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After ten years of marriage, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced their divorce to
the relative surprise of fans who thought they were one of the Hollywood couples
who might actually make it.
But like most high-powered pairings, it didn't work out,
leaving lots of questions about what went wrong.
Marriages break up for all kinds of reasons, with both partners usually contributing their
own mistakes, but in this case Ben is shouldering a lot of the blame. Here's why.
HE LIKES TO GAMBLE. KIND OF A LOT.
Affleck famously got himself banned from the blackjack tables at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, which he addressed in an interview with Details.
Although he maintains that blackjack isn't really gambling on account of the skill involved, anyone who's married knows that argument isn't ever going to fly when your spouse thinks you're spending too much time in casinos.
And it's also not true. Even a computer utilizing perfect strategy still has worse odds than the house, which is the only reason casinos offer the game in the first place.
The first step is admitting you have a problem, Ben. Images
HIS AWKWARD OSCAR ACCEPTANCE SPEECH
During his acceptance speech after winning Best Picture for Argo, Affleck thanked his wife
for "working on their marriage for ten Christmases." Yikes. Even if that was meant to
be some sort of compliment, the phrasing just sounds bad.
Why not, "Thanks for your support, honey. I love you so much," or even "I couldn't have
done this without you by my side." Those are guaranteed winners in the acceptance speech
handbook, not: First, you thank God. Then your agent, and then maybe vaguely reference
how marriage is kind of like maintaining a boat.
THERE HAVE ALWAYS BEEN CHEATING RUMORS
Jennifer Lopez called off her marriage to Ben hours before it was supposed to happen,
allegedly over his partying with strippers and other infidelity rumors.
As if that wasn't bad enough, his player reputation surfaced again in a big way years later
regarding his The Town co-star, Blake Lively. Not only could Ben not stop gushing about
what a "fabulous, gorgeous young woman" she was during press junkets, he also did a super
flirty piece for Interview magazine with Blake that even the most understanding of wives
would have raised an eyebrow to. "So what, they just ran out of reporters over there?
Enjoy the couch."
To top that off, in the wake of Affleck and Garner's split, the tabloids
tossed fresh blood in the water with allegations that he had an affair with his kids' nanny
during a family vacation.
This is getting uglier than his Southie accent in Good Will Hunting.
HE COULDN'T CONTROL HIS ANGER AROUND THE
PAPARAZZI
The problem with that is his entire family is usually present, so instead of looking like he
wants to punt someone's telephoto lens into traffic, he comes off as a maniac who can't
stand taking his wife and kids out for ice cream.
There's only so many times Jennifer Garner is going to want to explain to her friends, "No, seeing our children happily play at the park doesn't turn Ben into The Hulk, it's those pesky paparazzi!"
HE'S HAD A FEW PUBLIC DISASTERS LATELY
On an episode of Real Time with Bill Maher, Affleck had an ugly meltdown over clashing
political views between himself and another guest. Granted, political debate often gets
heated, but Affleck lost his cool in a dramatic way, causing the clip to go viral and leaving
people with the impression that his temper may be a problem.
Shortly after that appearance and amidst the Sony hacking fiasco, leaked emails showed
that Affleck persuaded Finding Your Roots producers to scrub certain "unfavorable" details
about his ancestors from his episode.
This actually resulted in an indefinite postponement of the whole series by PBS.
Neither of these specifically points to marital issues, but definitely points to a guy who's
quick to anger and who doesn't have qualms about back channeling in order to keep secrets.
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