Ben Affleck Felt Gwyneth Paltrow Meant to Heal Him After Their Break-up by Doing Her Film ‘Bounce’
Ben Affleck considered himself to be very close to Gwyneth Paltrow before their relationship ended. He wasn’t sure he could remain friends with the star until Paltrow suggested they do a movie together Affleck intended to turn down.
Gwyneth Paltrow felt their film ‘Bounce’ would psychologically help Ben Affleck move on from their break-up
Affleck admitted that he took his break-up with Paltrow particularly hard. The two dated in 1997 and split in 2000, with Paltrow hinting that Affleck wasn’t ready for a committed relationship at the time. She also felt their relationship served its purpose in hindsight, as it was meant to address Paltrow’s own underlying issues.
“It’s interesting,” Paltrow once told Howard Stern (via W Magazine). “I think there’s certain boyfriends where you are trying to work stuff out, right? Like, you’re trying to heal certain stuff from your childhood, and he was very much a lesson in that way.”
Affleck admitted that their break-up affected him deeply. But Paltrow thought their 2000 feature Bounce, where they played two young lovers, would’ve helped the actor move on from his heartache.
“When she first read it we’d just broken up, so things were a little strained. We were still trying to figure out how to be friends. She said, ‘Listen, I read this and it struck me that you should do it.’ Initially, I thought, ‘Oh, the characters are older, maybe I’m too young,’ and she just said ‘You’ll be great,’” Affleck once told Talk.
But Affleck theorized Paltrow might’ve been trying to help her ex-boyfriend psychologically with the feature as well.
“Then it occurred to me that maybe she set the whole thing up so that I could have the opportunity to play this part. Not just because it would be good for my career, but because it would give me a new sense of perspective by asking me to investigate certain psychological issues. I’m not sure if she would admit to that, but I believe it. And I was really touched. That’s what eventually allowed us to be friends,” he said.
Gwyneth Paltrow was told that Ben Affleck was secretly gay after their break up
At the height of his career, Affleck was used to hearing rumors about himself. But one of the strangest rumors he’d heard came after he and Paltrow separated. And the rumor in question even came from one of Paltrow’s own close friends.
“When I broke up with Gwyneth, somebody came to her – a friend of hers, a person I actually like – and said, ‘Well, I feel really bad telling you this, but I know people in the gay community who have slept with Ben,’” Affleck remembered. “This was not a rumor that was being passed on, this was fact: ‘I hate to break it to you, but he’s been sampling the kielbasa out there.’”
Affleck found the gossip more amusing than upsetting. But Paltrow didn’t believe her friend, which Affleck held no ill will towards for spreading the rumor.
“And luckily, if you know me, that is the one thing that is outside the parameters of what’s believable, and so I was kind of off the hook, because I was able to say, ‘You know me – do you see how ridiculous this is?’ And I’m sure this guy really did hear it from somebody who heard it from someone who made it up,” he said. “They said that about Brad Pitt, they said that about Leonardo DiCaprio – they said it about me and Matt! I felt like we were in good company.”
Ben Affleck felt strange doing love scenes with Gwyneth Paltrow in ‘Bounce’
Since they’d just broken up, Affleck felt a bit of discomfort engaging in his love scenes with his former fling. But the Good Will hunting star patted himself on the back for not letting his past feelings for Paltrow interfere with their performance.
“Of course, I found the love scenes with Gwyneth awkward,” he once said according to The Free Library. “Don’t you think you would have found it awkward? Making this film was difficult and challenging. It required another level of commitment and professionalism. I was proud that I was able to conduct myself like that. I’d probably not recommend it to anyone, but in my case it worked out well, although it wasn’t easy.”
