this photo is from 8-15
We recently heard that Ben Affleck was unsure about whether he would stick it out in rehab after his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner, staged an intervention to get him help. That story originated in paparazzi agency X17, which has photographers on the ground who could talk to Garner off the record. Now E! has a story claiming that Affleck will probably stay and that he’s doing ‘OK.’ We also recently heard that Affleck and Garner are close to signing off on their divorce and have worked out the major details. Multiple outlets confirmed that, along with the fact that they’re going to finalize everything once Affleck completes treatment. Here are the quotes from E! about his stay:
“Ben is still in rehab and has not left. He’s doing OK,” a source tells E! News. “He seems serious about living in for at least 30 days.”
Over the weekend, E! News learned that Affleck and Garner, who share three kids together, have reached a divorce settlement but will wait until he completes his current rehab stint to file it in court.
“The divorce is wrapped up but has not been signed off on. They are waiting for Ben to get out to do that,” the insider says. “They both want to move on and end the financial negotiations and the custody discussions.”
That’s good news. One thing that I remember about getting sober is that there’s a period of depression that can set in a few weeks afterwards. Everyone talks about the “pink cloud” and that’s real but you can also be down in the dumps. A lot of people I know who are sober went through this and it’s not the same as withdrawal, which is likely what Ben is going through now, not this later stage. I think it’s your brain trying to adjust without alcohol. It’s tough getting and staying sober. I was just thinking about this after reading this People story with quotes from an addiction expert. He talks about the complicated nature of addiction and how it’s not a character flaw or a matter of not caring about your loved ones. (Plug for Smart Recovery and the free cognitive behavioral tools there. If you are struggling to quit drinking, print out and fill out some of their worksheets. AA is also free and available everywhere.)
Meanwhile The Wrap has analysis from an insurance expert who speculates that Ben has cost himself the Batman role due to the expensive cost of insuring him post-rehab. Their expert states “More than likely the studio will replace him because the insurance costs are going to go through the roof… He would be bondable, but the deductible would be really high, probably the budget of the film.” Wow that’s incredible. I didn’t realize how pricey insurance could be in that industry, but I guess that makes sense considering how much money is at stake. However I thought that Ben wasn’t moving forward with that role regardless. He’s been very ambivalent about it in interviews and recent articles have suggested the standalone Batman movie was not happening.
Get well soon Ben. Stick it out, you can do it.
photos credit: Backgrid and WENN
Addiction is a beast. I have a family member who has been in and out of rehab (for alcohol and heroin) and it takes a toll on EVERYONE in the family. In our case, I don’t believe this person wants to get better, which is difficult for others to accept. For some, addictive behaviors are a prolonged form of suicide.
Considering how long he seems to have been dealing with addictions, I don’t think a month is even close to long enough, but I wish him well in his recovery.
100 percent… he needs a few months of inpatient treatment to start and it’ll be an uphill climb from there. If his past choices are any indication, he won’t even make it 30 days before he bails out and his publicist starts messaging an “outpatient” treatment program.
He’s always the-smartest-guy-in-the-room so no one will be able to get him to stay in rehab if he doesn’t want to…
A month is really the bare minimum for someone like Ben.
If he were ever really serious we’d be talking at least a 90 day program, followed up with another 90 days as an outpatient.
^^^This. I came here to say I appreciate the tone of these posts about Ben. It is becoming clear to me that his addiction is SERIOUS. So serious that my heart actually goes out to him. I know that his behavior has been, terrible, with regard to so many things. But this is obviously a man who has seriously struggled and cannot stay sober. He probably needs to be in rehab for at least 90 days! All of his outpatient work has not worked.
A 30-day inpatient program may work just fine. As someone that has attended rehab (and was a raging alcoholic), the follow up (post rehab) is most important. I’m not even sure what you do for 90 days, beyond a continuation of what was gone over the first 30 days.
let’s not forget that the facility they’ve chosen is merely a luxury spa. If he finds unbearable to be there for 30 days imagine how could be for him a real rehab center where he wouldn’t be treated just as a celebrity who needs some green juices and some meditation sessions.
The rehab facility he’s at is very similar to the one I attended. While there are luxury amenities, there are amazing doctors and therapists available. Its not all glitz and glamour. Additionally, “real” rehab centers (as you mentioned) provide massages and things of that nature but are basically the same, except for the amenities. It really depends on what your insurance will cover. A lot of people choose the luxury rehab centers because it is more focused care vs. going to a rehab amongst a giant crowd of people in primarily AA-focused settings (there’s minimal 1;1 care).
Yeah, that was my first thought. A month is just the tip of the iceberg. A loved one of mine is in rehab now and she’s been there since late May. She went of her own accord (after a lot of tough love from her family but no intervention), and went halfway across the country so as not to be geographically near anyone she used with. (She relapsed and left once, but came running back–literally–a week later. ) She’s doing really well now, but it took about three months to reach this point. She’s taking it VERY seriously and is doing the whole shebang after rehab: intensive outpatient, sober living, getting a job while in sober living, slowly gradually taking on more responsibility while being clean and sober.
I’m not Affleck’s counselor or doctor, but I really think he needs to do at least three months in rehab (AFTER detox), then IOP, sober living, etc. If you’re really serious about recovering, it takes work and time.
That’s what I was thinking.
He’ll nedd to be in rehab for at least 6 months. seriously.
He has to want to get sober. That is the ONLY thing that can keep him sober.
It’ll take hard work fora lot longer than a month. An addict has to truly want to get better, because addiction is a disease that can be controlled, but never cured
this sounds like a very lukewarm update. he seems serious? at least 30 days?
I agree. I truly hope he doesn’t relapse, but I don’t have high hopes. Those poor kiddos.
I think the studio decided to fire him as Batman when they announced he was not going to direct it and that his script was replaced. That pretty much sealed his departure or at least the first steps towards it. Is all about money, as usual. I ‘m not surprised by the insurance issue, but I’m surprised the guy keeps getting projects and work because is the same as for the movies he’s just finished with netflix and other studios: the insurance must have been high and someone was willing to risk, because you can bet that we know now, after Garner’s intervention, the studio’s big wigs have known for months maybe years: the guy is deep in the sh*t but as long as it wasn’t of public knowledge and so blatant he was still the money cow for them. Had him been an actress her career would have been done years ago.
Yeah, Matt Reeves has been helming “The Batman” for months now and while he has not given any indication who will be Bats, he has never outright said Batfleck will be reprising. WB was clearly no longer comfortable w/ Affleck’s participation before all of THIS (like you said, they might’ve seen/known *something* — and I DOUBT it was just “Nannygate”), but the insurance costs is a convenient “out.”
WB also has “The Accountant 2” in development. Wonder what happens to it…?
I hope they still do The Accountant sequel eventually. The first one was really good.
E! needs to get their insiders out of his rehab facility. This is downright intrusive, let the man heal. Anyone who knows about recovery know you can’t tell if someone is ‘serious’ within a couple of days. Good grief.
you *know* those insiders from E! are just his PR team doing some clumsy cleansing, right?
sadly you’re right
30 days does not seem like enough tome to stay in rehab.
Does Ben have any other projects other than the McDonald’s project pending? How does that work if you sign a contract & end up in rehab or have health issues?
If you break a contract otherwise, i believe you can get fined or sued.
Also, would the insurance be less for lower budget films? That may explain why Ben is doing lower budget & smaller roles in films right now….
The gossip out there is that Ben does better with his sobriety when he is working. I think that he believes if he gets back to work, he will be fine and in order to do that, he has to leave inpatient rehab. Unfortunately that has not been enough for him to do only outpatient rehab & he has & will struggle with his sobriety.
If the insurance is less for lower budget films, so is the film’s total budget. So if his insurance drops from $20 Million on a big budget film to $2 million but the film’s budget is only $6 There goes the salary for him and the other actors in the film. HOwever I don’t think they pay attention to insurance costs if they think you can bring in the big money and be professional throughout the filming. See RDJ’s history. It’s just an excuse for Affleck seen drunk/drugged by the public.
I love how the keep trying to remind us that the divorce is going to happen for real this time. Sure Jan.
Yay! The “Here’s Your F*cking Jack In The Box” picture! 😉
That picture is worth 1000 words alright!
For someone who never went to rehab, only outpatient, I feel like it’s completely true about the depression after you get sober. I was depressed for at least 3 months after. I would cry a lot for no reason. I remember being in a restaurant with my family and crying the entire dinner quietly. It’s rough, I hope he actually does want to get sober for himself and no one else. I have a great life now and have been sober for 12 years! My life didn’t begin until after I got sober. I wish him the best of luck, it’s a terrible disease I still battle with all the time. But you make a decision and stick to it. I just think about how horrible of a person I was when I was drunk and that’s enough for me.
Congrats to you! I am close to 1 year and I am super excited. The first couple of months were super sad ( the depression as you mentioned was tough), but afterward its almost as though the sun finally was shining in my life.
There’s a difference between getting dry and gettting sober. Theres whats called the ‘dry drunk’ – someone who is not actively using anything but hasnt done any of the work to get sober. I hope he really gets the help he needs.
Thanks for mentioning SMART Recovery. AA is the default treatment, but it doesn’t click for everyone. If abstinence were easy, no high school girls would ever get pregnant. There are lots of ways to deal with addiction, and I’m glad to see that people are more open to looking at their options to find what works for them. A friend of mine used to be a bottle-a-night girl or more, and since changing up her meds she’s found that the desire to drink isn’t there anymore. That wasn’t the point of changing her meds, but it’s a welcome side effect. There’s more than one way to skin a cat.