What once was. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner had one of Hollywood’s longest enduring love stories before they eventually called it quits after 10 years of marriage.
The Argo director and the 13 Going on 30 star met in 2001, sparking a romance after Affleck and then-fiancée Jennifer Lopez ended their engagement. After a whirlwind relationship, Affleck and the West Virginia native wed in June 2005, six months before welcoming daughter Violet. Daughter Seraphina and son Samuel arrived in 2009 and 2012, respectively, and the actors announced their separation in June 2015.
“After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce,” the now-exes explained in a statement at the time. “We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to coparenting our children whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time. This will be our only comment on this private, family matter. Thank you for understanding.”
The duo, whose divorce was finalized in October 2018, have since been candid about their emotional split.
“The truth was, we took our time, we made a decision, we grew apart,” Affleck revealed on The Howard Stern Show in December 2021. “We had a marriage that did not work. This happens. It is somebody I love and respect, but to whom I should not be married any longer. And then we said, ‘You know what? We tried. We tried because we had kids.’”
The Good Will Hunting star told host Howard Stern that he believed the former couple “would have ended up at each other’s throats” had they stayed married, noting at the time, “Both of us felt like, ‘We don’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage.’”
Five years prior, the Alias alum shared her perspective on adjusting to life as coparents instead of partners.
“I didn’t marry the big, fat movie star. I married him and I would go back and remake that decision,” Garner told Vanity Fair in March 2016. “I ran down the beach to him and I would again. You can’t have three babies and so much of what we had. He’s the love of my life. He’s the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. He’s just a complicated guy. I always say, ‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it.’ But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow. … It’s not Ben’s job to make me happy. The main thing is these kids — and we’re completely in line with what we hope for them.”
Following their split, the Massachusetts native dated Lindsay Shookus from 2017 to 2019, moving on with his Deep Water costar Ana de Armas from March 2020 to January 2021. Months later, he rekindled his romance with Lopez — whom he was previously engaged to between 2002 and 2004.
Garner, for her part, was first linked to businessman John Miller in 2018. Us Weekly broke the news in May 2021 that the pair reconciled after splitting the previous August.
“Jen and John are serious,” a source exclusively revealed five months later. “They are totally set on a long-term future together. They’ve taken their time to get this committed. John and Jen are in similar places in their lives and can relate to raising kids after a divorce. They’re on the same page and understand where things stand.”
Scroll below to relive Affleck and Garner’s romance journey:
