In news that gives us no joy to report, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner announced their divorce just a day after their 10th anniversary. Just a few hours ago, they issued a standard public statement on the dissolution of their marriage:
“After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce. We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting 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.”
This wouldn’t come as a surprise to those who have been following their relationship closely in the last few weeks. Starting in May, intense rumors about the couple leading “separate lives” arose, amid speculation that Ben hadn’t been wearing his wedding ring anymore. Jezebel took the liberty of compiling all of the tabloid gossip surrounding Bennifer, which mostly point to Ben being at fault in the marriage. From an apparent midlife crisis to having a gambling problem, OK Magazine also reported that his timing for the divorce announcement took his impending promotions for upcoming films into account.
“Ben wants the official statement to come out a few weeks before their 10th anniversary June 29 — which he hopes will give enough time for the news to die down by the time he has to promote Batman v Superman and the other movies he has coming out next year.”
Like most Hollywood pairings, their union was surprising, and didn’t exactly get off to an auspicious start. At the time when they met on the set of Pearl Harbor, Ben was engaged to Jennifer Lopez in a romance heavily reported by tabloids (“Bennifer” began the trend of combining celebrity names), while Jennifer was still married to actor Scott Foley. Soon after, news reports surfaced that they fell in love on the set of Daredevil and it wasn’t long before they were married.
They have three children together—Violet, 9; Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3.
Photo courtesy of In Touch Weekly
