Jennifer Lopez reacted to boyfriend Ben Affleck’s comments about his ex-Jennifer Garner and how he appeared to blame her for his “alcoholism.”
The 52-year-old actress said reports she was upset with the “Justice League” star over his comments were “simply not true,” People magazine reported in a piece published Saturday. (RELATED: Ben Affleck Opens Up About How His Alcoholism Almost Ruined His Family)
“It is not how I feel,” she added. “I couldn’t have more respect for Ben as a father, a co-parent, and a person.” (RELATED: REPORT: Alex Rodriguez Is ‘Shocked’ That Jennifer Lopez Has ‘Moved On’ With Ben Affleck)
Jennifer Lopez insists she is NOT angry with boyfriend Ben Affleck over his comments about ex-wife Jennifer Garner https://t.co/TqMUDTQR5j
— Daily Mail Celebrity (@DailyMailCeleb) December 19, 2021
During an interview on Sirius XM “The Howard Stern Show,” the “Gone Girl” star told the host that part of the reason he “started drinking was because” he felt “trapped” in his marriage to Garner.
“I was like, ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?'” Ben explained. “And what I did was [I] drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”
“Ultimately, we tried, we tried, we tried because we had kids, but both of us felt like we didn’t want this to be the model that our kids see of marriage,” he added. “Everything you read [in the news about the divorce] was bulls–t. The truth was we took our time, we made our decision … We grew apart.”
Affleck also said Jennifer is someone he loves and respects, but that they had “a marriage that didn’t work” and shouldn’t be “married any longer.”
Following the backlash against the 49-year-old actor over his comments, he went on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” show to correct the record and said it was “not true,” E! News reported.
“That’s not true,” the superstar actor shared. “I don’t believe that. It’s the exact opposite of who I am, what I believe and I would never want my kids to think I would ever say a bad word about their mom…it hurts my feelings.”
“I had gone on and said how much we respect each other and cared about each other and cared about our kids and put them first and went through our stuff,” he added.
Lopez, who has two kids with ex-husband Marc Anthony, has been linked romantically with her former fiancé, Ben since April 2021. Affleck was previously married to Garner from 2005-2018 and the two share three kids together. He and Lopez were engaged in the early 2000s.