Ben Affeck attended the Kiss of the Spider Woman premiere in New York City on Monday. He was there to support his production company, Artists Equity, which executive produced it, and his ex-wife Jennifer Lopez, who’s starring in it. The premiere marked the first public Ben/Jen reunion in quite some time. While doing red carpet interviews, Access Hollywood asked Ben about his older daughter, Violet Affleck, who recently gave a speech at the United Nations about public health. Ben’s three children with Jennifer Garner are now 19, (Violet), 16 (Fin), and 13 (Samuel). In his answer, Ben not only praised Violet, but also Jennifer Garner, declaring himself lucky to have a “great partner and…great kids.”
The actor and filmmaker, 53, made a red carpet appearance at the premiere of the film Kiss of the Spider-Woman, which Affleck produced, and spoke with Access Hollywood about his involvement in the movie. During the interview, the dad of three was also asked about his daughter Violet, who recently testified at the United Nations.
“I could not be more proud of my children. I can’t even tell you,” said Affleck.
“[Violet] takes after her mom. She’s spectacular,” he continued, referring to Garner. “And I’m very lucky that I’ve got a great partner and that we got great kids. It’s the joy of my life and I’m just very, very lucky. And it makes me happy every day.”
Oh I bet that Ben is grateful to have a parenting partner like Jen. She really does deserve so much credit for holding that family together. Over the past few years, they’ve been fantastic at putting on a united front for their kids, whether it was a major life event, routine school function, or simple family outing. I’m sure coparenting wasn’t always easy, but I appreciate that Ben recognizes it and always gives Jen the proper credit. I also bet that Ben is super proud of Violet, too! Speaking at the United Nations at 19 is a huge accomplishment. I would be so proud of my kid, too. And while Garner does deserve a lot of credit, Ben deserves a little bit, too. For all of his flaws, he’s incredibly intelligent and politically minded. I’m sure he’s had plenty of conversations with Violet about news and current events that have also helped shape her opinions.
photos credit: BauerGriffin/INSTARimages, Nicky Nelson/Wenn/Avalon, Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty
Those children are a credit to Jen Garner only. What raising has he done? I will say he sets a great example of what not to do with your personal life.
Amen. Affair with the nanny. Back seat of the car looking wrecked, while mom drove him to rehab again. Swiftly moved out of the house when JLo wasn’t looking, when the reality of an adult relationship and marriage set in. Jen has been the good example. These kids have always lived with Jen. He’s had shared custody, but they’ve always been in her house. She gave up acting opportunities for years to take care of her kids, and to make up for the lack of parenting from a non-sober husband. She deserves all the flowers.
The most impressive thing to me is she’s never badmouthed him. Not once. Not even for that bizarre Oscar speech (remember that???). She has way more restraint than I do lol.
👏🏼 👏🏼 👏🏼
Exactly!
He doesn’t get credit for raising them. Their mother raised them while he banged their nanny and drank and partied.
He abandoned them to his addiction.
OK, but I straight up chortled when I clicked on this article, looked at the headline and then scrolled down to see the lead photo being a photo of Ben and Matt.
He deserves no credit. She has done everything to raise them and to facilitate a somewhat healthy relationship between them and him. He’s a terrible self centered selfish human being. They don’t make good fathers. They can be managed into being ok fathers with limited exposure and training.
Agreed.
He gets zero praise from me.
Signed,
The child of addicts
Luckily Ben knew when to get out of the way.
There’s a lot of, “what has he done?” floating about, but he seems to have been both a present and good parent. He’s pretty messy in relationships and has some other issues, but he shows up for every kid thing, seems to try to keep them grounded, and by looks his kids all really like him. Garner has obviously done a lot to help that and is of course herself a stellar parent, but it’s not like he’s a deadbeat.
I agree with this.
Whatever his messiness has been in relationships, the actions of both Jen and the kids indicate he’s always been an involved, loving father.
I respectfully disagree.
The very nature of addiction means you are not present in your life. The addiction is #1 and everything else takes second place (career, health, spouse, children, etc).
I applaud him for his sobriety. I will always applaud and support an addict that is working on sobriety. Even if they relapse and keep trying again.
But while he was in his addiction he lost time with his loved ones. It’s a cold, hard fact. That time is lost.
I admire him only for the authentic appreciation and public praise he has given to Jen G. That is admirable for sure.
He even had JLo tending to his kids, at one point. He really is luckier than he deserves.