Ben Affleck hasn’t been the luckiest when it comes to his romances. The Oscar-winning actor and director’s love life has been in the tabloids for decades, and even his children know that things have gotten messy for their famous father.
During a recent interview with Jimmy Kimmel, Affleck spoke about parenting his three children, Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14, whom he shares with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. Ben didn’t hold back when he opened up about give his kids relationship advice, which he says they don’t take serious because of his history.
Ben Affleck’s Kids Don’t Want His Advice On Dating
“I said, ‘Well, the thing about that relationship there with that person is…’ and the 17-year-old just turns to me and goes, ‘Oh, like you’re the expert on relationships?’” Affleck said during the interview.
“I give advice and try to talk to them, parent them as you do. What I found is that now it’s not only one teenager rolling their eyes,” he continued. “I’ll kind of launch into something at the dinner table and I’ll catch them giving each other looks and I realize I’m the caricature in this story.”
Affleck’s Relationship History
Ben Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. The pair eventually divorced in 2018 after several years together. However, they remain on good terms and appear to co-parent successfully. The Gone Girl star has also been romantically linked to women such as Gwyneth Paltrow, Ana de Armas, and Lindsay Shookus.
Although, his most high-profile relationship has been with Jennifer Lopez. The duo first began dating in the early 2000s and became engaged soon after. However, just before their wedding date, they revealed that they had cancelled their nuptials and eventually announced their split.
During that relationship, Ben and Jen were the hottest couple in Hollywood, even earning the nickname “Bennifer” by the media. Shockingly, 20 years after ending their original relationship, the pair reunited. Fans were stunned to see Ben and JLo back together, and duo seemed to pick up right where they left off.
What Has Ben Affleck Said About His Divorce From Jennifer Lopez?
The couple got married in 2022 and just two years later called it quits. Since their divorce, both have remained respectful when it comes to speaking about one another in public. They’ve also been seen spending time together, and bringing their children with them.
“There’s no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue. The truth is, when you talk to somebody, ‘Hey, what happened?’ Well, there is no, ‘This is what happened,'” Affleck said of the split with JLo, per PEOPLE. “It’s just a story about people trying to figure out their lives and relationships in ways that we all sort of normally do,” he added.
Other Celebrity Parents Have Strong Opinions About Their Kids’ Relationships
Affleck isn’t the only celebrity parent who has spoken about the influence parents can have on their children’s future relationships. Reese Witherspoon told Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert Podcast that she believes fathers have a very important influence on their kids, especially their daughters, when it comes to relationships.
“It is so, so important what you say to your daughters. You write on their mind with a Sharpie. It’s not a dry-erase board,” she stated, per Yahoo. Witherspoon and Shepard agreed that fathers’ words to their daughters and the way they lead by example in the type of partners they are can be critical in their kids’ future relationships.
Despite his complicated history, Ben Affleck’s comments about his divorce from Lopez suggest that he isn’t interested in turning his past relationships into ammunition against his former partners. Instead, he appears to have reached a point where he can acknowledge that relationships sometimes simply don’t work out. This is a lesson his children may eventually appreciate, even if they’re not quite ready to take dating advice from their dad just yet.
Amanda Lynne focuses on human interest news, entertainment topics, and trending news. She has nearly 20 years of experience writing online news for several outlets.
