Leave it to children to give their parents a hard time when they’re trying to share their wisdom. Ben Affleck’s dating history is well-known to everyone, including his three children he shares with Jennifer Garner. He revealed how they joked about it to give him a hard time.
Ben Affleck Was Shut Down Trying to Give Dating Advice
Affleck, 54, was a guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” on Sept. 24 to promote his new movie, “Animals.” The father listed his children’s ages: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14.
“It’s like that age where, and especially when they’re all […] it’s that thing where you know, I like give advice or try to talk to them. Parent them as you do,” the Oscar winner said. He catches them giving each other looks as he talks.
“I realize like I’m the caricature in this story,” he revealed. The actor admitted he never thought he wouldn’t be the “cool” parent. Seraphina boldly called him out when he entered a conversation about one of their friend’s relationships.
“I said, ‘You know, well, the thing about that relationship there with that person…” the move star said. “The 17-year-old just turns to me and goes, ‘Oh, like you’re the expert on relationships?'” Affleck admitted that he’s kind of proud of them for some of their creative burns.
Affleck currently isn’t dating anyone publicly. He and Jennifer Lopez got divorced in 2025 after they rekindled their relationship in 2021 and married a year later.
Ben Affleck Wanted to Cast Jennifer Garner in ‘Animals’
GettyAffleck and Garner, 54, were married from 2005 to 2018. He plays a married mayoral candidate whose son is held for ransom in “Animals.” The cast is stacked with Kerry Washington, Steven Yeun, and Gillian Anderson. However, the producer also wanted his ex-wife and his best friend Matt Damon in the movie.
“I thought, God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,” Affleck told Entertainment Weekly, referencing his character’s wife. “It also has the added benefit of, like, both of us will see our kids more because we do a week and a week and back and forth. I thought, well, we can coordinate our schedules around it.”
The role went to Washington, 49. “She can bring something interesting that she hasn’t [done], that I kind of know she can do, that I don’t think she had a chance to do in one movie,” Affleck explained. The co-parents remain “really good friends.” But Garner rejected the role and said, “You just get baggage.”
Garner and Affleck previously costarred in the 2003 movie, “Daredevil.” He played the titular character, and she played Elektra. Her character got her own movie in 2005, and she surprisingly returned to the role in “Deadpool & Wolverine” in 2024. Some wonder if she’ll put on the Marvel character’s costume again for “Avengers: Doomsday.”
Their children currently don’t show any signs of going into acting. Affleck is open to working with Garner again, but that might not happen because of “baggage.”
