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.

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.

Jennifer Garner had a mommy’s moment of panic while out shopping yesterday in Brentwood with her daughter Violet, 2 and a half. Violet got into the family Lexus while clutching the key, locking herself inside. Garner was able to tell her daughter how to open the door, and she finally managed to do it after about two minutes. There were enough photographers there to help if it came to that, but it’s still got to be stressful to get locked out of your car by your two year old.

My son is now three and a half and he gets a huge kick out of locking me out on the porch. He knows how to unlock the door, but he stands there and laughs for a while until he decides to let me back in. I try to act like I don’t care so that he doesn’t have any incentive to do it again.

Thanks to the Daily Mail for the heads up on this story.

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.

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.

Jennifer Garner made her Broadway debut last night in Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline. Unlike Julia Roberts’ Broadway debut, Garner was largely positively reviewed, with critics hailing her performance as Roxanne.

Newsday says she “breaks the recent Broadway curse of the Hollywood stars,” and that “she flips comfortably from the comic to the plucky and, finally, to the heroic.” The NY Times also praises both Kline and Garner, calling Garner “by far the most comfortable [on stage]” and lauding her performance and timing. the Canadian press did give the play a mixed review, saying that Garner “finds little nuance in her portrayal of Roxanne.” Considering all the other triumphant reviews, it just sounds like one critic was particularly hard on the play.

Garner says she’s not going to pay attention to the reviews, though, and told People Magazine. “I’m not going to look at [them]. No. I can’t stand it.” She doesn’t have much to worry about though.

Garner’s husband of two years, Ben Affleck, was at the premiere and said he was “really impressed by her courage and her talent.” As are the rest of us.

Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures of Jennifer, and Splash News for the pictures of Ben.

In an interview before the popular German variety talkshow “Wetten Das?,” where Jennifer Garner and Jamie Foxx appeared on Saturday to promote The Kingdom, Jennifer Garner revealed that the longest she’s been away from her daughter Violet, who will be two on December first, is four days. Garner is on a brief trip to Europe to promote her new terrorism-themed thriller and says she misses her daughter terribly and is anxious to get back to her.

Interviewer: You’ve got Violet on the set as well, she was with you. Wasn’t it hard to be mommy on the one side and to be very concentrated on the movie and to work?
Garner: I think every working woman has it kind of the same, when you’re with your kid you’re one person and then you flip a switch and you’re someone else, so you know, when I was in the trailer with her I would take care of her and feed her and be with her and they would knock on the door and I would just, you know, get myself back together and focus. If it was a really emotional, you know day with scenes I probably wouldn’t have her there. I would stay you know, just stay in the zone, but otherwise she was there with me most of the time.

Interviewer: Is she with you today here in Switzerland or no?
I wish, I’m so excited to go home to her. Yeah, this is the longest I’ve been away from her for four days. But no, it was too fast of a trip to drag her all the way over here.

[Transcribed from the video available on ZDF.com]

Garner talked about how she prepared for the role as FBI agent Janet Mayes by taking shooting lessons and spending time with real FBI agents, who she said she admired. She also revealed that she keep fit through a regimen of Pilates, running and weight training.

Garner also said that Violet has no idea what she and her husband do for a living, and that her husband, Ben Affleck, hasn’t seen the film yet as he’s been too busy watching Violet.

The Kingdom is already out in the US, and will be released in Germany under the title Operation Kingdom on October 11.

Jennifer Garner should be back with Violet and husband Ben by now. She left “Wetten Das?” on Saturday early, saying she had to fly back to work on a film with Kevin Kline.

Jamie Foxx and Jennifer Garner were on popular German talkshow “Wetten Das?” or “Wanna Bet?,” which broadcast from Basel, Switzerland on Saturday. The show features average people performing silly stunts, with guests betting on whether they’ll be able to successfully complete the bet in the time allotted. They were on to promote The Kingdom. Garner said they had just been in Berlin but had some time to check out Basel that day.

The interview wasn’t that revealing and they just promoted the film, with Garner giving a very diplomatic response about the film being balanced in its portrayal of American politics. Host Thomas Gottschalk praised The Kingdom and said given the subject matter he was quite surprised how good it was. The best part of the show was when Foxx lost the challenge they were betting on and had to yodel for the crowd.

The bet was if a little girl could identify five of over 50 hard puppets by feeling them with her nose within a certain time period. It was weird, but most of the bets on that show are strange. The other three challenges of the night involved a farmer sinking balls into a basketball hoop using the upwards exhaust air from a tractor, a guy holding 10 bricks against a wall for 20 seconds using just his thumb, and a man throwing plungers on his friends’ naked backs.

The 12 year-old girl successfully identified the puppets and Garner won the bet, since she bet that the girl would be able to complete the task, saying she thought that girls should stick together. Foxx bet against the girl and since he lost he had to yodel. After Melissa Etheridge performed the host asked her if she would play the guitar to accompany Foxx’s yodeling. A yodeling clip was played for Foxx to emulate, and he danced along to it and was able to mimic it well. Foxx is an accomplished singer and he was a good sport. This cracked me up:

Jamie Foxx remained on the show until nearly the end, and joked with super hot boxing twins Wladimir and Vitali Klitschko, posing with them at one point. Garner left shortly after the yodeling, saying she had to get back to the states to film a movie with Kevin Kline. Along with Melissa Etheridge, musical guests included Avril Lavigne and Sunrise Avenue.

“Wetten Das?” is the most popular show in Europe and has been on the air since 1981.

Photos are screenshots available from the full length video on the ZDF website. The clip here is an excerpt from a longer video accessible from their site. Foxx is still rocking those clip-on earrings.

Here’s an article filled with lots of obvious statements: Ben Affleck now admits that dating J-Lo probably hurt his career. You know what else probably hurt his career? “Gigli.” Yeah, it’s been a while since you heard a “Gigli” joke, huh? I’m right on it. I’ve heard Ben Affleck referred to as the poor man’s Matt Damon, though I think Ben is a lot nicer to look at. But Matt Damon’s got the smarts, and a lot of people (including the writers at “Family Guy” – in whom I place a lot of trust) think that the bulk of “Good Will Hunting” is really attributable to Damon, not Affleck. But Affleck had a few years there when he got a lot more attention – though not necessarily for good things. The worst one, of course, being J-Lo. I kid, I love J-Lo with a ferocity I can’t explain. Really, I have no idea why, but I think she rocks the monkey. But there’s no denying that dating her really didn’t help Affleck’s career, and made him come across more as a playboy and a dilettante than a legitimate actor and writer. Ben gave an interview with this month’s “Details” where he talks about some of his mistakes. The best part of the interview? Affleck was late. Why? His German Shepard got into a container of Metamucil and got sick all over the house. I’ve been there, my friend. I’ve been there.

On dating Jennifer Lopez:
“It was probably bad for my career. What happens is this sort of bleed-over from the tabloids across your movie work. You go to a movie, you only go once. But the tabloids and Internet are everywhere. You can really subsume the public image of somebody. I ended up in an unfortunate crosshair position where I was in a relationship and [the media] mostly lied and inflated a bunch of salacious stuff for the sake of selling magazines. And I paid a certain price for that. Then, in concert with some movies that didn’t work…”

On Gone Baby Gone:
“I feel like (Gone Baby Gone) is the linchpin for my life. My career. I have a lot riding on it. I want [the film] to work. Badly. I mean, a shitty movie comes out on 2,800 screens? I’ve been there and it’s embarrassing.”

On why he likes directing:
“That’s why there’s something really great about directing-about having authorship over something. If you don’t like this movie, I’m the guy to see. I’m the guy to criticize. I take some measure of comfort in that. It’s fair, at least.”

On his directorial debut:
“Listen, I’ve gone out and directed a movie and made it really f—king good. If the movie’s good, people will like it and go see it. All the rest of it is bullshit.”

On what’s at stake with his new film:
“It’s pretty simple. If people don’t go see it – I’m f—ked.”

On his decision to direct:
“I guess I just thought, I’ve seen it done enough. I’ve been on the sets enough. I’m a writer. An amateur photographer. An actor. I guess I just thought the sum of these parts would come together and I’d be able to do it.”

On living in L.A.:
“I’d be surprised if I’m still living here in a couple of years. Professionally it would be difficult. But that’s not as important as that other thing.”

[From Us Weekly]

Oh Ben. You’re sort of a hack, but I still love you. And I’ve been told by many of our readers that I have to love your wife or they’ll kick me, so I love her too. Whatever happened to all those rumors that he was going to run for the senate? Those were clearly post J-Lo rumors, during the current Jennifer Garner administration. I was wondering how those would gel with all those “I’ve spent too much time at the Playboy Mansion” rumors. I’m guessing that having dated J-Lo is about the same as having killed a hooker, in terms of political weight. Maybe he’s coming forward and admitting his mistakes so he can move on. And clean up that Metamucil.

Picture Note by Jaybird: Here’s Ben looking surprisingly thin at the Annual Deauville American Film Festival on September 9th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Everyone loves Jennifer Garner, or so it seems. She does seem cute and nice, though I once saw her on the Tonight Show and she came across as pretty ditzy. Maybe she was having an off night. Or maybe Ben Affleck doesn’t check his potential spouse’s IQ scores. I’m guess the former… or not. Alright I know I’m going to get yelled at, so I think she’s lovely, and if nothing else very down to earth and not too Hollywood. Garner recently gave an interview to “Marie Claire” in which she talked about how much she loves motherhood, despite her boobs sending her to the hospital as a direct result of her baby daughter Violet. That’s right, the kid is clearly out to get her.

“Garner nursed Violet during the filming of ‘The Kingdom,’ co-starring Jamie Foxx, which opens in theaters Friday. Garner says she found herself staggered by the heat on the Arizona set.

“‘I checked with a pediatrician, I checked with my gynecologist,’ she recalls, ‘and they said, “Breast-feeding? You’ll be fine. Just drink plenty of water.” But the rules when it’s 138 degrees are different. … It sent me to the hospital a couple of times.’

“‘I guess I was getting heatstroke,’ she says. ‘All my electrolytes were going to the baby - I wasn’t keeping any of the potassium in my body.’

“‘I made it through, though,’ says Garner, who nursed Violet for 14 months. ‘I really didn’t want to give up, and I didn’t.’”

[From the Washington Post]

So Jennifer Garner goes to the hospital with “heatstroke” and no one reports on it, but all those other celeb tartlets have to go to the ER for “exhaustion” and it’s all over the tabloids? So not fair, you know it wasn’t heatstroke, she was soused. I kid, I kid, she’s clearly a super devoted mother. Garner also says her job is great because it lets her be a devoted mother, while working in relatively short, concentrated bursts.

“Jennifer Garner, who stars in the upcoming film, ‘The Kingdom,’ says she’s grateful that she can balance her career with motherhood.

“‘My job is great to have as a mom,’ she tells Marie Claire magazine in its October issue. ‘I get to take long breaks and then work hard in a really concentrated way.’

“Garner wed Ben Affleck in June 2005. Their daughter, Violet, will be 2 on Dec. 1.

“‘She’s pretty awesome. We’re in that sweet spot before the `terrible twos,’” the 35-year-old actress says. ‘We definitely wonder what it would be like to have another - hopefully, knock on wood, someday.’”

[From the Washington Post]

Aww, how sweet. Violet is an extra cute baby. Which is kind of hard to do, it’s like being an extra-fluffy cloud or something. Although with jeans like that, what can you expect. Of all the celebrity babies born in the last few years, I’m putting my money on Violet Affleck as the most likely to come out relatively normal. I know Ben has some issues, but they don’t seem that big and Jennifer seems like a normalizing force in Ben’s life, and likely Violet’s too.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Jennifer Garner and Violet are shown in Brentwood, CA on 8/20 thanks to Splash News.