Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's divorce announcement may have sounded amicable — but insiders say their union was anything but. In the new issue of , multiple sources allege that the couple’s 10-year marriage (they announced their divorce on June 30) was torpedoed by Affleck’s partying, gambling and, yes, inappropriate behavior with other women.
One pal claims, in the past year, Garner told her friends that Affleck had “admitted to cheating” with an attractive love interest. A devastated Garner kicked the two-time Oscar winner out of their $17.5 million home in L.A.’s Pacific Palisades, “but eventually decided to forgive him,” says the insider. Meanwhile, a source close to Affleck insists, “Ben did not cheat on Jen.” The A-listers may be the only ones who know the truth, but at least one thing seems certain: Garner's trust had been irrevocably broken.
Indeed, insiders say there was plenty of mistrust during their decade-long union. “She tried to leave him a few times, but he would beg her to stay,” one source says of the pair, who fell in love while filming 2003’s Daredevil.
Each time the Alias alum considered walking away, she’d think of kids Violet, 9, Seraphina, 6, and Samuel, 3. “She always fought against the urge to throw her hands up in the air and walk away,” says an insider. "They’ve been on the brink of splitting up many times before, but it’s Jennifer’s worst nightmare for their children. Her biggest desire has always been to keep the family together.”
An Affleck pal says he’s struggling with the separation as well: "This is just as hard on him and difficult for him. Any divorce is tough on everyone. He is leaning on his mom and close friends."
