BACK FROM THE BRINK

Ben Affleck is the poster boy for stars who've hit rock bottom and bounced back - and he's in good company! 

- NICI DE WET

THERE’S no business like show business, right? The gloss, the glamour, the money, the mansions, the jets, the parties . . .

But there’s another side to it all. Drugs, booze, pressure, scrutiny, insecurity – all this can go hand in hand with fame and send stars who seem to have it all spiralling into self-destruction.

Just take Ben Affleck. Alcoholism threatened to destroy everything he’d built up both professionally and personally, and for a while it seemed Holly wood had turned its back on him.

Yet if anyone is proof a comeback is possible, it’s the 50-year-old actor. He’s clean and sober. His latest movie, Air, about the relationship between basketball star Michael Jordan and Nike, is getting great reviews. And he’s married to Jennifer Lopez.

He’s also taken ownership of some of his mistakes, including comments he made in a 2021 interview where he seemed to blame his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, for his drinking problem. Ben said he’d “probably still be drinking” if they hadn’t ended their 10-year marriage in 2015.

There was a fierce backlash – especially as Jen was nothing but supportive as Ben battled his demons.

Now, in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, he says the fault was all his. “To be clear, my behaviour is my responsibility entirely.”

His remarks were taken out of context, he says. Publicly acknowledging his alcoholism has been bittersweet, he adds. “There’s a lot of compassion but there’s still a tremendous stigma. I became – out of no desire of my own – one of the poster boys for actor alcoholism and recovery.”