The last time we discussed Ben Affleck’s gambling problem, he was hitting the casinos around Detroit, where Batman vs. Superman is filming. Affleck, who is playing a beefed up caped crusader, is filling his free time with high stakes blackjack. We heard that he was kicked out of the Hard Rock Casino in Vegas for allegedly counting cards at blackjack, and that there were security alerts sent to other casinos about him.
That was in early May, and despite all the publicity from that incident Affleck can’t stop gambling. He’s been spotted out multiple times at casinos in Canada and he’s predictably been asked to leave by casino security. It sounds like things are getting bad for him. What’s worse is that Ben’s wife, Jennifer Garner, has allegedly canceled plans to visit him in Detroit because she doesn’t want to sit around while he’s gambling constantly. This comes from Star Magazine [via Radar] but the fact that there are dates and specific sightings of Ben adds legitimacy to this story. Here’s more:
According to Star magazine, Garner is fed up with her husband’s gambling ways and the latest headlines have tipped her over the edge…
On May 31, he was spotted at Caesars Windsor Hotel and Casino in Windsor, Ontario, just 10 minutes from downtown Detroit, where as Radar reported exclusively Affleck has been gambling $5,000 hands at the high roller table.
“Ben walked in and went straight to the card games,” an eyewitness in Ontario told the mag. “His hair was a disaster, and he looked like a mess! He sat down and played for roughly 20 minutes before security heard he was there. They made the dealers stop what they were doing and asked him to leave. Ben seemed pretty mad.”
Another eyewitness at MotorCity Casino Hotel in Detroit noticed the 41-year-old on May 24 at 2 p.m. not looking his movie star best.
“It took me a minute to realize it was Ben Affleck,” a second eyewitness told Star. “He looked disheveled and upset while sitting there gambling. He seemed really frazzled like he had just lost a ton of money. He was smoking a cigarette and his head was down in his arms. When he sat up his eyes looked bloodshot, like he’d been there all night!”
And his wife of nine years is putting her foot down.
“Jen canceled her trip. She just doesn’t want to be Ben’s enabler or babysitter,” a source told the magazine about the family’s intender summer trip to Detroit “She was absolutely mortified about the Las Vegas incident, and everything has really gone downhill since then.
“She’s completely distraught over Ben’s problems. It’s a never-ending roller coaster.”
I’ve said before that at least it’s not women, but it’s not like women and gambling are mutually exclusive. Plus this sounds like a serious addiction. Affleck could have taken his high profile ouster in Vegas as a sign to cut back or find another way to spend his free time, but it sounds like he can’t stop gambling and like it’s definitely affecting his family. I hope he gets help soon, he was turning it around for so long. I don’t want him to hit bottom before he realizes how far he’s slid.
Jennifer Garner is shown out with a friend on 6-20. Ben Affleck is shown on 5-13 and 5-15. Credit: FameFlynet
Lainey’s blind months ago was presumably about him: drinking, prescription drugs for back pain, and cheating. Combined with the excessive gambling-he’s clearly in a lot of trouble.
In another blind she hinted that he’s sniffing around GOOP again.
No! I want he comes back with JLo.
Affleck is not down-to-earth,he loves big houses,big cars,he’s bling-bling,he loves success,he’s ambitious,he has big ego.He was happy when he was with JLo even if his career was in low.
And you really believe out of all the hot women in the world, he wants damaged and straggly-haired, 42-year-old, narcissistic, drawn-looking Gwyneth whose career is over for the most part? Right. He got her in her heyday, gorgeous and getting great roles, not self-absorbed over everything she puts in her mouth or how much she exercises, or negative energy on water. He got hotter. She didn’t. She just got whinier.
Don’t,
I do think he and JLo were really perfect together. But he tries to hide that side of himself now.
That blind wasn’t about them. Nobody is checking for Gwyneth. It’s not 2001.
That cannot be him and Goop. He purposely cheated on her so they would break up. She is a stage 5 clinger based on all reports about her.
Affleck couldn’t tolerate 2014 Gwyneth for 15 minutes if his very life depended on it. The sparkling golden girl she once was is long long gone. Ben wants his beer and his easy chair and he’ll be damned if some hung up bitch tries to shame him out of it.
Because nothing says I hate my career like dating Gwyneth Paltrow in 2014. She destroys everything she touches and almost destoyed Chris Martin’s career. If it’s true then he is in self-destruct mode.
Purely speculation, but I don’t think Jlo and him were a good match at all. He always seemed uncomfortable around her diva-ing. A silly example to illustrate my point: his car. Someone said he likes “big cars” but in reality his car is a well maintained classic car. He doesn’t go for the newest model that is shiny and tricked out.
Ben did not get “hotter” to me, Jayna, JLo still looks fine but the Batfleck is a tired, bloated mess, yuck.
Actually Ben Affleck needs 4 trainers ,a personal chef and a masseur to be “heathly”for Batman filming.I thought he was high-maintenance but apparently he’s not in top form actually and needs discipline
There was a blind rumour going around that a major studio wanted to drop their controversial lead for a famous franchise film. They realized they made a mistake casting him because he couldn’t keep up with the training. It sounded like Ben. I wouldn’t be surprised if it is all the late night benders, if the rumours were true (personally, I don’t think so, they’re too deep into it). And these days from everything I’ve seen he looks pretty good, fitness-wise but I can see how these late nights can be problematic for the director and the studio.
Yeah not everyone has Christian Bale’s and Tom Hardy’s discipline. I swear this whole movie feels cursed.
I don’t know, the training he did for The Town was seriously intense. He signed himself up for that with no apparent problem. He’s obviously let himself go since then, but Christian let’s himself go between movies as well.
@Megsie: he seemed hungrier with The Town. Like he had something to prove. Now? Not so much.
@megsie – To be fair to Christian, he lets himself go as far as the beard, hair and clothes situation. I saw a few pap pics of him yesterday (out and about with his pregnant wife) and if you could get beyond the hideous shirt and equally hideous beard, he looks fine and fit.
I want that blind rumor about a mistake in casting because the actor can’t keep up with training – to be about Charlie Sheen. I don’t know why it tickles me so to think of that, but I’m sitting at my desk with the dumbest grin on my face right now…”Come on Charlie! You can do it. Just 24 more and we’re done with this one!” *wheezes**mucles/lack of muscle quivers** My sense of humor is beyond wicked. I’m so going to Hell.
Yes Ben and j lo round 2 please!
JLO and Ben have nothing in common, that was just a period of their lives when they were high on sex and fame.
I can’t believe people are actually suggesting Ben and J.Lo to get together again NOW? when Ben is obviously a married man already? gosh
Well, Idk Lainey has basically said It’s more of an “all of the above” situation: pills,booze, chicks, and this cherry on top of the turd banana split
I tend to believe it cause he looked Blitzed last year’s Oscar
Affleck is one of those celebs that people forget that he made a trip to rehab. He’s been a big gambler for years, I would absolutely believe that he’s gone back over the line. He just seems like a dude that gets self destructive when given the opportunity.
Someone on JJB who lives in Detroit said that every night there were sightings of him in one of the casinos so I do believe that part of the story.
I don’t know about problems with Jen but Jen was on a Detroit sports radio channel 105.1 FM back in February while promotion “Draft Day” she said the whole family be in Detroit all summer. As of now she and the kids are still in LA but only time will tell .
He looks messed up alot, or just as if he woke up after passing out in the same clothes. What a mess. Get it together, dude. Whatever it takes.
This is True Bridget!, I also wonder would we forget if it was an actress!??
KRI You nailed the look! Walk of shame combined with IDGAF
@QQ – I think its less about him being a man, and more about the fact that even at the time his rehab trip was really quiet, and then once he got with Garner he managed to have one of the most complete and successful image overhauls.
He looks a mess. My son, who plays online poker, has seen him on the online gambling sites too. You can virtually be gambling 24 hours a day if you want. If you’re in the middle of a game and are at work or busy, the phone will vibrate when it’s your turn to play.
Sabrine, how could your son know it was him?
It may not be him but many pros do play on-line all the time and everybody knows their handles so it is possible her son is correct and it’s Affleck on-line. Could be a troll though.
Isn’t it true that people who don’t genuinely recover often transfer from one addiction to another? But why would the casino ask him to leave if he had been losing? The story rings true but that doesn’t make sense to me.
I don’t know the rules and regulations of casino’s but i think it sucks that they have the right to kick someone out just because they are winning, as long as they are not cheating this seems unfair.
that’s what I wanted. to write. What the heck??? People gamble bc they hope to WIN. That’s the whole point. How can casinos say, “Oh, sorry; you can stay if you lose, but if you win (a FRACTION of the take we’re getting from the rest of these losers), it’s See You Later, Sucker.” I just don’t understand it. I don’t understand the whole you-can’t -count-cards thing, either. How else does a person win? You have to assume what the other players have left intheir hands. It just seems like casinos are sore losers. 🙂
My guess is that the movie studio put the word out on him. Maybe they’re getting paid for him not to play.
He was asked to leave because he is a known card counter.Casinos network each other about them.They are usually barred for life and not allowed to play again.Card counting is considered cheating.
It’s legal, however. And in Atlantic City, it is illegal to bar someone for card counting.
The description didn’t actually say he’d been losing, The eyewitness said he seemed frazzled and compared it to the look of someone who’d been losing. He might have been frazzled because he’d been up all night. I would say it’s also possible he had been playing without counting cards and had lost, and then was counting and caught at it when he was attempting to make up his losses.
Dave Gahan has talked about addictive personalities trading one addiction for another. He is a recovering heroin addict, who can’t even drink now, (sober for 15 years) said it sucks he can’t even have a glass of wine at dinner with friends but that he has an addictive personality and it would just start building. He says he’s addictive in everything. He loves chocolate, but he truly becomes addicted to that. He runs and it helps him by running, but does it every day as even that becomes addictive to him. He switched from cigarettes to cigarillos, trying to convince himself that wasn’t as bad for him, but it was his only vice and said he needed it. But he got cancer and was cured as it was stage one, but it can be a smoking-related cancer, and I think even gave that up recently.
He said along with wanting to stay sober for his wife and children and himself, that taking up songwriting and becoming more creative in the band as more than the lead singer and songwriting for a solo career really helped him and can channel his dark tendencies into music, writing songs. Probably to me kind of like Ben with his screenplay writing and directing. It channels a lot of his energy and passion to that, which is time-consuming and fullfilling and kept him straight for quite a few years.
It goes without saying, but Ben Affleck isn’t fit to wash Dave Gahan’s socks. I’m not saying that Ben Affleck is bad because he struggles with addiction, but I guess I’m saying that I don’t really know why people even care about Ben Affleck. That’s kind of mean, but…I don’t know.
Gambling is every bit as destructive as drugs and liquor. How sad for this lovely family. I’ve seen a couple of friends go completely under in just a matter of a few years because they are always looking for that high from winning a big jackpot.
Yep. Just because he has millions to burn and probably wont gamble away his fortune (hopefully, but I guess you never know!), it doesn’t make the behavior any better . He’s simply trading one addiction for another.
Yes I agree with you totally. Any form of addiction is horrific, but gambling and drinking are legalised and sanctioned by society – how much more difficult can that be to walk away from when so many other people are doing it and not getting hooked? Having worked with addicts for some time (until burn out) I can only feel sympathy for anyone who gets hooked on their own self destructive behaviour, and even more for their families – the kids are the true victims in all of this mess…
It’s an horrid addiction, you can see old people losing the saving of an entire life thanks to perfect legal machines.
And gambling can lead to lying and stealing from family and friends and businesses and just about anybody just to get that money for either gambling or to pay off a bad debt. It can even lead to murder just like other addictions such as drugs.
I agree, gambling addiction can be extremely destructive but I’m not 100% convinced this is anything more than tabloid talk fueled by the casino banning him for card counting. I guess if his wife stays in California this summer, that might support this story, since she did say the family would spend the summer there. Still, I’m skeptical, the tabs just love to cook up nonsense when the timing is right. He won the Oscar, he’s cast as Batfleck, banned from the casino, I smell creative writing!
Once you get a reputation as a card counter, no casino really wants you. It looks like that is happening to Ben.
I do not dislike Affleck so if he does have a dangerously escalating addiction to gambling that is interfering in his home life, I hope he wakes up and gets help before it costs him more than just money.
Sounds like he has a problem, too bad. But the card counting thing really gets me. It is not cheating and just because he is smart enough to beat the dealer they won’t let him play. Does not seem fair.
Card counting is cheating, and casinos monitor it aggressively. Read about it.
Casinos aren’t “fair” places.
Zwella- card counting is certainly not cheating. It is simply playing smart rather than not thinking. Casinos can ban anyone they want, and they ban anybody who plays too well and therefore cuts into their profits. He wasn’t hiding cards up his sleeves. He was just using his brain. That’s no more cheating than being a good bluffer in poker.
But I’m sure he knew he would be banned if they figured out he knew how to play smart.
jwoolman–Exactly.
He’s feeding one addiction for another.
+1
And he’s good at gambling and has many money
Tweet Ben Affleck casino or Ben gambling and you’ll find some posts.Some persons saw him and tweeted.
When he had his problem at Las Vegas,someone tweeted to @elmayimbe ( LatinoReview scooper for franchises) Ben Affleck goes every 3 weeks to Las Vegas to gamble
It seems like she’s held him together for a long time. I get it, she has a family she wants to keep intact. It’s time for him to get his sh*t together and to quit counting on her to enable him.
If that is the case, my heart goes out to her. As a person who struggles with codependency myself, excessive care taking is an addiction in and of itself. I hope they all can get help before things turn super ugly.
Enable him or protect him from himself?
It does sound like he has a serious problem that he had “control” over for a while but it’s back and it’s bad.
I wouldn’t bring the kids up to see him either if he’s in a state of only wanting to gamble. The kids would sense it if he was there but not really.
This is unfair of you. I think that she has lived their life together supportive of his sobriety. His falling off the wagon or whatever is happening here is all him. And going by the story, she refuses to spend time with him when he is like this which short of straight up divorce is all she can do. If he has been spiraling for only afew months, this is the appropriate response. Try to shock him into action. If THAT doesnt work then you leave.
She might be enabling. She might not. We don’t really know. I think he was clean for a long time and she was a big part of that. She doesn’t have to leave him to set boundaries and let him know what is and isn’t okay. Ultimately, he has to make the decision to clean up. I hope he does. I think she has been good for him but I can’t say it has been the other way around and I think he knows that too. Just my guess.
This makes me sad…
Me, too. I’ve always loved this cute little family, and hope Ben can pull it back on the road again. Bummer. 🙁
Tabloids publish a lot of crap…however…the fact that they are willing to publish dates and locations, well, that’s not a good sign. That shows some confidence in their story they don’t normally have. I’m not a fan of either him or his wife but I will admit this is just sad.
I can’t wait for the cover-up of Ben is “researching” a role for a new film/script he’s developing and he’s so method.
@mia4S – I’m in southern Michigan. He’s been spotted by so many people at the downtown Detroit casinos during broad daylight. It’s sad and he needs help. These are not tabloid tales. Affleck needs help.
I don’t know if he needs help or has a problem but he has been a part of the gambling scene ever since Rounders so the only thing new here is the tabloid coverage.
I don’t believe Blind Items. They seem true of many celebrities. and Lainey is not an expert on anything.
That being said if this is true it is sad. I hope his friends will step in and try and help him. One would think with such a HUGE movie in the works the Studio would step in and try to get the Star under control. There is a lot of money a stake and Ben was a long shot for the role.
+1 about the Studio stepping in. The closer it gets to the premiere date for the Batman/Superman movie the deeper the press is gonna be digging. They need to shut this shit down now before it’s too late. And Ben needs to get help, of course for his family’s sake but for the movies sake too. A huge scandal around a huge movie may be his last chance.
It won’t be his last chance. He has too much draw at the box office. He could fall flat on his face and if he pulls himself together, he’ll be able to rebuild his career again, especially given his recent critical acclaim.
What do you guys think the studio is going to do? As long as he is showing up to work and able to do his job, they don’t care.
Re: the Affleck blinds. I like to take blind items with a healthy dose of skepticism because they are ultimately just gossip, and therefore even the most reliable of blind item purveyors is going to be incorrect occasionally. But the blinds about Affleck aren’t exactly out of left field – he’s pretty well known to have issues with women and fidelity, he’s also got a history of alcohol issues and when he did attend rehab he chose Promises which is basically a spa. The idea that this guy could have a gambling and a pill problem isn’t ridiculous. ESPECIALLY since there are a lot of stories of him hitting the card tables regularly.
And probably keeping Jen in the loop with his flack team too. They’re probably all conspiring to keep him at work and trying to get the casinos to kick him out.
There’s no scandal in legally gambling, even if you do it too much, nobody in Hollywood cares how many casinos he’s in as long as he meets his contractual obligations to the film.
@Lisa 2 and Jaderu …
Agreed.
I’m starting to wonder if Ben’s situation may have helped Matt Damon decide to move his family to Los Angeles. He has been so adamant about his dislike of the L.A. lifestyle for so many years, and having successfully kept himself and his family away from it for so long, I was surprised when he made the move. But isn’t it interesting that we hardly ever see any stories about Matt and his family, even though they’ve lived in L.A. now for nearly two years now?
I have a sister with a gambling problem. I wish Ben well and hope his family and friends can help him to help himself deal with it. As with all addictions, no intervention will work until the gambler realizes/accepts that they have a problem.
The thing I find odd is at the beginning of the announcement about Ben playing Batman; there was an article somewhere saying how Jennifer and the kids were going to be spending the Summer with Ben while he filmed.
I guess that is not happening..
He has enough money that he could go to day treatment if he wanted to get help without the commitment of full rehab. I agree that the kids shouldn’t be around him, but I don’t understand her not flying up there to try to talk some sense into him. Maybe it’s gone on so long that she has just washed her hands of everything.
The rumor is Jennifer has tried to get through to him and has even gotten Matt Damon involved to try to help him but nothing is working. I hope he gets it together but he has a very self destructive personality.
Addicts are very selfish. Tired of hearing excuses for Ben. I think Ben is drinking again too. He looks rough. Jen cheated on Michael Vartan with Ben and got pregnant. This is the life Jen chose for herself . I feel sorry for their children. There is no genuine warmth or affection between Jen and Ben – does anyone wonder If this couple is a Hollywood business contract? The Ben – happy family man charade is shattered.
Looks like he’s in full relapse. I hope he finds a way to get the help he needs. And I hope Jennifer goes to Alanon.
Best of luck to them and the family should this be true. Addiction is no joke.
I’m going to go out on limb and say that I don’t think Ben ever really loved Jennifer Garner. That’s just my opinion, but he never looked as passionate for her as he did for Gwyneth or J.Lo. It might be partially because their relationship has been more low key but I remember seeing him papped pictures of him with those two where they were walking on the streets and he had these huge grins on his face and I haven’t seen that in his relationship with Jennifer Garner, despite all the times he’s gotten papped with his family. I just don’t think he really respects her and I don’t think he enjoys family life and so he’s reverting back to his old ways. This is all speculation on my end, though. I don’t want anyone jumping down my throat for it. I’m not really judging…it’s just sad.
Not so sure I agree. If you go see Red Devil, the chemistry is off the charts. I think he was feeling her just fine. BUT, he got a “good” girl who believes in the script. I don’t think he was prepared.
Do you mean Daredevil? They did have some lust chemistry but I know for some people after the lust fades there is nothing left. It just seems to me there hasn’t been anything there in some time.
Funny, I think Jen G is the one woman he truly does respect and therein lies the problem.
You could be right. Plus they started having kids almost immediately so there wasn’t as much time to be loved up. I just get the feeling the home life hasn’t been happy for some time. I do believe something had to trigger him to start acting this way again.
@Manjit, who wrote: “Funny, I think Jen G is the one woman he truly does respect and therein lies the problem.”
Well, I remember an interview with Kevin Smith (an old, old friend of both Ben and Matt Damon) at the time Ben and Jennifer got together. And Kevin said “Yeah, Ben called me up and said ‘I just got a blow job from Elektra.'” I thought it was a bit crass of Kevin Smith to say shite like that about his friend’s new squeeze, and a bit caddish of Ben Affleck to tell it. Interesting too that Ben said ‘Elektra’ … Kevin Smith might have been letting it slip that their relationship started during filming. “Daredevil” came out in 2003 when Jen was still married to Scott Foley. They divorced in early 2004. Ben and Jen got married in 2005.
@AryaMartell. I think Jen was pregnant when they got married.
I agree with you and have thought this myself. They seem mismatched and he just doesn’t seem as into her as she is into him.
He has obvious issues and this makes for a real tough family situation. I hope it will all work out for the kids sake.
I think Ben was very hot for her in that movie they did together. Then later when he was single he got her by heavily pursuing her and she dumped Michael Valtran for him. He slipped one time and said he fell in love with her on Daredevil. I think he was pushing for Jen Garner even at the end of his relationship with the other Jen while still together. She didn’t bite when he was newly single. She was with Michael. He dated some Boston girl for a little while but eventually got Jen. It was clear he wanted her and pursued her. I think Jen is pretty secure in how crazy he was about her. This many years later and kids, who knows, but he wanted a fourth child and she’s the one who said no. So wanting a fourth child with Jen, he sounds pretty invested.
@Jayna This is going to sound very jaded but I think Ben is the type that would do a lot of things if it was good for his image and I haven’t heard a lot about him wanting another baby with Jen G but it seems to me that he enjoys the publicity of being a dad and less actually being a father. He seems very hands off with his kids. Once again, this is just my opinion.
Agreed…his eyes always look very vacant with her. I think she seems rather dull if you ask me.
I see what you’re saying, but then again there’s a huge difference between the head rush of romance and being married with kids.
Sad. I’ve seen relatives whose lives were ruined because of gambling addiction.
My friend’s father was a gambler, and he destroyed the family financially and caused her childhood to be chaotic. To this day she takes anti-depressants because of her uncertain upbringing and all of the destruction. Her mom was a teacher but stayed.
I don’t believe Ben has gone off the rails at all. A lot of rag mags will now go with this story and fabricate more stories. But he probably should watch it so as not to cross the line.
Well back to rehab for him gain. Obviously he didn’t learn the first time, or it didn’t help him well. He will hve to hit rock bottom for him to go to rehab again, and I am sure he will hit it eventually.
Don’t believe it for a minute. This is the type of thing that happens in Hollywood – once you get labelled you never leave it. Ben was labelled as a gambler, etc. as noted above. Same as Angelina Jolie was labelled years ago. Same as Jennifer Aniston. None of them can shake it. Ben can marry and have children etc. but still the same press. Angelina can have children, do great work but still labelled the same, home wrecke,l wears blood around her neck etc. Jennifer is engaged but still the same press – sad over Brad, can’t get a man. It really is pathetic can’t the tabloid press ever think of anything new. Personally I am getting tired of the same stuff over and over. Can we all move on and get new stuff. Or is there no new stuff out there.
Here’s why I believe it: they have dates and times of him entering and exiting casinos. For someone with his past issues, you don’t go into a casino…you just don’t. Plus this is after he got kicked out of one. Something is going on. Usually Jennifer G is on him like white on rice and she hasn’t gone near him since his incident at the Hard Rock.
Jennifer and him are apart a lot. Basically when the girls are in school he or she stays home. She has never been on him like white rice as you say. And the tabloids always have dates. That is nothing new – it actually means nothing.
K….but he’s been spotted by several sources not just the tabloids of being in several casinos since getting kicked out of the Hard Rock. That would be indicative of a problem. My small understanding of Ben and Jen is that she always made an effort to be with him and to make family trips when he was shooting a movie. That’s what I meant to the white on rice. I mean hopefully she’s still making the trips and this is all conjecture. But something’s up.
When the rumors were rampant about Ben & Blake on the set of the Town, Jen took her family to Boston and stayed. There’s a pattern. Whenever Ben starts to stray or look like he’s starting to stray, she shows up in town to remind him of their family.
People are coming out of the woodwork with Affleck casino stories. And the fact that it was actually publicized that he was kicked out of a casino is a really bad sign – usually discretion is the name of the game with a high roller like Batfleck. Just look at him ever since Argo: he even looks terrible, and not in a ‘time off work way’ so much as a ‘bloated and hungover and up all night at the card table’
This is old news to anybody who follows the gambling circuit, why does everyone thing his appearance at casinos is a new thing? How do you think he got so good at card counting the casino banned him? He has spent many, many hours at the table and not just in the last five minutes. The only thing new is the tabloids are reporting it as “news” and probably making up the rest.
Sounds like they are ramping up a story for their split that will come soon. Too bad. Their girls are precious and it would be so great if they could grow up with their mom and dad in one home like a happy family. So many kids aren’t getting that chance lately 🙁 We shall see…. Jennifer seems like a strong woman—even though she married Affleck—
Dream on. No split is on the horizon.
For the past nine years, there have been stories of every other week about the demise of their marriage. Maybe it’s time for people to just accept that these two are in it for the long haul.
I don’t know. Most people here were caught off guard about Chris and Goop, wondering why they threw in the towel when they’d stuck it out so long. This seems like a pretty parallel situation. In both cases, if there’s serious turmoil, I feel for the kids.
Really? I thought most people weren’t surprised. I wasn’t. Ben and Jen just had a baby two years ago that he and she wanted, and he wanted a fourth but said it was up to her. She said laughed in an interview and agreed he wanted a fourth, but said three were just fine. That doesn’t sound like a couple on the brink of breaking up. Goop and Chris have sounded like a couple living separate lives for the last two years with her acting out for attention from other men, i.e., her stripper’s ass she bragged about, or to women reading her nonsense advice to us to validate herself.
Jayna, good point about the fourth baby. On the other hand I know of couples that thought a baby would be a good band aid and not surprisingly, more often than not, it wasn’t. Who knows.
Jyna: Yes, but that is all interviews and public speaking. Their brand is “happy little family”, those interviews were all pre- or post- Oscar. All those family “Ben with the kids” pap pics were pre-Oscar. When he got an Oscar, the paps were back to being enemies again.
What I’m trying to say: even friends sometimes lie about their home and love life: when asked “when is the next one coming?”, they might say “Oh, he wants it, but I don’t know”, when really they could be on the verge of the divorce.
I can’t believe people don’t remember when here, on CB one commenter stepped up and said she was a make-up artist of some actress on some event, Ben and the actress disappeared for half an hour, and then she was called to re-do her whole make-up. Basically, she really, really made the cheating stories very convincing. But then again, he is totally that type, IMHO.
IDK, they feel like a carefully calculated brand to me.
Always thought he was an egomaniac who did ok work. But this is sad 🙁 No matter what I think of him, he has an amazing career, a couple Academy awards, a beautiful family and wife who’s put up with a lot but still there. He needs help before he loses an awful, awful lot!
As an ex wife of a gambling addict and alcoholic (like Ben) I can say it doesn’t matter if “it’s not Women” A betrayal is still a betrayal. I gave my ex so many chances to redeem himself and found myself as the “long suffering wife” the kicker was in the end HE was the one who walked out. He tried to win me back but that was my last straw. I feel for Jen if this is true and I’m sure it is. You can only take so much and once the trust is gone it’s almost impossible to come back from that. As an aside you are correct that the vices go together. I could prove my exes lying, gambling and drinking behaviors and I suspected cheating as well but never got proof of that. I hope Ben realizes his mistakes before it’s too late.
Sorry you had that ordeal! You were too good for him, after all! You were very brave to give him many chances, you tried your best and that’s commendable.
That’s rough. I hope you’re better off these days.
No sympathy for this man. Or her, for that matter. Her choice to stay married to him. His choice to succumb to addiction. They’re both consenting adults.
Addiction isn’t a ‘choice’ it’s an accident of biology/circumstance, no one ‘chooses’ to become addicted. The nature of the illness is that ten people can gamble and one has a chance of becoming an addictive gambler. Nor is there any point is claiming they should never have gambled in the first place, the addict never knows or believes they will become addicted. The same is true of drugs, drink, sexual addictions. Gambling and drinking are normalised in Western Culture. Most people try drinking and gambling at some point in their lives, most people do not become alcoholics or compulsive gamblers.
Addiction is a disease, but just like with other diseases, people make choices about how they handle it. If you’re diabetic you can’t help that, but YOU are the one making the choice about taking your insulin and eating right. If you’re a gambler, you shouldn’t choose to go to Vegas for the weekend. So there are choices involved. He is making stupid ones..
Yeah, addicts don’t get a pass over getting the short end of the biology/circumstance stick. My alcoholic ex has been dry ever since six months after I left him due to an unfortunate tragedy. If the motivation is strong enough, addicts can change their behavior. Sometimes the price for sobriety is truly terrible.
Way to really dig in and think critically.
+1
If this is true (Star, so doubtful) then I find it really sad – he turned his life and career around so well and is very talented, but this does not sound like a healthy path to go down. Especially now that he’s a husband and father.
Jennifer can’t save him. I know she’s said in the past she never wanted to divorce, but allowing him to drag their family down, for her children to see him drowning in his addiction, isn’t good for them. Sometimes, you just have to choose to let someone go and hope they do better.
He’s moving the family there for the whole summer, so if she’s not seen this months, then I will believe something is up. I doubt it, though. Star is usually 90 percent wrong on famous celeb stories and recycles the same old stories. This role is huge for Ben because people are wanting him to fail as the next Batman. I just don’t believe he would head into this movie off the rails and not focused on this movie. He’s well aware it’s critical he pulls being Batman off and not become a joke. He’s been very focused or reviving his career for years and really built it back up from the ground floor and reinvented himself and is highly respected. I just don’t believe he’s heading into this movie not focused and instead a spirally off-the-rails gambler. Maybe if he didn’t have the movie he was in the thick of I would find it more believable. So if this is true during a shooting of an important movie for him, then that’s bad and his addictions have gotten hold again I hope not. He’s worked so hard at beating them.
Jennifer and the kids were actually in Detroit over the weekend. They stayed till Tuesday and went back to LA because i think Violet still has school. It was all over twitter and facebook. Locals took pics of them together at Holiday market and the Whole Food on Sunday.
Well, there you have it. So much for the truth of the article, that she won’t visit him. She was there with him, and it appears after her daughter is out of school they will move for the summer to Detroit. like she said they would in an interview.
There is something very bad happening here.
Gamblers can literally lose hundreds of millions of dollars in complete anonymity and with complete respect for their confidentiality. That he’s being outed means the are washing their hands of a very big problem quite publicly. That’s not a first step, it’s a final step.
Re it not being women – A very good friend of mine’s husband came out as a gambling addict over a year ago. (One year clean thank god). She said that when she found out she said to him that he had been cheating on her. It didn’t matter that a woman wasn’t involved. But he wasn’t putting her and their girls first. Observers don’t take gambling as seriously as alcohol or drugs because it’s not a substance but it causes as much pain in families. Can’t be easy for Jen.
It does have a huge toll on the family. Terrible addiction. He is so rich that for us is not noticeable, but a person can gamble away a life’s savings, a house, there are ways to dispose of an addict’s money and assets.
;y mother lived through that, and we as children could not comprehend very well wy there were men coming to get my dad (they were coming to invite him) and then those men came later to collect and pressure my dad to pay when he had been fooled while drinking. HE lost lots of money. My mom rally stood up too much for him.
I do not wish it on anyone.
I love Ben Affleck, I really do. He’s a smart and talented man.
But outside of that, he’s a complete LOSER. I have no idea why Jennifer Garner stays with him.
I can confirm the part about him looking like hell at Motor City Casino.
He looks awful!
People need to take responsibility for their actions. If Ben has a gambling problem and wanted to stop, he could. There are a ton of resources available for people who want help. My sympathy is with Jennifer & family not him.
I think Ben has been bored out of his mind in his marriage. I still remember when he said “marriage was work”..!
We all know that it takes work for a marriage to work but the way he said it and at an award’s ceremony made me think about the amount of stress he is probably under to continue with the facade of a “happy family”. I think Jennifer Garner has trapped him in a hole with no way out. She has cultivated,( very calculating I might add) …the image of the “Perfect MOM” , so as if he ever thought of screwing around on her , the “whole world” would turn against him. She has the goody two shoes image so as everyone can say , how much Better he is now with this Jennifer than with JLO. When he was on Saturday Night live after the Oscars she made an appearance, ( damage control) because of what he said about marriage. She has him by the “ba>>s” and he is sinking. When he said he fell inlove with her during the filming of Daredevil ( also i am sure on her request) I knew she was behind that comment. He had met her before when they worked in Pearl Harbor and I never heard anything about any chemistry between them. He married her because she was pregnant. They’ve made the best of things but no one can tell me that deep in his heart , the only woman he has really loved is JLO. He got sick after he heard she married Marc Anthony. And I can’t help thinking that ever since JLO ssaid in that hilarious interview that she would let him and Diddy drown.. his ego was bruised.lol.
Trapped him in a hole??? With no way out?? Very calculating? Excuse me but this isn’t about how you seem to think, erroneously, that she’s some kind of monster. Affleck has a gambling addiction. Has had alcohol addiction issues and may still have. With a seemingly supportive wife and 3 gorgeous kids, he’s the bad guy here, not her. In fact if he were my husband I’d insist he go to rehab and if that didn’t work I’d think seriously about splitting up.
Don’t make Garner the scapegoat for his self-destructive behavior. Lest we forget he did this with Jennifer Lopez as well and she kicked his a$$ to the curb.
How do you know that laela’s comment is erroneous?
Why isn’t it possible for both situations to be true: that Affleck is a man with addictions/demons, and J. Garner is calculating and used pregnancy to snag an A-list husband?
As much as Garner’s fans in the Mini-van Majority love to defend her, she has a documented history of both trading up in her relationships and relationship overlap (aka cheating), that culminated with her marriage to Ben. It was a shot-gun wedding, that wasn’t attended or witnessed by any of his family/friends, just officiated by her friend Victor Garber (strange that a man who’s allegedly “in love” didn’t want his best friend, his mom, or his brother at his wedding to the future mother of his child). Ben is often photographed with Jen looking bored out of his mind or just miserable, and often says non-complimentary things about their relationship/marriage in interviews (and at the Oscars). Through it all, Garner’s given credit for turning his life around when all she appears to do is parade their children in front of the paparazzi (without any of the nannies she employs visible to the photographers to perpetuate her image as Super-mom) while simultaneously complaining about her privacy. SMDH.
While it is true that Ben is responsible for managing his addictions (or his failure to do so), it is also possible that being in an unhappy marriage (especially to a social climbing attention whore) is stressful enough to push someone off the wagon.
Then again, it’s possible that neither is the “bad guy”, and they are two people in a mess.
Or maybe they’re both the “bad guy”.
I just take exception to you insisting that someone else’s theory is “erroneous”, and then presenting speculation of your own.
Ben backed out of the marriage to Jennifer only days or a week before. Reeling from the humiliation, it didn’t take her all that long to marry the first guy available as soon as he could get divorced and wasn’t happy with him after a while but stayed enough years so she wouldn’t look like a flake.
Can we please stop with this ‘mini van majority’ nonsense? Just because someone holds a different opinion doesn’t mean they deserve to be stereotyped. It’s bad enough when the squawking know-it-all from the north does it. She thinks she’s so darn clever with her little tags designed to demean and dismiss.
I’m sure they have their faults and flaws, but I like Garner’s personality and I’ve found Affleck appealing when cleaned up and at the top of his game (I remember seeing him on Bill Maher’s show and being pleasantly surprised by how articulate and witty he was).
I’m more inclined to believe this story because of dates and times (maybe they accessed a security camera via casino employees) along with Affleck’s history of gambling problems, but the Star and other tabs have lousy track records as well (not to mention an incentive to make stuff up.)
It makes sense that his family would join him after the kids school let’s out for summer, but now when they show up the story is probably going to be “Jen rushes to Ben’ side!”
I can’t come down hard on Jen Garner too hard. He didn’t HAVE to marry her you know? I do think she clawed her way up the A-list but her career has sank since being with him. Getting divorced would do wonders for career because she would be seen as wronged but if Charlie Sheen can still have a semblance of a career it would not have too many consequences for Ben. A year out of the spotlight, direct a movie and he’d be back.
All I can say is, I’ve been married sixteen years and anybody who doesn’t think a marriage takes work is a fool. What he said was not artful or considerate of his wife’s feelings but marriages take effort to be successful. I’m not talking about nagging or money, I’m speaking of the long term relationship with another human being. A wedding is a beginning, not an ending, and people change throughout their lives, staying together is not simple or automatic, no matter how good anybody looks on paper. Add the complications of parenthood and it is a challenging mission to stay in a committed relationship. Take it seriously or avoid it but please don’t minimize the achievement.
You can’t smoke inside any building open to the public in Canada so that detail casts some doubt on the story.
Actually, in BC and I suspect other provinces, casinos are the only public space exempt from the no-smoking rule. Casinos are exempt because they proved a connection between smokers and gamblers and if they go outside they are likely to leave. So they’ve been allowed exemptions.
Ontario that is 10 mins from detroit not in canada
Ontario is in a province in Canada. You can take either the tunnel or bridge in Detroit and be in Windsor, Ontario, Canada in about fifteen minutes, give it take, depending on border traffic.
You cannot smoke in Caesars Windsor. It’s a totally smokeless casino. You can, however smoke your lungs out in the Detroit casinos.
Wow, I can’t believe there are still many here talking about J-Lo!
I think this is a dude that is addicted to a “rush”. He loved being hot for JLO, Jen G (in the start) or Blake! Now that he is a family man and the Oscars are over he needs a new “rush”. So rather than doing new women or drugs (which he can’t) he gambles.
Ben used to like keeping himself in shape but maybe the bad back has robbed him of having exercise as an outlet. Dude should just throw himself into making another movie.
You do know he’s been working out with trainers for months for his new role which requires him to be in shape and that he’s now in Detroit as we speak making Batman ? I guess not.
In that case the reports about his bad back must be grossly exaggerated. I was also thinking more along the lines of him directing another movie. I can’t imagine he’d find acting in schlock like Batman terribly fulfilling.
A friend told me that a her lawyer told her that when a man misbehaves and gives wife a hard time is trying to tell the wife that he wants out of marriage and probably in love with somebody else. Men are not brave to tell their wives that they want divorce so instead they misbehave and have affairs as an excuse to be divorced. They don’t have the courage to tell the wives that they want out . They want the wives to do the divorcing so that they would not look bad to friends and relatives when they ask him why they are divorced.
I feel sorry for Jen G. I guess Ben feels that he is secure in his movie status to go astray. Unlike before if you know what I am talking about.
I had a boyfriend like that — didn’t have the stones to do the actual breaking up, so he just acted douchier and douchier until I was fed up enough to be the “bad guy.” Ugh.
My view is that if you can’t be in a relationship with someone you respect you’re better off staying single.
No, this isn’t a smokescreen to get out of his marriage-look at him; it’s like he’s strung out on drugs, but it’s gambling. I was going to agree with Naomi on #38, but I landed here (bad eyesight), so…
Gambling addiction isn’t novel at all; think of all the posh Brits back in the Regency days who lost family fortunes just playing cards (and drinking, and not using their best judgment)!
I know that getting caught counting cards anywhere in Vegas
potentially means the entire Vegas strip is off limits to Ben. But, he can still gamble near Detroit (and, soon, IN Detroit, just another attempt to save the city-my family is from there) or at Native American reservations or…..the list of potential gambling locations goes on and on.
This cycle sounds very much like alcoholism-he can kick it for awhile, but whenever he gets boxed in-e.g. by the Argo allegations or by the Batman casting (!)-he falls off the wagon. His family doesn’t sound like the cause at all; nevertheless, Jen can’t make him stop, he has to do it himself. Once he takes the initiative, I have no idea how gambling addictions are treated-probably via the AA model.
I believe he has had gambling issues for years. I also feel that the stress of the last few years has gotten to him. When Argo was so highly touted and talked about and then criticized for stating things that never happened as facts is when the cracks began to appear publicly to my eye. It seemed as if Jennifer seemed extra vigilant. I believe all the negative attention regarding his casting as Batman broke him. I believe he is feeling the pressure and has relapsed. As for his time with JLo I think the constant public attention overcame the lust factor. He only seems engaged when he is selling his films but he never looks comfortable in his everyday life. I think he loves his family but agree that the reality of marriage and raising a family versus his urge to gamble and hang out are a serious ongoing battle for him. Filming in Detroit was always going to be an issue so far from his family and so close to his gambling demons.
I am sad for his family if he is having all these addiction problems, however as long as I have been coming to Celebitchy I remember seeing photos of B & Jlo being happy vs. him alone w/ J… and happy and flirty again in photos with Lively? But, they are just photos.
I don’t think he belongs with JLo – especially not now, years later – although I have absolutely nothing against her. I also agree that his problems are his own – you can’t place blame on anyone else (like Jen Garner.) All that being said, I believe that she has seemed like somewhat of a codependent all these years. I think her role seems to be the ‘straight man’ – keeping him in line, balanced, etc. Do I think that’s probably good for Ben? Yes, very likely so. But it doesn’t change the fact that they met, she got pregnant quickly and they got married, and it has just always seemed like he never fully had two feet in the marriage – one always seemed to be sticking just a bit out the door. I say it all the time, but I think he needed a “Jen Garner-type” at the time when they got together, but I have never, ever seen their chemistry together – not even in the beginning. But who am I? Just saying – I’ve always thought they were an extremely odd match.
Agree, and there’s no chemistry between him and Jen. As someone said earlier, the girl from WVA clawed her way up the star ladder and, yes, she hooked him with a baby and thought she could keep him happy and devoted with more babies. But, he’s not happy and I think she’s bitten off more than she can chew. It’s probably not going to end well and I feel sad for the kids that their dad can’t get emotionally invested in his family. On top of all that, he’s a smart guy, knows his sh*t in the world of politics but he’s throwing away his talents for being an advocate for social change, and creative film writing and directing by succumbing to some treatable vices.
Well, I think they’ve got great chemistry. It will end well. So there. All we’ve got is our opinions, and who’s to say yours are right and mine are wrong. We don’t know these people at all. Please don’t pretend you do. But It is a bit irritating to hear Olenna say “he’s not happy”. Who the ***k are you to say that? Also, I haven’t seen him “throw away this talents” at ALL. He just won a fricken’ ACADEMY AWARD! Is that throwing away your talents? He’s also gonna be in a HUGE David Finch movie in a couple of months. Is that throwing away your talent? Think before you spew.