Truth behind infamous 2018 Ben Affleck photos

In 2018, photos of Jennifer Garner taking her ex, Ben Affleck, to rehab shocked the world. Now, the star explains that rock bottom moment.

Ben Affleck stars in his most personal movie to date, the upcoming sports drama, The Way Back, about a former basketball star whose alcoholism cost him his marriage.

The parallels to Affleck’s own life are evident.

His 13-year marriage to Jennifer Garner, during which he publicly suffered several bouts with addiction, ended in 2018. He recently described his divorce as “the biggest regret of my life,” and says filming this heart-wrenching movie was a cathartic experience.

“The movie was definitely close to home,” he tells news.com.au. “Being sober is very important to me, being honest is important to me, being humble is important to me, and treating other people with respect is really important to me.”

The Way Back began shooting the very next day after his last stint in rehab, in 2018 (following two previous stays in 2011 and 2017).

That stint happened very publicly, when startling photos of Garner driving her ex to a treatment centre were splashed across the media in August 2018:

Photos that shocked the world: Jennifer Garner taking Affleck to The Canyon Treatment Center to enter rehab in August 2018. Picture: BACKGRID

In playing a beer-guzzling alcoholic, was Affleck concerned that simulating some of his former habits could lead to another relapse?

“Well, they call it a disease of chronic relapse, so there’s no way to know,” he explains. “It’s important to be mindful that the whole key to sobriety is recognising that the potential for relapse exists. You see people with 20 years, 30 years sober, also relapse.”

He shakes his head. “It’s scary and it’s complicated. People aren’t even sure exactly why that happens. For me, I’ve noticed my relapses have been associated with feeling like I was all better. I’d say to myself, ‘It’s not really a problem anymore, and I can drink like a normal person. I’m fine now.’”

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Director Gavin O’Connor, who previously worked with Affleck on 2016’s The Accountant says, “We’d started pre-production on The Way Back and I remember trying to reach him for two days and getting no response, which is unlike Ben.”

He pauses. “He was drinking again, so then Jen (Garner) got him and took him to rehab. I had to wait about a week before I could see him, because he was drying out,” he says. “And the result was that I got a very raw actor straight out of rehab, and I wasn’t worried about Ben being up to the task of playing an alcoholic.

“My biggest fear was that he’d be a believable basketball coach,” he laughs. “But then he started nailing it so I knew the movie was going to find itself fully.”

Dealing with his demons has taken place along a learning curve for Affleck.

Ben Affleck and the cast of The Way Back. Picture: Paras Griffin/Getty

“I’ve learned that I had to give up the ghost of that fantasy that tells you ‘You can drink like a normal person’, because science tells us, and experience tells us, that once the mind becomes addicted to something, it can’t unlearn that addiction. Accepting that fact has been the most important thing for me personally,” he offers.

“But (relapsing) is more complicated than just drinking a fake beer in a movie. Those kinds of things don’t trigger me.” He pauses. “There are definitely things that are acutely and specifically painful for me around the process of recovering from addiction. Overall, I think it’s been two steps forward, one step back.”

Nevertheless, Affleck is optimistic about his future. “It’s been a goal for me to be sober for a few years, and I’ve become increasingly successful at it. I’m building longer and longer periods of time (between relapses). My hope is that I don’t have any setbacks in the future.”

There’s a pivotal scene in the film where Affleck apologises to his former wife (Janina Gavankar) for failing their marriage.

O’Connor says, “It felt slightly invasive because we’re watching (the scene) thinking, ‘He’s probably had that conversation before.’ I think a lot of stuff got triggered for Ben doing that scene because I think it was a conversation that had been had, or needed to be had.”

‘Divorce is hard, it’s painful’: Affleck and Garner before their split. Picture: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for VH1

Affleck says, “For a lot of people, divorce is the single most challenging thing they will go through in their life.” His gaze is unflinching. “Divorce is hard, it’s painful. And particularly with children involved.

“And so, I’ve had my own experience with that, though different from this character’s experience, but you have to draw, on some level, from your own personal experiences.”

It’s a cold afternoon in New York City and Affleck looks fit and healthy. Currently in a good place, it’s surprising that he’d put himself through the wringer, revisiting some of the darkest moments in his life in playing a man suffering from depression and addiction.

He nods. “Well, I loved the challenge of playing the emotions of this character, of really having something I can sink my teeth into, and there’s a catharsis that comes with that.

“If there’s any specific ambition or hope I have for the movie in terms of its themes, particularly around grief and alcoholism, it’s that we can recover from that and we can overcome difficulties and hard times, even the hardest of times. And that, that’s not what defines you.”

Considering the success of this Oscar-winning director, actor, and producer, and father of three, he will not be defined by mistakes. “Ultimately, the most important biography that’s written about any of us is the one that we leave behind in the hearts and minds of our children,” he says.

“Being a father is the most important thing to me, and I’m trying to make as few parenting mistakes as possible,” he chuckles. “It’s inevitable, but that’s the most important thing to me.”

Affleck: ‘Being a father is the most important thing for me.’ Picture: AFP

The Way Back is released in Australian cinemas on March 5.