Ben Affleck Compared Jennifer Lopez’s Childhood Trauma to His Alcoholism
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez have been through a lot in recent months, as divorces are never easy on anyone. But at the height of their relationship, they were very supportive of one another. Lopez even felt she found someone who she could truly be herself around. But although the singer may have appeared to have the perfect life, Affleck noted that she had her own demons to battle. And those demons reminded Affleck of his own.
Ben Affleck compared Jennifer Lopez’s trauma to alcoholism
Affleck’s in a much healthier place after his lifelong battle with alcoholism. He’d grappled with it on and off since his younger years, usually turning to the bottle as a source of comfort. In a 2020 interview with The New York Times, Affleck described the almost inescapable pattern that alcoholism created.
“People with compulsive behavior, and I am one, have this kind of basic discomfort all the time that they’re trying to make go away,” Affleck said. “You’re trying to make yourself feel better with eating or drinking or sex or gambling or shopping or whatever. But that ends up making your life worse. Then, you do more of it to make that discomfort go away. Then, the real pain starts. It becomes a vicious cycle you can’t break. That’s at least what happened to me.”
Lopez may not have experienced the same type of addiction Affleck did. However, the “Jenny on the Block” hitmaker had her own demons to battle. Her documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told took an in-depth look at Lopez’s professional and personal life. Affleck makes an appearance in the feature, revealing the types of internal battles Lopez has fought for years.
“Jen felt emotionally neglected as a child,” Affleck said in her documentary. “We are kind of learning more and more. It doesn’t have to be like the kind of trauma where you’re, you know, locked in a basement for a year to leave wounds on you.”
Affleck asserted that these childhood insecurities still affected Lopez well into her adult years, even after the singer’s amazing success. But it was also a feeling that Affleck’s alcoholism taught him all too well.
“The thing you discover, like you do with… with alcohol, is that there isn’t enough alcohol in all the liquor stores in the world to fill up that thing,” he said.
“And I think in Jennifer’s case, I don’t think there’s enough followers or movies or records or any of that stuff to still that part of you,” he added.
Lopez herself also opened up about this feeling personally. She felt her father’s busy work schedule and her mother’s tough personality made it hard to form a genuine connection with her family.
“When I was growing up, I was always looking for somebody to make me feel loved,” she said. “I was a middle child, not the baby, not the firstborn … you just kind of get lost a little bit in between it all.”
Ben Affleck’s friends are trying to make sure he stays sober, according to source
Jennifer Garner and Matt Damon don’t want to see history repeating itself if certain sources are to be believed. Affleck already knew what it was like to be in a failing marriage. He’d already been through the process with Garner, who he was married to for 10 years before the pair finalized their divorce in 2018. Affleck famously opened up on The Howard Stern Show about how his imploding relationship with Garner led him away from sobriety.
“That was part of why I started drinking alcohol — I was trapped,” Affleck said. “I was like, ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I am not happy. What do I do?’ What I did was drink a bottle of scotch on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.”
It’s a cycle that Affleck’s ex-wife and best friend are reportedly concerned will return after his break-up with Lopez.
“That’s the main reason you’re seeing Jen going over there nearly every day to make sure he’s OK. His mother, his brother and his close friends, like Matt Damon, are helping out too,” the source told Ok! “They’re all in touch with him and with each other. They’re very much a team and acting as a de facto support group for him. If they’re seeing a thing to worry about, they alert each other immediately. Ben knows they’re all in touch, but he doesn’t know the extent of it.”
