Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus split again, after Jen & Ben took a family trip

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Earlier this week a commenter emailed me the news that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner had gone to the Caribbean with their kids for Spring Break. This was reported by paparazzi agency X17, which had photos of them leaving a private plane. I didn’t report it because people don’t care, frankly. You guys would rather talk about Jennifer Garner’s skincare routine and I get it, so would I. Sometimes I find those two exhausting, but to be fair it’s nice that they’re still trying to get along keep normalcy for their kids. It was interesting, however, that they visited the same place where they got married according to X17.

Perhaps entirely coincidentally, there’s now news that Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus have split up again. Those two previously split in August and they got back together in early February. Just two weeks ago there were sourced articles in celebrity outlets claiming that Lindsay was “impressed Ben was sober” and that she worked as a kind of sober coach for him, keeping him away from people and situations where there was drinking. I guess that only went so far.

Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus have split for a second time less than three months after reuniting, multiple sources confirm to Us Weekly.

“She has a kid and an ex-husband and a job in New York and Ben has his family and a job in L.A., and while they love and respect each other, they just realized it wasn’t going to work,” an insider explained to Us of the Batman star, 46, and the 38-year-old Saturday Night Live producer’s decision to go their separate ways. “They really gave it another solid try.”

Though Affleck and Shookus’ second chance at romance didn’t work out, the source notes that the twosome “will always have love for each other.”

[From US Magazine]

So Ben cheated again or drank again or was an ass again. That’s his pattern, he sabotages things. I was hoping Lindsay would come to her senses after Ben cheated on her with that 22 year-old Playboy model, but she didn’t and she took him back. I assume they had several go-arounds when they were both married to other people, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they reunited yet again after this.

Is Jennifer Garner still with that restaurant technology guy or is that over now too? Last week a source told US that Jen was still with John and loves that he is “not in the entertainment industry and is just a simple guy.” I’m not saying Ben and Jen are back together at all, just that I’d like to know some of these other details.

Ben and Jen out together on Tuesday. The photos of Lindsay and Ben together are from early March.

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck meet up together on their Tuesday morning

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photos credit: Backgrid

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74 Responses to “Ben Affleck and Lindsay Shookus split again, after Jen & Ben took a family trip”

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  1. Alissa says:

    I’m all for my husband having a good co-parenting relationship with his ex-wife, because that’s what’s best for the kids, but I will say that I would not be comfortable with him spending the amount of time with her that Affleck spends with Garner. I know different strokes for different folks, but at a certain point I kind of wonder why these two don’t just stay together.

    • Lucia says:

      Because it’s less work to be divorced and put on a united front for the kids than it is to be married and hide Ben Affleck’s constant cheating, drinking, drugging, and gambling.

      Jennifer is far more patient than I but I also get the feeling that if they didn’t have kids she’d have nothing more to do with him.

      • Arb says:

        If they didn’t have kids, she’d be working hard to get knocked up. I thought she was in that marriage for the kids before there were kids.

    • Mia4s says:

      “but at a certain point I kind of wonder why these two don’t just stay together”

      I get what you mean, but what can I say, I hope a woman with her own career and resources would not stay married to a man who repeatedly cheated on her and doesn’t really seem to love her. What’s the message there to her two soon to be teen daughters? Sure your husband may have a side piece in New York, cheat on you when he goes on location, and f**k Playboy models young enough to be his daughter. But if he will come to church with you on Sunday, just keep smiling! Or hell…what kind of message is that to her son? He’s never going to be faithful so what’s the point?

      • Alissa says:

        I mean…she’s still dealing with all of it, cleaning up his mess, etc. To me it still sends a not-great message to her kids that she’s responsible for him all the time. Maybe he’s not cheating on her, but that’s about it.

      • Anne Call says:

        My brother and his wife had a very toxic and dysfunctional marriage and even though they lived apart for years, they never got divorced. Never moved on to new healthy relationships and their grown kids now are a mess. Better to show the kids how to solve a problem and that you can find happiness again.

    • lucy2 says:

      Well, he’s an alcoholic who repeatedly cheated on her, so that might be one reason…

      • Alissa says:

        No, I understand why they split. But you can co-parent and not be constantly spending time together and going on vacations together. He might not be cheating on her, but she’s still having to actively deal with and partake in his BS and functions very similarly to how she did when they were married.

        So to me, it’s weird. My husband’s ex-wife is an alcoholic who repeatedly cheated on her, and they co-parented but he certainly wasn’t involved in all of her mess and going on vacation with her either.

    • TheHeat says:

      I think that Jen had quite a few years of ‘why not just stay together’ before finally pulling the plug, realizing that he was never going to change, no matter how much she loved him.
      And +1 to all that @Mia4s said ^^^.

      • Lucia says:

        I don’t think Jen would have ever pulled the plug if she had a choice though. She would’ve smiled through it all and put up with it. I think it was Ben who wanted the divorce because he was “so in love” with Lindsay.

    • M says:

      Did Garner really mind the cheating as long as the public didn’t know about it? The only time she cared was the nanny and she took him back after that anyway, apparently.

      • Some chick says:

        I forgot about the nanny! She was a piece of work. Wonder what happened to her. She’s not going to be getting any more nanny jobs, for sure.

        Did you hear that the reason Gwen Stefani broke up with her now ex husband was that he was cheating with the nanny, and another nanny saw photographic evidence of it on an ipad?!

  2. Lucia says:

    Can I just say, when Jennifer Garner was with Ben I didn’t really care for her. The PR around the two always seemed really contrived.

    Now that she’s away from him I like her a lot more. Looking back on it now, you can tell she put up with a lot of crap during their marriage and he took major advantage of her. But I also feel she still lets Ben walk all over her. I think the reason for the “family trips” is because Ben can’t be trusted to handle the kids by himself. She feels an obligation that the kids spend time with him though.

    I hate Ben Affleck though. I won’t watch anything he’s touched. I’m glad they’re trying to remain a family unit for the sake of his kids but no woman should want to touch Ben Affleck with a 10 foot pole and I’ll likely lose respect for any woman who hooks up with him at this point.

    • Mariposa says:

      That is an excellent point about the reason behind the family trips – maybe she can’t trust him alone with them, so she needs to go too. (I wouldn’t trust him!)

      And, they have enough money to make sure they both have privacy and time alone during the holiday. It’s not like they are in 2 rooms at a Holiday Inn!!

  3. Mere says:

    That is a wide lapel.

  4. Seraphina says:

    I agree with the posts above. At this point, just stay together. I wouldn’t be comfy with the situation either. It’s like Ben is getting his cake and eating it as well. I’m sure people find a balance with coparenting without spending all this time together.

    And I too don’t find Ben as great an actor. He seems still in all his movies. The movie where he plays the account is the only movie he’s good in and that is because there isn’t a wide range of emotion so of course he’s great in that role. And as Batman, he was no bueno. The only Batman that I found I could not cheer for.

    • Kebbie says:

      He’s good in Gone Girl too, but you could argue he’s just playing himself.

      • Jb says:

        The director said the same thing…Ben was so good at playing the character, it was like he was playing himself

  5. Louise says:

    I think it’s wise for Lindsay to stay away from him. She has a successful career in New York and a child there. It kind of seemed like she spent more time with him in LA then he was spending time with her in NY. He just seems like a lot of work. As for the joint vacation, it very well could be a condition of their divorce that he not be allowed to vacation with the kids alone given his history of drinking so that’s why they go as a family.

    • Lena says:

      It did seem like shookus was always leaving her kid to spend time with him on his ground and he didn’t reciprocate by spending much time in her turf. Seemed like a very imbalanced relationship that way so good for her for leaving. However I think it’s probably the 5 th time they’ve broken up so I don’t have much hope it will stick. As for j & bs vacations together it could be neither of them wants to give up any time with the kids and they get along well enough to share the time. I don’t think that it means anything more than that.

      • Miss says:

        Eh? Before he went to rehab this last time, he was constantly flying to NYC to be with her. Let’s not try to rewrite history.

      • Miss says:

        He missed Sam’s first day of school because he was in NYC with Shookus.

      • Lena says:

        The first few months he spent a lot of time in New York but after about six months it was more and more in Los Angeles not New York. I think he expected her to move to los Angeles and not the other way around

  6. Purplehazeforever says:

    These two are weird. It’s all I’ve got.

    • FC says:

      They are. She reads imbalanced to me, either due to emotional issues or a drug problem (or both). There’s a reason he gravitates toward her when he’s vulnerable/fresh out of rehab.

  7. Erinn says:

    I genuinely hope for everyone’s sake he gets his shit together at some point. At least enough that he’s reasonably functioning semi-mess. If he could completely clean up his act, I wouldn’t be upset if he and Garner got back together – but I just don’t see that happening.

    I think celebrities have such a different life than ‘regular’ people though – it’s weird in a way to go on the vacation with your ex, but at the same time, a big vacation for these people is like a normal person carpooling with the ex to see the kids compete in something out of town. Celebrities and vacations are just a given. I still wouldn’t be comfortable with it – but I’m looking at it with my normal person glasses. And while I don’t really begrudge Lindsay if she was uncomfortable with it … she was obviously comfortable being a side girl while he was with Garner. So I’m not sure it’s even fully fair for her to put up a big stink (if she even did) when she enabled an ACTUAL affair.

    • Lauren II says:

      I figure Lindsay wants a commitment from Ben, and he is never going to be faithful. Lindsay was exciting when then Ben was having an affair with her, and now she is just another demanding woman in his eyes. Ben is selfishly exhausting, and will never change.

      • Jenfan says:

        This. Supposedly she reached out to him to re-kindle. Don’t know if he can be with just 1 woman. Thought she did not care.

      • Erinn says:

        It’s a shame. I do believe there is a decent genetic component to it – but he really is a mess. Part of me still holds out on hope though, mainly for the sake of his kids.

        I feel like this is such a trope though – there’s so many ‘other person’ in relationships that somehow genuinely believes that the person they’re having an affair with is going to stop having affairs for them. Sad all around.

      • Lucia says:

        Let’s be real. Ben wants a demanding woman who will put their career on the back burner so they can mother and baby him. It’s what Jennifer did for 12 years, it’s why he has a close relationship with his mother who definitely struck me as a helicopter parent. I can see it going the other way where Lindsay saw that’s how it was always going to be and decided enough was enough.
        Ben has shown little regard for the needs of his partners and expects them to drop their lives to make sure he’s doing the right thing. If he’s not in a relationship where someone constantly is checking on him, he always does something stupid. I think Ben’s biggest addiction isn’t alcohol, it’s attention.

    • Lizzie B. says:

      Last year I read somewhere that heboughta house close to garners house so he could b close to thekids.,and that Garner was upsetbecauseshe doesn’t want Shookus anywhere near the kids.Probably due to her having been Ben’s “mistress”. I think Garner constantly puts pressure on him to choose between the kids and Shookus,at the expense of Ben’s sanity. Garner would rather have Ben on a downward emotional spiral and drug binge,than allow him to simultaneously be in a relationship with Shookus and be in his kids lives.

  8. Carolnr says:

    Lindsay was never going to move out of NY but thought once Ben was officially divorced, he would leave LA to be with her. Lindsay also probably thought that there would be no more family vacations but Ben went with Jen & their children on a spring break vacation. ( to Turks & Caicos , no less!)
    “Lindsay didn’t want to disrupt Madeleine’s life by moving her from NY to LA.”, but she thought Ben would disrupt his 3 children’s lives? Ben seems to be in a very good place right now with himself & his children. He simply chose his children over Lindsay….

  9. Jennifer says:

    I agree with an comment above that suggested Ben can’t be trusted to handle the kids for long periods so Jen tags along to help and give Ben quality time with their kids. I hope it’s not a reconciliation, they just finalized their divorce not so long ago! And surely Jen knows it would turn out the exact same way.

  10. Cee says:

    My boyfriend has an ex wife and a son with her. If they would go on holidays together or spend so much time together, I would be out of this relationship so fast. It would be a issue with me if my boyfriend couldn’t cut ties with his ex, in the sense of spending so much time together. they don’t need to vacation together – that’s just confusing for everyone, including the kids.

  11. Jenfan says:

    It’s funny how we keep getting updates on their relationship- they back together, now two months later they split again.
    At least this time it’s public that it’s off before he is seen with the next playboy playmate.

    As far as Ben, Jen and the Turks andCaicos vacay – they have been vacationing together with the kids for the almost 4 years since they announced their split. Seems they are following the Gywenth and Chris model – and they are clearly not together anymore.

  12. Ali says:

    If I were on equal financial footing with an ex and we had children, I’d do these types of vacations – especially if they were part of our lives during the marriage, separation and divorce.

    There’s really nothing but upside to giving children consistency and time with both parents when both parents are getting along.

    • Iknow says:

      I agree. If we were on good terms and no one is harboring hopes of rekindling the relationship, I think this is fine – all the more better if the vacations could include their respective exes. The problem is, Lindsay would NEVER be accepted by Jen. Period.

    • Alissa says:

      I would have a harder time with that, tbh. “you guys get along, we can all spend time together – why can’t we just be a family all of the time?”

    • Lady D says:

      But she is also there to babysit Ben because this grown-ass man can’t get his shit together for the children he says he loves. She spends half her time on vacation ‘hovering’ over the situation to make sure things run smoothly while keeping a drunk from drinking. I wonder if she wants her daughters to grow up to be doormats too?

  13. lucy2 says:

    I couldn’t figure out Lindsay going back to him to begin with, but I agree, he probably cheated or drank, and she finally wised up and realize that being a “sober coach” is not a good relationship.

    I hope he gets his life together. I don’t like him, but it’s still sad to see.

  14. Lindy says:

    I actually think it’s probably exactly, boringly just as reported: his life and young kids and career are all on the west coast. Her life and young kid and career are all on the east coast. At a certain point, if you’re with someone, constant long distance just gets harder and harder when there’s no real end in sight.

  15. M says:

    Someone elsewhere pointed this out today but it is curious that Affleck and Garner are hiding this spring break trip. Christmas in Montana was widely reported but this trip? All of their favorite outlets are silent. Without those X17 pics, would we even know? Jen is a doormat, I’ve been saying it for years. She only really pretended to break up with him. I would not be surprised if her “boyfriend” dumped her for all of her babying of Ben. What man would put up with that?

    • Lucia says:

      It’s also very clear that’s what Ben wants. A woman who will baby him. Why Jennifer keeps enabling him instead of forcing him to grow up is beyond me. But then, I can see Ben lashing out and being less cooperative if she were to stop. He’s just awful.

    • Jenfan says:

      I think they go on many cooparenting vacations that are not reported. Last summer Jen posted from a Caribbean local which turned out to be bakers bay. A week or 2 after E news was reporting on something I don’t recall what and Jason Kennedy said how he was just in bakers bay and Jen was there and Ben was there.

    • Lucia says:

      Also, I think this trip was hidden due to the fact they brought along a few of Violet’s friends. They didn’t want them getting hounded.

  16. Cay says:

    I’m really digging this look that I think Ben is wearing in that first photo. It’s the hoodie under a blazer. I’ve seen it on both men and women, and I’m really into it.

  17. Miss M says:

    I think Lindsay and Ben broke up this time around because she wanted to join the vacation and Jen told Ben NOT A CHANCE.
    I doubt Jen will ever let Lindsay gets close to their kids. This is conscious uncoupling as long as Lindsay is not in the picture.
    Lindsay entered his life by the exit door and she will remain there. He chose his kids.

  18. Jenfan says:

    If you look at photos from the return from vacay – there are so many people meeting them at the airport. X17 has a video and there is a lot of embracing of various people that met them. Is that typical after being away about a week? Would you just not return home get in the car and go home. Just wondering if this was some wider celebration?

    • jas says:

      It looks like Violet brought a couple of friends on vacation and all those people were there to greet and pick up those girls. Lots of hugs for 13 year olds returning after a week away would be expected.

    • Dora says:

      I think two friends of Violet were with them and maybe people from their families came to the airport for them. Who knows?

    • JoJo says:

      It looked like the kids brought friends with them, so maybe it was the parents of those kids, there to pick them up.

      • Iknow says:

        This makes sense, if the kids brought friends, who in their right mind would let Ben take a bunch of kids on Spring break? Maybe it was his vacation to spend with the kids and they wanted to bring friends. Ben asked Jen to tag along and she did for the kids’ sake. Again, if I were on great terms with an ex and it’s platonic, why not?

  19. ShazBot says:

    I agree with a lot of the above –
    I don’t think Jen would trust him to take the kids on vacation, so they all go together. And let’s remember, they’re not sharing a hotel room – they probably get a big house, maybe a compound with multiple houses, where they can have their own space, and the kids get to spend time with both parents.

    And I don’t believe Jen would have ever been on board with Lindsay, not after their long affair. Ben respects Jen enough as the mother of his children, that he probably wouldn’t fight that – he knows how much she’s cleaned up after him and protected him in the eyes of their children.

    • Miss says:

      Does he respect Jen though? Not enough IMO. He went public with Shookus and did very public pap strolls for more than a year. She stayed at his house, he bought them an apt in NYC, etc. All in Jen’s face.

      • JoJo says:

        Right. This is also why I think Jen finally went public with John Miller, who I suspect was more of a PR ploy – because she didn’t want to look like she was still hanging on to Ben. I think it’s great if you can co-parent in this way, but let’s be real. These two split up in 2015. There’s absolutely no reason why significant others couldn’t join a trip like this. I do understand why Jen wouldn’t want Lindsey to join, given she had an affair with Ben for years, but there’s no reason John Miller shouldn’t be able to join. This whole concept that Ben/Jen have to do things “as a family” until the end of time, without significant others starts to look a bit weird after a while. If she truly is dating John Miller, I would understand why he chose to back out of this bizarre and lingering co-dependent dynamic.

      • ShazBot says:

        I don’t think he respected her as a spouse and woman, but I think he’s well aware of and respects how well she’s raised and protected their kids from his sh*t, and given them a stable environment and routine. I know we don’t know what actually goes down behind closed doors, but for all intents and purposes, they all seem like healthy, happy kids who are happy with both parents, and she gets all the credit for that.

      • Lena says:

        @miss. Well so what if he did? Seems to me he waited to do that (do public pap strolls, rent an apartment they very rarely shared) until their divorce was filed. It’s not disrespectful to move on once you have a divorce in the works. And @ Jo -who is to say If both Lindsey shookus and John Miller weren’t there. We have no idea if they were there or not, do we?

  20. Dora says:

    Maybe he has a new girlfriend in LA and she found it out.

  21. KatieBo says:

    Or, it could be that he’s ACTUALLY sober this time. A lot of relationships fall apart when one person gets sober. The other person doesn’t know their role. It’s a really common thing with co-dependent couples. Lindsay is used to being either a gatekeeper or an enabler, if Ben is sober and accountable for his own actions, she doesn’t have a role. It’s the reason for Al-anon! Really interesting.

    • Ali says:

      +1

      The pictures of him up on Lainey Gosssip look way better than he’s looked in ages.

    • Originaltessa says:

      When Ben is sober and career focused, he turns to Jennifer. I think romantically they’re over, but I think there’s a codependency there that’s hard to shake.

    • Mini says:

      When Ben and Shookus (allegedly) got together, he was sober. He didn’t really start drinking until Nannygate and the subsequent public humiliation spiraled out of control.

    • Lucia says:

      For the sake of his kids, I really hope you’re right.

  22. Carolnr says:

    Ben & Lindsay may have” picked up where they left off” but this relationship obviously did not progress into the next stage. I imagine that is not what Lindsay expected . She has wasted so much time waiting for Ben to get sober, leave Jen, ( and not necessarily in that order) I do not rule out the possibility of Ben& Lindsay hooking back up again in the future.
    Also, is Lindsay now actually divorced from Kevin Miller? Gossip sites keep calling him her ex- husband.

  23. LT says:

    I don’t get it at all. My ex and I don’t have a relationship. We have kids together and communicate via text when necessary regarding the children, but neither of us particularly wants to spend any significant time together. There isn’t any hostility (at least, not from my end), but we are not friends in any sense of the word. We certainly would not vacation together.

  24. stephanie says:

    I understand Ben wanting to coparent with Jen and it makes sense that they would take trips together because he probably isn’t allowed to take the kids alone or wants to take them anywhere without help…as long as the are both single. But weren’t they both dating other people as of last month?

    I don’t understand why they don’t just work it out because what adult in their right mind would want to get involved with either Ben or Jen and deal with their “coparenting” BS vacations? So many fish in the sea, why in the world get involved in that love triangle?

    It doesn’t seem either is willing to bring their new partners around the kids like most normal divorced couples eventually do. Most adults move on and coparent but develop a partnership with their love interest, not their ex. Jen is just as disrespectful to her boyfriend as Ben was to Shookus. I think they use their new relationships to make each other jealous and Shookus/resturant guy are just pawns in their f-uped relationship games. Ben and Jen deserve each other.

  25. SJR says:

    Ben is an over grown child with a ton of money. The money and his fame makes her m acceptable to women who desire his lifestyle.

    As a person to have a relationship with..he fails.

  26. Amanda says:

    Jen, girl, you look cute and I like your top. But no one has worn low rise jeans in a few years now. Put em away til they come back around.

  27. Linda Hughson says:

    Where has John Miller gone?? Are he and Garner still together do you think?

    • Lena says:

      Last update I read was April 4 here that she liked that he was a simple guy (as opposed to complicated?). Anything can happen in nine days I guess but she’s been very private with this, probably because he is not show biz and I’m sure wants his privacy which we can all relate. I’ve been surprised at how away from the cameras she’s kept it but proves that both of them (Jen and ben) can do it when they want to.

      • JoJo says:

        In December, ET reported that Jen had slowed things down with John because she wanted to focus on family and getting Ben back on track. Sounds about right for her. And since it was ET, I’m guessing it was PR-sanctioned. Personally, I don’t believe the John Miller boyfriend narrative.

      • Lena says:

        Then the next month ET said “they both wanted to take it slow but it has gotten serious and they couldn’t be happier” and spend time with their children from previous marriages’ at her palisades home. So I guess that was PR sanctioned as well. As Lainey says gossip is a buffet and you can pick and choose what you want to believe. Maybe Louis will come back and tell us what’s what.

  28. Renee says:

    Lindsay will definitely take him back again. She’s proven it time & time again.