Do you remember how E! and People had details of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s Valentine’s Day weekend in Montana? I’m sure you were on the edge of your seat. Well after that story came out we saw Affleck in Toronto at the NBA All Star game promoting Batman v. Superman with Henry Cavill – on Valentine’s Day. It seemed like a crimp in the narrative, like why were they pushing that “family time” angle so hard when Affleck is off doing promotion anyway?
Page Six, which has had many insider stories on The Afflecks (like just about every other major outlet) had an exclusive on Garner and Affleck’s getaway with their kids. Apparently they didn’t bring a nanny with them and were spotted out at the bar at their exclusive resort on Monday night drinking and eating nachos with Tom Brady and Gisele. (Affleck supposedly did not drink and Gisele is said to have eaten nachos.)
The Post probably got that story straight from the Garner-Afflecks because the “no nanny” detail was prominent. Remember how Affleck cheated with the nanny during that family vacation in the Bahamas? This story also reveals that everything is fine between the two couples. Gisele and Tom were said to have hit a rough patch after the photo came out of the nanny, Christine Ouzounian, posing with Brady’s Superbowl rings while she was on a private jet with Brady and Affleck. I guess the fact that they’re all hanging out means that all is forgiven.
And after all those stories about the happy state of Ben and Jen’s conscious uncoupling, Jennifer Garner is covering People Magazine. What is she promoting exactly? Is it that awful Miracles from Heaven movie or is Garner somehow part of the Batman v. Superman promotion? Like “Ben cheated but his estranged wife is fine”? Is this meant to prepare us for a divorce filing? I shouldn’t question it so much, People had a Duggar cousin on the cover a couple of weeks ago. Their report makes it sound like Ben moved out of the guesthouse:
The actress, who just left to spend a week in the mountains of Montana with Ben Affleck, their three children and a group of friends, is still putting her children first but she’s now ready to move on from her 10-year marriage to the actor. “She seems much more relaxed and is enjoying life,” a family source tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “It’s great to see her happy again.”
Though the actor initially lived in the guesthouse on the family’s L.A. estate for the sake of their kids, Violet, 11, Seraphina, 9, and Samuel, 3, the situation was stressful for both Garner and Affleck. “The kids love when Ben is home and that’s why Jen let him stay at the family house,” says another insider. “She never wanted them to be disappointed that Ben wasn’t there. But it was emotionally draining for her.”
As for Affleck, “he’s putting on a united front of respect for the children and for her and for each other,” says a source close to both. “On that, Ben has never wavered..
“You can tell that they are not together,” says an observer of Garner and Affleck. “The kids usually tell him long stories about what happened in school or upcoming activities.”
Though their time together has prompted reports of a possible reconciliation, the exes are not calling off their divorce, say multiple sources. “They’re not [best] friends, but they share in the joy of their children,” says an industry source.
From school parties to pizza nights, the two have will continue to make an effort to maintain a sense of normalcy for their kids. “They are doing it their own way,” adds the source close to them. “And that way works for them right now.”
As I’ve said before, it’s probably much more peaceful for the kids this way rather than having their parents openly arguing and badmouthing each other. Still, their children know what’s going on. Kids can tell.
Affleck is doing heavy promotion for Batman v. Superman and I get the sense that this is the studio’s attempt to explain their star’s messy personal life. Cavill is dating a teenage coed and Affleck is a well documented cheater and gambler. Their PR team is probably running scared.
Affleck and Cavill had an interview which aired on Good Morning America yesterday. Affleck revealed that he’d asked former Batmen George Clooney and Christian Bale for advice on the role and that Clooney said something he couldn’t repeat and Bale just told him to get a zipper in the Batsuit. He also said that he found Cavill’s physique in the first movie intimidating and didn’t know if he would “be able to be quite in that good of shape,” but that he “put on about 20 pounds of muscle [for the role] which was really hard to do.” So that’s all muscle? You can watch the video on People’s site. Only Affleck’s mouth moves. The rest of his face is so very tight.
photo credit: FameFlynet and WENN.com
Garner uses the Huvane brothers, right?
She must, that would explain a lot.
I’m trying to figure out if the strategy is to have us feel sorry for her or “inspired”? Either way does it really help her career? She’s a medium actress at best and hasn’t had an interesting role in years and cultivated a very dull public persona. Nothing wrong with choosing to raise a family (that’s lovely in fact) but time marches on.
Maybe she could do a light family sitcom to appeal to the Minivan?
I think the stupid Jesus movie she’s in supposed to be her attempt to appeal to the minivan.
I hope. I hope that explains her willingness to appear in that film feces.
She’s been papped at church fairly frequently, so my assumption was that she’s a Christian herself and that was why she made it? Maybe naive, but it is hardly a career improving move.
Not Huvane. It is Meridith O’ Sullivan. She is one of the best in Hollywood land.
Halle Berry’s publicist! Yes that still explains a lot.
Yes Mia, it does. They both work out the same handbook because to me this had Huvane written all over it.
It seems like they both are putting the children first in this divorce, which I imagine was no easy feat for a while because of nannygate and just the pain of a split. So kudos to them.
That is a gorgeous photo of Jen on the cover. Although, she had bangs, so it’s not a new photo they used.
Regarding her movie, I was surprised to read in Variety back when the trailer came out that it had more views than any faith-based movie ever had. Variety said Sony was claiming 132 million views of the trailer across all social media platforms.
And that Jennifer Garner is savvy. While many people going through a divorce or loss return back to their roots and attend church looking for healing, she managed to also make sure she was photographed often on Sundays heading to church. That was a very savvy PR move for when this movie comes out.
just get divorced already. jeez, these people drag everything out.
YEAH, RIGHT. She will cling to him for as long as humanly possible. SHE will not file for divorce, he will have to do it. She is obsessed with him and has been since they met. She cheated on a husband and a boyfriend with him. If he hadn’t publicly humiliated her, they would not be separated at all. She would put up with anything except public humiliation.
So is he living at home or not? The article isn’t clear.
@Lila fowler…I totally agree 100%.
I agree! Jen gives doormats a bad name.
Love your name, SVH is such a guilty pleasure of mine. I’ve been reading them since I was 10 and I’m now 30 lol
Sheesh, what’s the big deal about the nanny – and I’m not referring the one he carried on with. Obviously they had a caregiver of some sort with them because the article makes reference to them hitting the bar. Did the kids come to the bar with them?
Look for Garner to totally pull out of the marriage after the first week of Batman v Superman’s release.
If she does I will LAUGH and then give her a virtual high five.
Oh, these two.
Believe it when I see it
This woman will never get over Ben Affleck and Ben shall never truly love her.
I could be wrong, but I wonder if Garner is trying to quash the rumors that they’re getting back together because if it were me and I really was going through with divorce, I would want people to know I am in no way taking him back which would be accepting of his continued behavior. I don’t know why she’s doing this, but I’m glad because I thought she was wavering on her decision. Good to know she’s standing firm and I back her 100%.
RE “As for Affleck, “he’s putting on a united front of respect for the children and for her and for each other,” says a source close to both. “On that, Ben has never wavered.. Um….is it respectful to boink your kids’ nanny while on vacation with your wife. Oh!!!! you mean now that they’re divorcing, he’s being respectful? Okay. Got it.
Also, in what world would Affleck ever have a body like Caville? No amount of gym time, diet, or training could ever make that happen. Nice try though moobs.
Okay I’m an Affleck apologist, but I think he looks great in the video! And he moves his eyebrows up in his first comment and there are several lines on his forehead.
And I think Jennifer is on the cover to promote Jennifer.
I feel like she’s not gonna take it well when he eventually moves on.
And I wonder what gisele and Jen talk about…
Yeah, I also think this is studio-driven. PR-friendly BA news. But it also would not surprise me if she moved on pretty quickly a la Liberty Ross. She does not seem like the type of gal who likes to spend much time uncoupled.
She has 4 films scheduled to come out this yea per IMDB.. Two of those sound interesting, Wakefield and The Tribes of PV.
She needs a new agent and a new stylist if she wants to up her game.
What a weird evening that must have been! It’s one thing to have a family meal, or be together for holidays but to go out on a “couples night” when you’re not together?? Bizarre.
I agree with Lila Fowler and others. I don’t think Jen has moved on. I will believe it when I see the divorce filing. That’s all I can say. She has literally idolized Ben since day one – you can see it in that Dinner for Five video, and there were reports she used to call Ben right in front of Scott Foley before they divorced, which drove him crazy. I absolutely 100% understand “staying civil” for the kids, but come on, that is not the same as going on repeated couple-y vacations with other married couples and going out drinking with them, etc. Does anyone really believe this – that Jennifer has somehow after 10+ years of complete and utter infatuation with this man, all of a sudden has gone from that to being completely ok with spending all of this time together with “as friends” – and in situations that essentially still position them as a “unit”, a “family”, a “couple” even? Um ok. Yeah, no. Part of me very much thinks this is their way of “trying” to keep the heat off of their relationship while they continue to work through it. And so far, their arrangement has kept them together on the same property, talking and doing things together all the time. That’s not really moving on. Moving on is when they truly live independent lives and start to have new relationships, etc, I just cannot see her being ok with this. We will see, I guess.
I co-sign almost every word of this comment — I would only quibble with the idea that he is putting in effort to work through it. It’s probably more likely that they’re in a “you file first” stalemate, and/or that he just doesn’t care that much. But absolutely she is and always has been obsessed with him. She cheated on two different guys with him!! Which for some reason always gets swept under the rug in favor of demonizing him for being a ho, but everyone should just open their eyes already and see that she knew what she was getting into, she bought her ticket and she doesn’t REALLY want it pried from her tight little hands; she would be content to live in this pig sty with him forever, and I bet she loses it when he finally moves on officially.
Agreed. And let’s get real. If one of them asked you out at this point, would you say yes? I know everyone ooos and ahhhs over this conscious uncoupling but it looks like they’re not uncoupling at all. Be civil, and friendly if you can, for your kids but you also need to establish for your kids and yourself that you are NOT a couple. It just seems like painfully dragging out the inevitable.
Lilaflowers is correct.
She’s still in love with him, always nakedly adored him. The divorce is not what she wants but ‘has to do’.
See Prince Andrew and Fergie for similar story (only it was Andrew still clinging on after his wife so publicly cheatd on him).
Zzzzzzz …
GISELE ATE NACHOS! Bahahahaha! I didn’t know you could make quinoa nachos!
I thought that was the most interesting part of the story on Page Six. Not that I believe it for a minute!
+1
People is releasing their story in pieces. It just published a new one that focuses on how Jen probably won’t date anyone else for a long time, and Ben isn’t dating anyone either. And how they still haven’t filed and it likely will be a long time before they do. What is the point of all of these non-stories? Feels like they’re just trying to be sure no one gets the wrong idea about all of the time they spend together and we’re being prepped for the eventual story that goes something like, “through all of this time apart but still united as a family, they’ve come to a new understanding and appreciation of each other and have decided to stay together.” Still believe Jen is in it for the long game.
Her job for the next two months is to make Ben look like the furthest thing from a jerk. Because he has a zillion dollar movie to open to get the entire DC universe off the ground. This is no time for a messy personal life. I hope it’s all worth it to her when he ends up with some 20-year-old yoga instructor.
This, absolutely this, imo.
“he’s putting on a united front of respect for the children and for her and for each other,” …. so is cheating publicly with your kids’ nanny respectful?