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The last time we checked in with Jennifer Garner, she was telling US Magazine, through sources, that she was back with her ex too. Jennifer has reunited with businessman John Miller, who was only photographed with her twice that I know of over the course of their two year relationship. Jennifer and John were split for less than a year before they gave it another try, which is typical. Meanwhile her ex, Ben Affleck, has quite spectacularly reunited with his ex fiance, Jennifer Lopez. Like the cicadas Bennifer has reemerged after 17 years, and they want us to know about it. There are stories about them in the celebrity press just about every day. In response to that, a source told E! that Garner doesn’t want to get dragged into that mess, essentially.
A source tells E! News there’s one person who “doesn’t want to be a part of the circus or media attention in any way.” Ben Affleck’s ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.
“She’s trying to live her life and raise her kids and the last thing she wants to be doing is be dealing with Ben’s love life,” the insider explains of [Garner] “Her focus is always on the kids’ happiness and Ben being a good father.”
We know Garner is not above leaking details to the press or giving an interview in exchange for a cover, but even she sees how over the top her ex and Jennifer Lopez are being. I actually feel a little sorry for her in this instance. Ben is being absolutely cringey about his relationship with Jennifer and it’s got to be embarrassing. Keep her name out of this.
Ben posted a nice message for Jennifer along with a slideshow of family moments on Mother’s Day, writing “So happy to share these kids with you. Luckiest parents in the world. Thanks for all the good you do.” I really liked the photo from Halloween I’m assuming, where they’re dressed up like characters from Wizard of Oz. Ben blurred the kids’ faces. He’s dressed as The Tin Man, Jen is The Good Witch, Seraphina is the Scarecrow, Violet is Dorothy and Samuel, who was just a toddler, is The Cowardly Lion. Cute!
Jennifer and her Yes Day costar, Edgar Ramirez, visited a shelter last week for migrant families called Casa Alitas, which is along the US border in Arizona. They gave out food, read stories to children and toured the facilities. Jennifer shared a video to her Instagram of their visit and it was touching. She does so much good work with Save The Children and I really admire her for that. She also deserves a lot of credit for continuing to deal with Ben’s sh-t.
Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck are shown taking their son to a swimming class on 5/1/21. Credit: Backgrid. Other photos credit: Getty
I feel like Ben is cooking up some weird PR game because he’s run out of chances in Hollywood. Ben treated her like garbage and she needs to ignore him outright (from a PR standpoint, obviously they have kids together and she can’t ignore him completely).
I think she mainly doesn’t want her children to be part of the circus. Jlo and Ben better to leave their innocent children out of their romance. If I were Jen Garner I would be very angry about this.
I would too. It’s disrespectful to her – and the kids. All of them.
Nah. He always seemed more into Gwyneth Paltrow than JLo or Jen Garner. Too bad for her her parents steered her away from that relationship. They were cute and chill together.
Didn’t Gwyneth once famously say “Ben’s ideal woman is a stripper with a beer in each hand”?
It really makes me angry when silly fans pit their fave against a love interests ex as if it makes their fave look better. As if only woman is allowed to win at a time. As if any of these men, Ben Affleck or Brad Pitt, are catches in the first place. It’s disgusting. I’m sure Jen G and Ana will have a spike in trolls because some humans are stupid like that.
That’s too true about fandoms. Jennier Garner is a sweetheart and is in a much better mental place right now. Even if Ben has completely turned his life around, I don’t think she would ever take him back. Out of all his exes, I think she suffered the most. When you’ve been with someone with a substance abuse issue and you suffered the brunt of it, there are some things you just can’t get past. It’s part of your own trauma now.
Does Ben see his kids beyond 1-2/week visitation? Because it seems like Jen pretty much has the kids full time while Ben gets to run around living his best (messy) life.
That’s what it seems like. I’m separated from my ex. Same situation 1-2 time’s a week (430-8) and every other weekend. He has so much free time to do whatever he wants, while I’m at home managing a kid with medical issues and special needs. I love my baby and wouldn’t do anything different, but it is really hard. The nights he has him they get fast food or takeout bc the other nights he’s just “too tired to get groceries.” Works 7-4 at mostly a desk jobs Guess who ends up having to do home cooked, healthy meals the other times? Men are exhausting.
Lol. But didn’t she just insert herself into this narrative? I mean, sure we are all a bit curious about her thoughts about Bennifer 2021, but I didn’t need a nothing comment from her camp. Sounds like she wants to travel with the circus to me.
I was about to say something similar. If you don’t want to be apart of the circus, don’t leak that you don’t want to be a part of the circus.
She definitely does and we also had those stories about how she was back with her ex too.
JG is maybe too hyper about getting out in front of things, but after the last time she had to cart his a— to rehab, she probably does want to have a public position that clearly indicates that she is not responsible for BA beyond opening the door provided he shows up sober for visitation.
Oh yes. And nobody’s clamoring for tea on John Miller 🥱
LOL. Does John Miller know that they’ve started dating? I think it’s purely for PR so she doesn’t look pathetic.
The whole “goody two-shoes” narrative around her public image is an eyeroller for me because she has been just as messy as anyone else in her personal romantic life. Not to mention the many, many pap strolls to the farmers’ market, etc. once upon a time before she realized just how messed up the paparazzi were going to be with regard to her children.
Thank you. It just shows how a certain kind of white bread person gets cut a lot of slack.
The Sunday farmers market trips were clearly an attempt to give her kids a weekly lesson about organic veggies and supporting small farmers despite being in LA. Her Instagram is filled with both these two themes. They are literally the mission statement of her baby food company. Not to mention the absurdity of the idea that Jennifer Garner would need to call the paps for that.
Her pics sell. The drab photos of a woman showing her daughter how to tell a ripe fruit would get hundreds of comments. I recommend The Paparazzi Podcast by Mark Karloff. You’ll find out that she’s a target because the demand is high and she refuses to live inside. Angelina Jolie for instance didn’t leave her compound for a year, now that she does try to live an ordinary life with her kids, people accuse her of calling paps for shopping trips.
My thoughts exactly. Like lindsay lohan posting about her personal life then asking for privacy.
Lol reminds me of Carole Middleton publicizing that she wasn’t going to publicize her magazine cover out of respect for Prince Philip.
Seriously.
Also: JG got knocked up how long after Ben was separated from JLO? But she doesn’t like mess.
JG STAYS inserting herself into the gossip surrounding Ben’s love life. Like girl, go make a Netflix movie.
She dumped her first husband Scott for co-star Michael Vartan, then dumped Vartan as soon as Affleck was available. And yes, she got her ring the old fashioned way.
Plenty of messiness to go around there.
Miss Melissa, she cheated on the husband with Vartan and with Affleck on Vartan. She always traded ‘up’ as she saw it. She knew what she was doing.
right? No one was inserting her into this.
Whatever Ben’s antics it will always will make his kids (and Jen) a heat score for the press and paps so it does affect her and them. I’m sure her people were asked what her response was just like they asked Ben’s sometimes best friend Matt Damon about it. Ben (and JLo)! KNOW that letting the world in on their little rendezvous will make their lives (and those around them like kids) a circus. I’m sure that’s part of the attraction.
Maybe this is a shot across Bennifer’s bow that she is not going to have her kids paraded out like the Rodrigues kids and Jennifer’s kids were. Remember how the kids were always on Front Street during that relationship? Jennifer Garner keeps her kids pretty much in the background.
I wouldn’t go that far. Her kids have been on parade on and off for years. Anyone remember the Argo Oscar campaign? The pumpkin patch photos?
I find her bellyaching about kids privacy while actively calling the paps (or having her people do it) to get Ben an Oscar the heights of hypocrisy. Same goes for Kristen Bell. Complains about privacy and then overshares every damn detail about her kids.
Yes, she trotted her kids out for pap walks for years.
Their kids are the most photographed in Hollywood. I remember the daily parades to pap friendly places.
I kinda doubt we’ll see Ben’s and jen’s kids on Instagram blended family photos like we did JRod’s. If anything ben’s imploded relationship with Ana proved you can move too fast with that sort of publicity. And JLo’s kids need time to grieve even though she doesn’t. I hope both have learned a lesson to leave the kids out of it (snort!)
I know Jennifer doesn’t want to be involved with the messy, over the top, extraness of OG Bennifer. It was exhausting 17 years ago and not much has changed since.
I love that video of Jen & Edgar at the camp. Had no idea she spoke Spanish.
Smart woman.
No doubt her peep were asked and she gave a response.
Come the very messy end, she can be excluded from the narrative.😉😉😉😉
He can’t go five minutes without someone can he? Of course, neither can Jennifer Lopez. Ugh. I feel bad for his kids someday reading about their trolling dad.
His daughters are old enough to read about the adventures of their father now. He is rich and famous but he caused a lot of problems to his kids.
Well she has kids with him and is coparenting, so she is always going to be a part of his mess, in many ways. Sad for the kids.
Jennifer Garner is kinda messy too.
I know she likes to put forward this “Garner Girls don’t do this and that.”
She has made a few missteps, she uses social media just like JLo and exposes her kids to make money. Didn’t Garner win an award for her curated Instagram?
Her “I’m above all of this and I want nothing to do with it” comes across as a bit disingenuous and it feels like a microaggression against the Latina Jennifer who does charity work as well, thank you very much.
I don’t think this is her trying to paint a Latina in a negative light.
JLO and Ben are constantly in the tabloids with their romances-even when they’re stable. Their last time together they were a dumpster fire. JLo has the bad luck of being with cheaters constantly. Jennifer G may have been messy but after Ben she has kept all that out of the spotlight. Ben manages to be a hot mess even when Garner was micromanaging him. Why are people dumping on her when she’s permanently tied to Bens drama. She’s obligated (to an extent) to help him with his addiction issues due to their kids.
I have a relapsing alcoholic (every 7 years or so it happens) in our family and we’d love to separate ourselves from that mess but because they are family we never really can. Their plight becomes our plight and the only person who can change that path is the person who struggles with addiction. It’s an exhausting disease and traumatizes everyone in the circle.
She literally had her social media manager living with her during lockdown.
She’s had some private mis-steps but Bennifer is on another level of… something. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s too much in our faces.
This has nothing to do with J.Lo. being Latina. Not everything is a slight against JLo, because she’s Latina. *eye roll* JLo is pathetic all on her own.
That nice Mother’s Day message to her could have been done privately, but Ben wants the good PR. Never mind all the shit he put Garner through over the years and that even after their divorce, she had the haul his ass to rehab not too long ago.
Exactly.
I just can’t imagine having to continually parent the father of your children.
I feel bad for JG. Same way I feel bad for anyone in a failed relationship that got hurt, except in her case, it ALL gets played out in the media. I understand that she did also use the media to her advantage when she wanted to–with the farmers marrket pap strolls etc. But I don’t know, I kind of feel like if your life was going to be splashed across the tabloids anyway, might as well use it when it suits you ad get something out of it. I also don’t have any paps chasing me so it is hard for me to know exactly what I would do in her shoes.
I am currently in a huge mess relationship-wise. I feel suicidal most of the time. (I don’t think i am in any real danger, it is more that I can’t see to the other side of all this and things feel so completely hopeless) We have a child, and that adds a lot to the messiness. I am so hurt, and I know that ultimately,I can’t ever truly get away from him. So when he moves on with his new love interest, I get to watch. And share my kid with her. (And I do understand that if she fully embraces my kid..ultimately that is what is going to be best for my kid, as opposed to someone who isn’t good to them) I haven’t even told my friends ANY of this. I am so embarrased and honestly the pain is almost immobilizing. So I sure as hell can imagine what it would be like to not only have to share yor mess with your immediate circle– but also the whole GD world.
I’m sorry to hear that Turtledove. My sister has been there, and she got to the other side of it, I believe you will too. But I hope you confide in someone who lives near you just so you know that person (or people) can help if needed. And I agree. Jen’s life is already kind of of proxy-splashed because her ex and the father of her children is always out there. She needs to make her own money and feeding the media a little something helps with that. Why not? Also, if I were her I would want some control of the narrative too.
Turtle, I promise you 5 years from now you will have a fantastic new life. You will get to the other side of this. If you’re not ready to talk to a friend, talk about this online. So many women have been where you are now, and they can help you. You have a future.
+1
@Turtledove I’ve been exactly where you are right now. I know just how crippling it is; it’s unbearable to be in your own skin, your own body, and you can’t imagine what a life can look like without this person who seems to be the very core of your being. You’re going through the most painful stage of grief, that’s like an actual bereavement.
It passes.
You may not believe now, but day by day the pain will lighten. Little by little, you’ll get yourself back. You’ll be able to extricate and disentangle yourself from your partner. You’ll find yourself laughing spontaneously. You’ll find joy in things.
In the meantime, treat yourself as if you were made of glass. Be careful with yourself. Be kind to yourself. Treat yourself to little things, nurture yourself. Find things that bring colour into your world. Try to avoid unnecessary contact. Don’t allow him to give you pain. Cherish yourself.
You’ve got nothing to be embarrassed about. I think you should talk to a friend or close family member about it. Right now you’re carrying it all on your shoulders, let someone in to help carry the load. You’ll feel so much better. The best way to alleviate those dark feelings and emotions is to shine a light on them. You take away their power when you share them with others.
@Turtledove, I understand. When my marriage was ending I felt just what you are describing. It took me a long time to tell my friends and family what I was going through, but when I did and was able to receive their love and support it made a huge difference. I only wish I had told them much, much sooner as I think it would have helped me cope through my dark days better.
Something that was very helpful to me was to imagine it was my best friend in my position, and what I would tell her and what I would do to help her. When I thought of it that way it was so much easier for me to see what I needed to do, and easier to actually tell my friends so they could support me. I’m wishing you the best and hoping that you’ll start to feel the pain easing soon.
Thank you all. I know that I am not in a unique position. I really do. I know people got through it. It is just so much right now. (and my mom died a week ago, so I am a bit at the end of my rope for trauma) As with probably every marriage, it is complicated. I don’t want him mad at me, as he can be a very cruel person. He is in love with a woman he met online who lives on the other side of the damn country and he has never met her in person yet. I knew about her last summer, but what I thought was happening was that they had an emotional connection that was inappropriate given he is married, but, that they were still friends. This week I found out that they consider themselves togeher, and that they text all day every day. She is willing to move here for him and do whatever it takes to make it work. He comes from a family of divorce that was extremely volatile and does not want that for his kid. (ha.little late to worry about that) he does not wat to look like the bad guy and wants me to remain his best friend and have god damn holidays together. “She wants to be your friend”. No, he’s not kidding. Look, that could be beautiful if maybe he left when he was unhappy and then found her. But that is not what happened. i have been an absolute doormat our entire marriage and now he thinks I will continue to be when he up and finds a new woman? It doesn’t help that I just hit 50, and she is 30. He’s 45 so their age gap isn’t terrible. But from my perspetive I feel like he took the best years of my life, waited until I was old (sorry to those my age or older–i know 50 is nothing but I am currently feeling it so hard) and then decided he wants to find a 30 year old to adore him. He is not nlie Ben Affleck acually in that he needs CONSTANT attention. He needs that new love attention and after 20 years and a child, things were still great with us but obviously were not like a BRAND new relationship. In the meantime, he is an extremely moody person and is walking around in a funk as if HIS life is over. And I can’t sa any of this to him because i don’t have enough money to just up and leave, so for now, I am stuck living in this house. We live in an area where I am going to struggle A LOT once I am a single mom. (And I know many people are struggling. I am not special. But to jsut have ALL these factors at once is making me literally unable to even THINK clearly. i only jsut heard those few details about the other woman, nd all of them just keep playing over in my head. “Willing to do anything to make it work”- you mean like I have for 20 years, much to the detriment of my happiness and mental health…only to have you leave NOW?
I’m really sorry, turtledove. That is so much trauma to go through.
I know it’s of little comfort now, but I can’t imagine that this is really going to work out for him, and it’s pretty shocking that he would implode his whole family for someone he has not even met yet. Online communication is VASTLY different than living day to day with someone. I would not be surprised if it falls apart quickly, and what a sad mistake he will have made.
I hope things improve for you on every front.
Dear Turtledove – thank you for sharing your story with us. I promise you things will get better. I think many of us CBers have been through similar situations where the men we trusted and loved turned on us for all the wrong reasons. Karma WILL come for him and his online girlfriend, believe you me. True story:
In 1977/78 I was in a relationship with a wonderful man. Above all we were great friends as well as romantic partners. Long story short he went to LA to visit a friend who was a bigwig in the music biz, met a well known singer and dumped me like used kleenex. She’d found out about me but went after him like a heat-seeing missile anyway. How could I win? I was a nothingburger of a secretary, she was a celebrity — beautiful, charismatic and talented. But she was also batshit crazy. They got married within 5 months despite not spending much time together — he lived in Canada and they only got to see each other once a month or so for a week or two. Long story short, the marriage was not a happy one after a few years of getting to know each other but they had a baby to raise by then and she was the light of their lives. Well as the years went by her career tanked, he realized she was spoiled, self-obsessed, deceitful child, but they didn’t divorce until their daughter was out of the nest. It was ugly and she ruined him financially and emotionally, and still harasses him 7 years later.
Then one night in 2014 we ran into each other by chance at a bar near my home. We ended up talking late into the night and started spending time together. After a heartfelt apology and admission that he’d fucked up big time, he revealed the struggles he’d had with her, and as I found out more and more about the hellish marriage he went through I thought… “Karma baby, the Karma bus came for you and her”.
We are now in our sixth year of living together and happy as a couple of bugs in a rug. BTW, I’m 68 and he’s 71, so it appears there’s no time limit on finding love.
Thank you to ALL of you for the support and sharing your stories. I actually felt a huge relief to type out what I did, keeping it to myself was not helping but I really felt sort of paralyzed. I have only shared the tip of the iceberg and I don’t even know where to begin with my friends who will be shocked) There are two ways it can go for him, maybe they will be great, maybe they won’t. And neither makes me feel much better right NOW as my life feels like it is imploding. But really, what happens with them is I suppose, not really my business. Heck, if we didn’t have a child tying us together forever, I’d be happy to never know ANYTHING about what happens with them. Knowing that I will HAVE to know is ome small thing that bothers me. I will be the stuggling single mom, and she will go on vacations with my kid. And for my kid’s sake, the resentment that brings to me will need to be hidden. While he can go happily live his life and my kid will never know what an asshole he is.
But I mean, yeah, they have never met. Long distance texts vs actual relationship is QUITE the difference. Part of me has to wonder just how a great a place a woman is in to get involved with a married man with a young child, continue that for at least a year (it’s longer but I don’t know how long and I don’t want to ask as the few details I do know are just tormenting me) , and then say they are willing to move across the country with their kid and do “whatever it takes” to make it work. Maybe she is not such a prize or maybe the pickings are just that bad out there in the dating world.
In anycase, I do know I can get through this. I don’t feel like it NOW, because everything is so painful and my head is just swarming, I can barely focus. But somewhere in there, deep down, I know that logically, this too shall pass. It is just going to take some time to even get to a point where I can start thinking of a plan and how to get the heck out of here. It’s also very frustrating to feel like “this is not what I wanted for my life” and to have done everything for this asshat, only to have him do this NOW. And of course, maybe I should have made better choices and not thought we were a match made in heaven because he is lovable but difficult and “I could handle him.” He did take a lot of my life away, and I did make huge sacrifices for him, and that infuriates me, but also, hey I MADE the sacrifices, there was no gun to my head. It made it easier to go along with whatever made him happy, but I can’t entirely lay it on him. I acted like a doormat, and can be as angry as I want for him walking all over me, but I still WAS the doormat. That is on me.
Just reading the headline makes me agree 100%.
Jen Garner is the primary caregiver to 3 children. She was always the adult in their marriage.
Divorced from Affleck. She does the heavy lifting with their children everyday.
WTH do people keep trying to paint her as Ben dependent?
She has Moved.On.
Yes, this hits a sore spot with me, IRL I’ve been divorced 20+ years and still some idiots will say to me “Oh how is “Ex name here” or even worse “You know you could have fixed him.”
To hell with that 1000%!
I saved myself and our children. I am not responsible or accountable for an adult man. I refuse to listen to this bs from people. I respond with a hard stare “Take care, bye” and I no longer give one hot damn if it seems rude, they are the rude ones.
Good for you
Thanks 😀
You sound like a strong woman – we’re not here to “fix” bad men or put up with their BS.
“Like the cicadas Bennifer has reemerged after 17 years…”
🤣🤣🤣
Dead. I am using a spirit board to type this because that joke slayed me.
I know it’s for PR but at least Ben has always publicly acknowledged what a good mother Jennifer is. Never tried to paint her as a bitter alienator. I’m sure he’s put her through hell but at the very least he gives her that little bit of respect, probably doesn’t fight her much on custody issues either.
Not a soul was even asking Garner what she thought about the Bennifer Redux, but here she is, leaking her thoughts and feelings to her favorite rags. More proof that no one checks for her unless it has something to do with Ben Affleck.
I’m sure she would rather not say a thing but she has children with him and that makes it her business. She is acting like a responsible parent and wants to protect them from any future fallout. Given the history between those two, there is going to be something. No child wants to see their parent’s craziness out there, on full blast for the whole world to see and judge.
“Like the cicadas…” ha! Y’all are all such clever writers. Thank you for your years of entertainment!!
Jen G. seems to always had to difficult conversations with her children. Ben’s rehab & the nanny just to name a few! Jen Lopez’s children apparently got close with Arod’s children after being together for 4 years. Her children are trying to get over not seeing Arod nor his children. They seemed to be a happy blended family. Arod & Jen only broke up months ago! She should be spending quality time consoling her children not jetting off to Montana with a previous ex- lover who makes poor life choices.
I don’t ever see Ben & Jen L.’s children blending into one happy family…but I could be wrong!!!
Hope it doesn’t get to the insane level that ARod is heading toward.
Today I saw he posted a pic of him and two of his kids having a meal….with THREE EMPTY PLACE SETTINGS at the table. Golly gee…wonder who *those* three spaces were set for…??? Hmmm…. I’m stumped.
That is just outright bizarre!
Don’t worry
Blues Clues
Why would I be worried?
This is kind of like Taylor Swift announcing “I’m erasing myself from this narrative!”
Don’t announce your intentions to not be involved. Just….don’t be involved. Now, if someone approaches you with questions, I can understand a brief, “Not my business, not involved.” But to issue a statement?
You know she’s keeping up on things.
It is her business, though. She has children with Ben, which means she’s stuck with him forever no matter what. His choices do affect her if they affect their children.
I love Jlo, but would not want her drama around my kids. I am 100% on Jennifer Garner’s side with this one. Jlo life is a reality show, always on camera. I am all about A rod getting owned by her for his cheating, but not at the expense of kids on either side. Garner dealing with Ex husband drama in addition to his new ex girlfriend drama got to be overwhelming.
Exactly. I do not get the irrational hatred people on here have for Jennifer Garner, considering what Ben put her through. The fact she still has to parent him and drag him to rehab even after divorcing him is ridiculous. She is stuck with him for life, because they have kids together.
It’s one thing to have a messy romantic life when there are no kids in the picture (Bennifer 1.0 and JG’s love life in the 2000’s), but once kids are part of the equation, you need to put their stability first. Maybe Bennifer 2.0 only happens when the kids are with the other parent, but frankly I doubt that’s the case. At least J Lo upgraded to a Red Sox fan.
Downgraded you mean. lol
Used to feel like Affleck was the bad one in that relationship but now I see why he drinks. Feel bad for him he couldn’t hang on to Ana de Armas, who is probably the best girl he ever got.
Hopefully one day he will meet a kindhearted girl wearing a bikini who hands him a cold glass of beer. Garner is a lost cause.