—ing Ben Affleck” anthem for the rest of my life!… I hope it virals out by the time my daughter is using the Internet.

[From Entertainment Weekly]

Ben also says that he’s fairly sure there will be some kind of retaliation. He said maybe he and Sarah would hook up, there might be a three-way, but he worries it might sink into something with animals. “It will have to be taken to another level — a horrible, horrible level that will stop being funny and then stop being passed around on video.” I think he’s missed the most obvious form of payback: using his wife, Jennifer Garner. While I can’t for a minute imagine her being involved in something tawdry; a week ago I would have said that about Josh Groban too, and how very wrong I would have been.

Here’s the video again. Thanks to Splash News for the screenshots.

Jimmy Kimmel somehow managed to outdo the hilarious video created by his wife girlfriend, comedian Sarah Silverman, “I’m F’cking Matt Damon.”

In a star-studded video called “I’m F’ing Ben Affleck,” Affleck and Kimmel play gay lovers while a chorus of celebrities sings “Jimmy Kimmel is f’ing Ben Affleck” in “We are the world” style. There’s even a cameo from Bad Pitt as a delivery guy, although I was disappointed that there were no homosexual undertones to Pitts appearance. Harrison Ford blows a kiss and smiles at the camera suggestively, and Cameron Diaz makes the finger in the hole sign. The celebrities sing an uplifting chorus of Kimmel and Affleck’s newfound love as the two stars walk off into the sunset, Kimmel shirtless with moobs and Affleck in a shiny tight lamé top.

Thanks to Redlasso for sending this to us, and they also note the cameos by Brad Pitt, Robin Williams, Don Cheadle, Pete Wentz, Perry Farrell, Macy Gray, The Madden Twins, Lance Bass, Huey Lewis, Josh Groban, Dominic Mognahan, McLovin from Superbad, Harrison Ford, and Cameron Diaz.

Here’s Silverman’s video “I’m f’ing Matt Damon” if you missed it

Shes Screwing Matt Damon - Watch more free videos

Ben Affleck has moved on from his much-derided career-stalling relationship with Jennifer Lopez to marry a woman who seems her polar opposite in many ways. Jennifer Garner is relatively free from pretension and seems genuinely kind, if a little ditsy at times. (We can’t always be signing her praises.)

Garner has made fun of herself for even small moments of being demanding, saying in a recent Glamour interview that she had to check herself when she found that she was slightly miffed that she had her makeup done after someone else. “Ben’s in Africa studying malaria and visiting slums with a lack of potable water and maternity wards where many women have HIV. So would I really put my energy into worrying that I’m second to get my makeup done? When you think about the bigger picture, it’s hard to not have some perspective.” Lopez, on the other hand, sends lists of demands to hotels where she’s staying that rival many concert riders for big stars.

So Affleck probably feels like he dodged a bullet in marrying and fathering a child with such a lovely low-key woman. He’s not above acknowledging his ex’s happiness, though. Lopez has managed to stay with her third husband Marc Anthony for an incredible three years and now she’s pregnant with up to two babies. Affleck sent her a friendly note to congratulate her on the pregnancy and let her know how much he enjoys fatherhood. His daughter with Garner, Violet, will turn two next month:

Despite telling “Details” magazine that his relationship with the Latin superstar “was probably bad for my career,” Ben sent a personal message to Jennifer and hubby Marc Anthony extending his best wishes, say sources.

Ben, now married to Jennifer Garner, “raved how fatherhood has left him thrilled - and he said he knows what a great mother J.Lo will be,” the source said. “While the two have had little communication since their highly publicized breakup, Jennifer was deeply touched by Ben’s heartfelt message.”

[From The National Enquirer, print edition, November 26, 2007]

This isn’t the only one of the couple’s exes that Affleck and Garner are friendly with. They are said to have invited Garner’s ex husband, Scott Foley, over to dinner.

Affleck and Garner have been quite scandal free since their 2005 beach wedding. There was a minor blip in February when a Hollywood madam claimed that Affleck hired one of her girls for sex at least six years ago, back when he was single and known as a partier. That mini scandal quickly blew over, and Affleck has kept his nose and polished clean apart from some rumored online gambling.

Last week’s Life and Style has an article about Affleck and Garner titled “Ben and Jen face the biggest test of their marriage.” They suggest that Ben must be lonely since Jen is devoting so much time to her well-reviewed role on Broadway in Cyrano de Bergerac. The only evidence Life and Style offers that they’re having trouble is that Ben “was spotted nursing a Guinness and knocking back a few glasses of wine after the Oct. 10 Chicago premiere of Gone Baby Gone“! In fact Ben even “filled Jen’s dressing room with roses” and they’re said to be “very much in love.” He probably does feel like he dodged a bullet and landed on a soft bed.

Affleck is shown out with his family on 10/14/07 in NY, thanks to Splash News. He is shown below at the Glamour Woman of the Year awards on 11/5/07.