Ever since US Magazine got bought out by American Media, which also owns The National Enquirer and Radar, they’ve gone from second tier People Magazine to tabloid. While I have no doubt that US used to get stories straight from Jennifer Garner’s people, they’re resorting to misleading tactics to move magazines lately. (I don’t blame them for that, print publishing has to be a struggle.) So take this story for what it is – a misleading bait and switch cover. Their article online doesn’t support the impression the cover gives, it just reiterates the history we’ve heard so many times – they tried over and over again but it didn’t work. There is some new information here though, particularly the claim that Garner has been dating. I’m not so sure about that, the few times she’s been photographed out with men they’ve looked like business associates. She doesn’t sound ready to date but that would be great gossip – better than the staleness US is serving.
After Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck announced their separation in 2015, the couple went through a heartbreaking period of nearly two years where the actress tried to save their marriage.
“She put her heart and soul into fixing the relationship and wanted so desperately to turn things around for the children’s sake as well as theirs,” says a pal. “She forgave him for so much, and still he couldn’t change…”
Since the April 2017 divorce filing, “he’s begged her to come back several times, but she has no interest,” says the insider.
Yes, even though the Batman v. Superman actor, 45, has officially moved on to Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus, he had at one point been telling friends he wanted his ex back. (A source close to the couple denies Affleck is “looking back,” insisting, “When they filed and decided they were moving on, that was it.”)
Ultimately, Garner was reminded of the struggles her ex would always have. The source close to the duo notes, however, “there were a number of reasons” their relationship failed. And Affleck “is continuing to work on himself and stay healthy…”
Now, Affleck has been with Shookus, 37, for nearly a year. “He loves and adores her,” says a source. “This is a relationship he takes seriously…”
Recently, Garner has begun going on few quiet L.A. dates with new men — including one Affleck look-alike, says a source. “Jen is ready to go with her feelings and give love another try,” explains the pal.
And while it’s “no exaggeration to say that Ben broke her heart and left her in a terrible place emotionally,” adds the pal, “it’s been almost three years since they called it quits. It’s time for her to move on.”
I really hope US is taking old quotes and re-framing them because if Garner and Affleck’s PR people participated in this it’s embarrassing. The crux of the story rings true to what we’ve heard to date. While I have no doubt that Affleck would go back to Garner in a heartbeat, I think she finally put her foot down and was done with him. She put up with so much for so many years. Also, I bet that Affleck has one to two other women on the side along with Lindsay. He’s too much of a needy a-hole to have just one girlfriend on the other side of the country whom he sees every couple of weeks. Lindsay is his main girlfriend, but there are probably other hookups of convenience. Garner is well rid of him, but she must know she gets more publicity when its framed around her relationship with Affleck, as dead as it hopefully is.
Photos are from 3-5 and 3-7. Credit: Backgrid
I’m dead at “how real love saved Taylor”. Old Taylor is alive and well I see.
Her entire album is about this. “Everyone hates me but thats ok because the cutest boy in home room saved me”.
The pics of those two…he looks about 12. And they look like siblings.
You’re right!
I’ve also wondered about this bicoastal relationship. It works for some of course but I’m doubting that Ben Affleck with all his West Coast options is rubbing it out until he can visit Shookus in NYC.
Did you notice the ‘they’ve been dating for a year now’ line? Three years and counting, right Ben?
Weeeell, is it dating when you’re cheating? So, plausible, as the Mythbusters used to say?
I really really dislike these two. People divorce and move on but these two are unbearable.
Yeah people seem to be really sick of them these days. Story fatigue. I’m with you.
@Rumi
Their children must be so confused. Their Mother refuses to let go of their Dad, even though Dad has a new girlfriend. Really sad for the kids. I hope they are in therapy, and that includes Garner.
off-topic, but their son looks exactly like matt damon.
He really does. Every time I see pics of him with the Affleck daughters I’m always like “one of these things does not look like the others”. LOL.
LOL, I was thinking the same thing.
Really? I never noticed. Oh my. Really? Maybe it is just genetics???
I thought the same. Maybe Jen and Matt do get along. 😉
He looks a lot like Jennifer though. Lips and nose for example.
Which means that Jennifer and Matt look alike which explains a lot.
Aren’t Matt and Ben cousins of some sort? Like, DISTANT cousins, or something, certainly not first cousins, but I think I read somewhere that they they didn’t just grow up close friends, they are actually somewhat distantly related. (Though I could be wrong about that, and I’m afraid I’m simply too lazy to check :D)
I disagree. I still think she would take him back in a heartbeat. She totes would. She’s just as needy and clingy as he is. On the other hand I get the impression that Ms. S is a cool girl who’s above it all – which is probably why Batfleck was drawn to her. He’s emotionally immature.
agree
I came to say the same, I think the reverse is true. This is my opinion, based on nothing but intuition and observation: I think Ben was the one who fell out of love with her a long time ago and was too cowardly to end it himself so instead just cheated and was a sh***y partner. But it backfired when she forgave him and wanted to fix it time and again. Made it harder for him to walk away–ego and image and just not being able to face that you’re not happy with this person, despite their goodness. I think she’s crazy in love with him to the point it makes her overlook everything; she’s just desperate to keep him. In the end you can’t keep someone who doesn’t want to stay, so either he told her how it was or she let him go with her last sliver of pride. I still think she’d take him back.
I think she would, too.
ITA. There are many times when most women would have been “done” with him, totally disgusted, etc: the nanny humiliation, the lengthy affair w Shookus, taking LS public, the continued drinking, etc. Yet, she’s never fully distanced herself from him and it isn’t just “for the kids.” You can co-parent and not spend every waking moment with someone, as she seems to want to do. Also making sure that he has somewhere to spend the holidays because she says she loves him. She doesn’t hate him despite the many public humiliations. She keeps accommodating him– there are still big feelings there. She hasn’t moved on, prob never will. She will in vain hope that he’ll permanently change and decide that he likes her best. Also I think that she likes the fame that came with being a power couple and would resurrect that in a heartbeat if she could. She’s 46 and decent roles (when you aren’t known for being a strong actor) are harder and harder to come by. Slinging the wares on IG is a hard way to make a living. She’s grasping rn.
I disagree with half of this theory. She probably would take him back if he cleaned up his act but I dont think he wanted out. Not in the real meaning of it anyway. He is self sabotaging kid who pushed boundaries to test her constantly but never thought what divorce would really mean. Think about how long it took for him to even move out. And then how long to move out of her neighborhood. And the constant tagging along to Church and the market. The spending major holidays with her even when he has a girlfriend. This is not just normal co-parenting stuff.
And theres the fact that theres still no divorce despite him having come out with a girlfriend which is actually bad for his PR. I bet you Shookus had to push him to even file. A clean break from Jen and pap walks with the kids would be ideal PR and yet three years later, he isnt doing it. I think she is his stability. He resents it but craves it at the same time.
@krill Ben has always gotten his way when it comes to Jen. (Still does.) He screws up, she covers up for him, forgives, forgets. After the nanny and Shookus, Jen was the wronged party but never threw him out. Yeah, he moved into the guest house but he shouldn’t have been allowed to even do that. Why did she let him live there for 2+ years? He has always had a hold on her. He snaps his fingers, she puts all else on hold to attend to his needs. (Still does.) He uses her for PR and image control but has never respected her enough to stay sober and faithful. It’s not a love story, it’s toxicity and codependency. And as far as I can tell, nothing has really changed.
Yeah I’ve thought the same since they had the first brunch meeting with her family and friends because she got pregnant.
I’ve always wondered about her parents, what they’re like, what her upbringing was like.
Her PR value has faded since he premiered at girlfriend. The value is in being photographed as a loving dad. Being unable to finalise a divorce a year after filing it and three years after announcing a seperation while being photographed with your ex one week and with your new gf the next is the definition of bad PR. Why? Because observers are constantly being reminded of the Garner and by extension all his flaws. He will not conclude that divorce unless his hand is forced.
He has no interest in cutting the apron strings because she keeps him sane.
Fake news. They’re done.
I really think Jen’s actions are mostly about the kids (80% kids, 20% image management). She will not directly disparage him in public, regardless how much time has passed.
And he’s going along with it, because why not?
He’s moved on. I believe he’d go back to her, but I also think he knows that will never happen.
She has also moved on, but I think she’s too weary to date, and that’s her prerogative.
I do admire them for protecting their kids as much as they can. Must be really hard.
Funny, I despise them for exploiting their kids on pap walks as much as they can.
Ben also seems to be in a state of perpetual disparagement since they won’t legally conclude their relationship and move on. She’s made a career and a virtue out of being a public doormat.
True story: I had a dream about Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner last night. I woke up and the first thing I thought of was commenting about it on Celebitchy!
It wasn’t an exciting dream. In fact, maybe more a nightmare? I dreamt I was married to Matt Damon and we saw Jen & Ben walking together and they all hadn’t seen each other in awhile and I told Matt to go hang out with his buddy but I was also trying to stitch up a rip in his shirt and he was fidgeting like a kid wanting to play out so I unthread the needle and fix his collar and tell him to go play and have fun.
I woke up and thanked God my husband was still really my husband and not Matt Damon. In my dream/nightmare, Ben & Jen were back together though.
that’s funny! wonder what it meant? too much time on gossip websites lollll.
Oh, these two!
This is kinda OT but I’m fascinated by the fact that Garner doesn’t have a purse with her in any of these pictures. I know there are plenty of women who don’t carry them, but pretty much every mom I know is carrying around some giant bag full of tissues and snacks and whatever else their little ones may need on the fly.
What’s her secret? Is there a nanny out of frame? Does she just leave her purse in the car?
But don’t don’t carry your bag when you go for family photos do you? Hmm…….
I have 5 kids. I NEVER carry/carried a purse. EVER. Back pocket girl for life.
Well compared to the Tori Spelling drama this family seems to put the priority on the children but these long divorces ( and Brad and AJ ) just seem crazy does it take 2 years to divorce? It would seem so painful to go through it, don’t most people want it over fast to avoid further damage? I can’t even imagine the lawyer fees .
I don’t get it either. They’re done, finish it and move on.
It takes a minimum of six months in CA from when you file and longer if there are kids involved.
That mandatory 6-month waiting period expired back in October.
Bollocks!!
I don’t know. I think BA might miss the PR and goodwill, but I don’t think he misses marriage one bit. I really do think she was more invested until he became so awful so bold that she was forced to end it. I believe she built a dream of Ben in her head and thought she could drag him there but he wasn’t interested. I think once she would have given it another go, but after some time she has moved on and isn’t looking back.
I bet she used to wake up with a pit of anxiety in her stomach and then realized one morning it was gone and knew she could never go back to feeling like that. Day by day life felt better and better. Perhaps finally she realized she can still live in luxury without a booze soaked bloated jerk who always smells like he’s been having sloppy sex with some randoms dragging her down.
BA is too selfish to want her for real, and he is totally one to get bored with the same woman no matter how fabulous and perfect she may be. I think he charms and builds them up and then once he feels the call of his baser indulgent self he finds a new Felicia, Becky or Jan. But keeps one for stability and to clean him up but also so he can suck the life and love out of her soul like a vampire.
I think she dates but not publicly because it would be off brand. Mommy’s don’t date. Surely we all know that.
Agree with everything you said … Although I have to admit, I’m not 100% convinced she wouldn’t take him back, but only if she thought he was completely genuine and committed, but that’s always been the problem. IMO, he’s never been fully committed, and it seems she finally realized that and the fact that she’d have to live like this forever. I don’t believe for a second they split because of sobriety alone. I think she would have stayed if it was purely an issue of continuing to help him through his addictions. I think the thing that finally made her give up was his affair with Lindsay. And if Affleck ever did want back in, which I highly doubt,, I believe it would be for all the wrong reasons – not because he realized he’s so in love with Garner after 10+ years of straying, but because of all of the media backlash, tarnished image, etc. If they reconciled, they’d be right back in this position once Affleck got comfortable again.
Agree, but I do add that I think the convenience of having access to the kids at home on an “as he feels like it” basis is another motivation for his wanting to come home. It’s more work to schedule time and activities with the kids on his own, rather than going along with whatever Jen has set up. Getting back with her just makes his life more convenient. Then, he can go back to being single when he feels like it, but having the convenience of being part of the “family” when he feels like it. Win Win for Ben.
IDK JoJo. The marriage failed due to actions by both Jen and Ben. What has Jen really learned and how has she really changed? Ignore the carefully curated IG and organized pap strolls. She’s still bending over backwards for Ben. His drinking is his problem that he has to solve on his own but she was spending all her time with him at his rehab facility back in Sept, propping him up? Does that sound like someone who has turned a corner?
@missy
The only and I mean the ONLY reason I believe she has moved on is that she is in therapy and I don’t believe she would take the hit to her image. I think even the Aww Poor Jen crowd will have had it with her. His metoo moments and Lindsay pap strolls are a bridge too far.
I have always believed she is invested for real in her children even though the pap strolling is nearly pathological.
Someone needs to tell her to stop the family pap strolls and move on though. It is tiresome. I didn’t like it then, and I dislike it even more now. She needs some fresh gossip related to her and not him or the family Affleck.
Also, her kids are older now and aren’t easily fooled anymore. The little boy seems to think Ben is just some big burly guy hanging out. He doesn’t seem to interact with him much. Which is why I believe they were estranged well before he bolted.
@missy – I agree with you, that’s why I said I’m not fully convinced she wouldn’t go back to him if he really wanted to (but I don’t think he does – if there’s any attempt on his part, I think it’s a combination of PR and convenience.)
But Garner did work overtime during their marriage to present an image of the picture-perfect, down to earth family and to cover up Ben’s issues/infidelities, so I do think that his coming out with Lindsay might be the one thing that would hold her back at this point because she’s been publicly humiliated. As for his #metoo moments, I’m not sure those would be an obstacle for Jen – he had already done both the interview with the French reporter and touched Hilarie on camera well before they got married, and she still went ahead with it.
@learning the system He appears to do this anyway – does the school run with Jen, meets them at church. You don’t really see him with them by himself. Maybe, sadly, he may not be able to be with them on his own. Hope he gets better and can be the dad they deserve.
He did take Sera for lunch the other day by himself, it appears.
But to @LTS’s point, I would agree with that too. I suspect convenience is another aspect – it was a lot easier for him to be “part of the family” when he lived in the family home and could just tag along with whatever Jen had planned. Now he has to work to make things happen, or even just to show up on his own. So, a huge shift for him.
Sam and the Nanny were there too that day, he did not take Sera to lunch on his own although most of the photos look that way even when they were crossing the street from the school pick up Sam and the Nanny were there. There are pics on one of the sites, forget which ones now, that show the 4 of them at the same time, both there and at the Brentwood Market place where they regularly frequent, and were at that day when those shots were posted of him taking Sera to lunch.
I don’t think she will take Ben back now, but if she did it would only be if he was 100% cleaned up and stabilized and could prove it for a long run. I do think she wanted “the family” to work for her kids AS MUCH as herself so held out for that but in the end realized that this was the way it was going to be and she HAD TO make the break. Don’t think she wanted to but realized she had to and then learn to get over him. I think he would go back in a heartbeat, not because he is madly in love with her, but because he now realizes his freedom is not everything he was thinking it was to be cracked up to be. I think he misses the “the family” atmosphere and convenience and in that aspect he misses her and what she was in the whole scheme of things. Plus the hit to his PR this whole three years has taken. Her PR has not taken a hit. She owns Instagram and has been branching out aside from acting to ensure her future is financially stable. She doesn’t need him for financial reasons or to boost her up, she is doing just fine in that department. And I don’t think she, at least right now, is too worried about becoming a big movie star. I think she is happy with and purposely is fine doing bit parts that keep her foot in the door, but do not require long shoots and away locations. But she did/does want the family together for the kids, above all else, even her own personal happiness, I believe everything she had done has been for them, including hanging in too long.
I do not thing she orchastrates the pap pictures either. I think she has just made the decision that she is going to do what she wants, where she wants and when she wants and to live normally not having to stop and strategize about what back alleys or clock and dagger actions she can take to allude the paps. They know her shots will sell because they DO and so they hound them. If they did not, then even IF she did call them, why would they come and not just ignore her calls and go find a hotter property? She has accepted it as part of the cost of her business and wanting to come and go normally. Just my opinions.
The best revenge Jenn could get us to stay single forever. Live her best life.
This story is just total bait and switch. Does the possibility of these two reconciling still sell magazines? Personally if I was a magazine editor I would go with Brad and Jen Aniston – that would sell more covers.
Jen was in DC this week for save the children. Some tweets also indicate she was chaperoning her daughter’s class on a tour of some sort. So where is Ben? Is he home with his other children? No photographic evidence of him doing the school run. I did see one tweet of a picture with a fan in Hawaii!!!
What are you saying? That BA is in Hawaii rn instead of doing the school run?
I’m saying Ben appears to be off on a vacay, not being a parent while their mother is out of town. But what do I know 🙂
I saw the Hawaii pic from Monday. Why does he look thin and good there but bloated and boob-ish in those pics with Jen and the kids from last week? His looks shift so dramatically from one day to the next.
I hope this is false. Jennifer deserves much more than unfaithful Affleck.
The headline says one thing but apparently the gist of the article is that both have moved on and aren’t reconciling, she is quietly going on dates, he is with Shookus. Gossip Cop has refuted it, not that that means anything. They print what the publicists tell them to.
I’ve been getting weird vibes from them. Since Ken was photographed side hugging that guy. Ben has been around more.
I found your assertion that Jen G that she will never go back weirdly optimistic. I’m not so sure abou that. Anyway, Jen’s sweater in the first pic is cute.
Yawn.
I knew Ben would reappear when Jen looked so good at the Oscars and has been getting more media attention. He doesn’t care about those children. He cares about himself. I wish she would hook up with Leiv Schreiber . But after being with a a hole like Ben, I would be off men for a while. She seems happy, kids happy and not have to deal with emo Ben.
I was just thinking that!! Leiv Schreiber and Jen would be a gorgeous couple and he seems to have the right kind of eau de douche for her tastes (lookswise, I don’t know his character)
Everything that Garner has publicly said about Ben and the situation (that he’s the love of her life, that she’s not dating, that she wouldn’t have chosen the single life, etc) is the actual truth here regardless of what a tabloid puts forth. Another truth is that Ben has been seeing another woman for years and has purchased a home or two with her. A third fact is that despite quietly separating back in 2014, then publicly splitting in 2015, then actually filing a year ago, the divorce STILL isn’t finalized. Sorry, but until the trigger is pulled and it’s official, I won’t believe that she has moved on from him. I think if he dumped LS and crawled on his knees to her, professing that he’s changed, she would forgive and forget and play happy fam for the press again. YMMV.
“Now, Affleck has been with Shookus, 37, for nearly a year”
*snort* Just “nearly a year” huh? Sure…right.
So US has Affleck’s rep on speed dial then? Interesting. 😒
Correct me if I’m wrong….but are there any pictures of the kids alone with just Ben? I’m wondering if he has supervised visitation, due to his alcoholism?
I thought I saw pics of him out with the younger daughter, just the two of them, not long ago.
Hoping this isn’t true, Jennifer deserves better. Also isn’t Ben still seeing the SNL woman?
The last tabloid pics that I can find of Ben with the gf are from a month ago.
I think he was just in NYC with her last week. Just Jared had some pics of him landing at LAX last week, coming from NYC.
He was in NYC the weekend before last as documented his leaving jfk that Monday morning. Surely he was with Lindsay. It is interesting that they have not been papped in a month. I think lying low is good. However, I would not be surprised if we get pics real soon to counter this trash magazine cover.
I was a Garner fan prior to this marriage but since this relationship her whole attitude seemed…off? I’m going with this marriage is over and done, simply by the photographs from the past few months. She looks fantastic. Hair, skin, stature, facial expression – even if you’re an actress there’s only so much we can fake. There’s something about losing a 200 lb self-esteem toxin that’s particularly freeing.
Why hasn’t the divorce been finalized? Are the tabloids finally going with that angle of this neverending saga? With their money, they can pay people to comb through the finances and hammer out a deal. It’s not like they’re doing it themselves. Personally I think Garner is a chump and being played like one. She’s too accommodating to Ben, who will never, ever change and always want his cake and eat it, too. This divorce should be over and done with after this long but it’s not and I’ll be shocked if it ever legally is. Jen needs to spend some time on the Chump Lady website.
Oh yeah, the Chump Lady – one of my favorites. She wrote a great post on Jen’s “Sh*t Sandwich” right after they split in 2015.
LOVE the Chump Lady. She saved me.
Just ewwww.
Regardless of whatever fantasy Jen’s PR team would have people believe, if Ben wanted her back, he could and would have her back. She’s still madly in love with him. She’s also a simpleton and requires only that he keep his affairs and drinking contained and out of the public eye, where it will embarrass her. He did it for years until he messed around with someone who had an IG. The separation and divorce filing were for PR purposes only because she looked like a fool clinging to this man. The Shookus affair happened and we never found out about it at the time. They were still playing happy couple in the press. If they could have contained the nanny stuff they would have never separated. I also think that if his movies during their “separation” had been wildly, Oscar-worthy and Marvel-esque successful, he would have been too good of a commodity to give up and she would have swallowed her pride and taken him back. But here we are three years, a public gf and a NYC apartment later and Jen is still putting out articles like this. Yawn. WHEN will she get a new schtick that does not involve Ben Affleck? Is all of this to prepare her little minivan crowd for a reconciliation? Time will tell.
I think Ben does like it when they are both with their children on vacations and holidays. I had read somewhere (who knows if was true) that they were going to call it quits and went on what they thought would be their last Christmas vacation together with their children but then had a change of heart.
I think their children were the glue that held them together.
I do believe that Jen was completely blindsided by the length of time Ben was having an affair with Lindsay. ( I think the time frame blindsided her, not necessarily the affair)
I would be shocked if they ever got back together bit weirder things have happened!
I wonder what she is really like. Don’t follow these two ever but it’s interesting how none of his friends care for her. Curious to why.
Probably because she was the grown-up of the group and ‘nagged’ Ben to behave like an adult. You know the one that’s the wet blanket because they actually expect you to grow up.
I agree with you. Clearly his “bros” are his worst enablers.
How long are they going to drag this out?? This is a man who spent his time drinking/cheating/gambling and characterized their relationship in his Oscar speech as ‘work’. I hope this is just a slow news day, at US but if this is true, he will continue to embarrass her and her children in every way.
He needs to the PR, she does not. He has to realize what a scummy DB he comes off as. JG on the hand is the new amazing Amy. Let the dead leaves drop.
I think that Lindsay Shookus is a challenge to Ben Affleck. I do not believe that she would move to LA because of her career. This must be so enticing to Ben. Eventually , something has got to give…..long distant relationships especially bicoastal usually don’t last!
Jen photographed in NYC today with daughter Violet…hmm
Hmmm? I don’t see anything strange about it. Jen has been papped in NYC quite a bit since their split in 2015, going to ballet, theater, etc.
She has zero self respect, really I am beginning to wonder if Jen thinks life is a Hallmark movie where as the ‘main character’ she will end up with her astray husband who will realize that love conquers all. Then from hereon-after, life will be idyllic.
I doubt there is any going back after a girlfriend …he agrees for this wrote up probably since he always follows the JP train or something is up?
Offcourse JG would take him back and excuse everything if he actually want to be back with her because he is a part of her means as loving mom persona its no way because just to help him imo..
I don’t know the deal with his girlfriend ? I mean what she feel about his agreeing for this stories?
He had an affaif for years with Shookus. I just don’t think him and Jen have any heat between them.
He never settled down. I dont think he can be happy with just jen. I hope she doesnt take him back. Men like Ben are an absolute misery to be in love with. Jen will never get what she wants or her needs meet as long as she is with him.
Ne and Ben must be confusing the kids like crazy; their parents are in a flux and I think it would cause huge stress.