Ben Affleck on what it’s like co-parenting with ex-wife Jennifer Garner: ‘Coming up short’
Actor Ben Affleck has joked he feels inadequate as a parent to his three children in comparison with his “spectacular” ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.
In an interview with Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist, Affleck, 54, shared his thoughts on their co-parenting skills with plenty of self-deprecating humour.
Affleck and Garner were married for a decade from 2005 to 2015. Getty
“Their mum is spectacular, and always makes me feel like I’m coming up a little short,” he joked in a preview of the interview, set to air in full on Sunday.
Affleck said he tells their three children, Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14, “I think I’m doing about 75 per cent as good as your mum. And they’re like, ‘Eh, maybe 40 per cent?’ ”
“I’m maxing out. Woo, B+,” he said.
Affleck and Garner, also 54, split in 2015 after a decade of marriage and finalised their divorce in 2018.
But there is still a lot of respect between them he says.
“I think the most important thing is having that mutual respect, being able to get along with that person,” the Gone Girl actor said.
He revealed more about their custody arrangement to Variety, saying he prioritises projects based in Los Angeles so he can stay close by.
“I work hard, and then I go home and pick up the kids from school. We have dinner if they agree to hang out with me,” he said.
“They’re with me for a week, then with their mum for a week. They have a great thing with their mum, for whom I’m also really, really grateful.”
In July, Garner shared her own positive thoughts about Affleck, who she said had “become this incredible co-parent”.
The former couple, pictured with son Samuel and daughter Violet in 2013, have been co-parenting since their split in 2015. WireImage
“He’s wonderful. He takes care of them. He’s a great partner in that way,” she told Entertainment Weekly.
The couple met in 2000 while filming Pearl Harbor.
They reunited while starring in 2003’s Daredevil, though Garner was married to her Felicity co-star Scott Foley and Affleck was engaged to Jennifer Lopez at the time.
They became close friends and eventually began dating in 2004.
