Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are divorcing after years of couples therapy and a separation of over six months, sources told Page Six.
The “Batman v Superman” star, 42, and Garner, 43, who have three children, Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3, on Tuesday confirmed they are divorcing after 10 years of marriage.
The Hollywood couple said in a joint statement, “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.”
The couple has recently been going through a rough patch, amid reports of Affleck’s gambling and alleged liaisons with other women, but sources say they’d drifted apart and had been in professional therapy for years. They announced their split a day after their 10th wedding anniversary, but their statement was timed for when their children were out of school for the summer.
A source close to the situation said Affleck and Garner are using a mediator to work out the divorce, noting, “This isn’t going to end up in a dramatic court case, they are trying to resolve it as quickly and easily as possible. Ben and Jennifer have been separated for more than six months. They have been seeing counselors for years. The situation is that people change and they grow apart.
“They plan to share custody and co-parent their kids.” Ben, who has been staying in hotels in recent months, will live on the property of their Brentwood marital home, but will not share the main house, we’re told.
Affleck and Garner met on the set of 2001’s “Pearl Harbor” and starred together in 2003’s “Daredevil.” They wed in June 2005. But during his 2013 Oscars acceptance speech for “Argo,” Affleck alluded to issues in the marriage, saying to Garner in the audience, “I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good. It is work, but the best kind of work, and there’s no one I’d rather work with.”
