Key points
Ben Affleck said that dating is “not a big priority in my life.”
The Gone Girl star said that his children are “the most important” thing in his life, and that he also feels “love” for his work.
“I’m open to it, but I’m not trying to chase anything,” he said of a potential future romance.
After multiple high-profile relationships, Ben Affleck is fine staying single.
The Accountant star candidly discussed his love life during a conversation with Entertainment Tonight while promoting his upcoming Netflix thriller Animals on Thursday.
“I work a lot and I see my kids, and there’s not a lot of room. I’m not running around, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “It’s not a big priority in my life. I don’t know why we’re getting into this. You tricked me into this s—!”
Affleck indicated that he has found a good balance of family time and work that he’s passionate about. “I think that’s a good place, where you’re like, ‘I’m good and I’m happy,'” he said. “I know what my priorities are. You can’t have two things that are the most important in your life. For me, that’s the kids. So that’s what that is. And then I have my work, which I love. I’m where I’m at, and I’m great.”
The Armageddon star clarified that he’s not necessarily opposed to romance in the future, but he’s not actively pursuing it at this point. “Who knows what adventures life will bring,” he said. “I’m open to it, but I’m not trying to chase anything.”
Affleck was previously married to Jennifer Garner from 2005 to 2018, and was also married to Jennifer Lopez from 2022 to 2025 after previously dating her from 2002 to 2004. He remains on good terms with Garner, with whom he shares three children, and he recently told Entertainment Weekly that he originally cast the Alias actress in Animals when he was only attached as the project’s director and not its star.
“I thought, God, Jen Garner would be amazing for this role,” he said. “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.”
Ben Affleck in Santa Monica, Calif., on April 18, 2026
Credit: LISA O’CONNOR / AFP via Getty
Affleck ultimately pulled the plug on the project due to similarities to Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest, which released last year and would have come out around the same time as the original version of Animals. He later came back to the project after stepping away from it, but by the time he returned, its original star, Matt Damon, was no longer available due to scheduling conflicts with The Odyssey, so Affleck decided to cast himself as the lead.
However, that decision meant that he would have to play the onscreen husband of his real-life ex-wife, Garner, which didn’t seem like a good idea. “I talked to Jen, and she was like, ‘We don’t wanna do that. You just get baggage,'” he explained. As a result, Garner left the project, and was replaced with Kerry Washington.
“I would love to work with her, frankly,” Affleck said of Garner. “She’s fabulous, and we’re really good friends, and I’m profoundly grateful to her, and we have a great thing. I still would wanna work with her in the future, but what you don’t wanna do is take the audience’s baggage and have it work against you, you know?”
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Animals will be available theatrically in select cities and streaming on Netflix on Oct. 9.
Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly
