(CNN) – Ben Affleck decided to clear up a few things.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Posted Thursday, the actor tried to explain away the rumors that the viral “Ben Affleck having a hard time at the Grammys” meme spawned about his relationship with Jennifer Lopez, after the pair appeared to have visibly different reactions during the event.
Affleck said he was actually having fun, but when he saw Grammy host Trevor Noah walk up to them, he thought, “Oh, gosh.”
“They were focusing on the shot, but I didn’t know they were filming. I leaned over to her and said, ‘As soon as they start broadcasting, I’m going to walk away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor,'” Affleck explained.
“She replied: ‘You better not go.’ That’s a husband and wife thing. I mean, some of that is, and I’m like, ”Okay, whose event is this?” Like I don’t keep up. My wife does, obviously. And yes, it’s your wife’s work event,” she added.
Affleck also referred to the controversy that was sparked by comments he made in 2021 during an interview with Howard Stern about his previous marriage to actress Jennifer Garner.
“I had a really painful experience where I did an interview when I was really vulnerable, and all that came back was something that not only wasn’t right, but actually the opposite of what I wanted to say,” Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter.
The actor-director faced a barrage of criticism after saying he felt “stuck” in his relationship with Garner.
“It’s part of the reason I started drinking,” Affleck told Stern. “Because he was trapped.”
Ben Affleck’s comments about Jennifer Garner “were misrepresented”
Affleck told The Hollywood Reporter that he never tried to blame Garner for his drinking. “To be clear, my behavior is entirely my responsibility,” she said.
“What I was trying to say was something sad. Anyone who has gone through a divorce makes that calculation of how hard do we try? we loved each other We care about each other. We respect each other,” Affleck said in the new interview.
“I was trying to say, ‘Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it’s because of your job, your marriage, it’s just that as your life gets more difficult, if you’re doing things to fill a void that’s not healthy, you’re going to start doing more of those things.’”
The couple finally broke up in 2015.
Affleck said he believes his comments were “twisted to generate clickbait“. In that sense he added: “It didn’t matter how many times I said: ‘I don’t feel like that. I’m telling you, I don’t blame my ex-wife for my alcoholism.’”
Affleck and Jennifer Lopez met again nearly 20 years after they first got engaged and married in July 2022.
“[Jennifer Lopez] tells me today, ‘Relax, be yourself. Have fun. You’re actually a funny guy, who’s real and genuine and you seem so serious,’” Affleck told the publication. “Do I look serious? But as in many things, he is absolutely right. And she loves me. She is taking care of me. She’s trying to help me.”
