Ben Affleck seeking continued alcohol addiction treatment, report says
Ben Affleck discussed his alcohol problem as early as 1998, saying he had "almost no inhibitions" when he drank. Credit: Getty Images / Frazer Harrison
Actor and filmmaker Ben Affleck, who has been candid about his struggle with alcohol abuse, reportedly is continuing to seek treatment for the affliction.
Us Weekly said Thursday that the Oscar-winner, 45 — who shared an Academy Award for writing “Good Will Hunting” and another as a best-picture producer of “Argo” — had arrived at an unnamed outpatient treatment center in Los Angeles on Wednesday. The magazine ran photos of a bearded, casually dressed Affleck without specifying where they were taken.
The actor has not commented on social media and his spokesman did not immediately return a Newsday request for comment.
In March, Affleck posted on Facebook, “I have completed treatment for alcohol addiction; something I’ve dealt with in the past and will continue to confront. I want to live life to the fullest and be the best father I can be” to his three children with estranged wife Jennifer Garner: daughters Violet, 11, and Seraphina, 8, and son Samuel, 5. “I want my kids to know there is no shame in getting help when you need it, and to be a source of strength for anyone out there who needs help but is afraid to take the first step. . . . This was the first of many steps being taken towards a positive recovery.”
As early as 1998, he had told the weekend edition of USA Today he had quit drinking because, “I just wanted to stop. I started regretting some things I did when I was drunk. It’s funny to be obnoxious or out of control, but then it’s like, ‘I think I hurt that person’s feelings. I made a fool of myself’ or ‘I didn’t want to kiss that girl.’ I have almost no inhibitions, so it’s dangerous for me.”
Three years later, however, he “went into rehab for being 29 and partying too much and not having a lot of boundaries, and to clear my head and try to get some idea of who I wanted to be,” he told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012. He spoke of his alcoholic father, a philosophical janitor / bartender / mechanic who served as an inspiration for the title character of “Good Will Hunting.” “His life sort of hit the skids when I was in my teens,” the star said. “It was difficult. When one’s parent is an alcoholic, it’s hard. It was a little scary and trying, but then he got sober when I was twentysomething, and he’s been sober ever since.”
Affleck next appears on-screen as Batman in “Justice League” on Nov. 17.
