When it comes to film and acting, Ben Affleck has extensive expertise, hence his two Academy Awards.
But the “Good Will Hunting” star isn’t as proficient in romance and love, and apparently his children agree.
Affleck has been married twice. His most recent marriage to singer and “Gigli” co-star Jennifer Lopez — whom he proposed to twice — ended in 2025 just before their second anniversary.
His first marriage to “Daredevil” co-star Jennifer Garner lasted 10 years before they separated. They share three children, Violet Affleck, 20, Seraphina Affleck, 17, and 14-year-old Samuel Affleck.
Upon witnessing their father’s failed relationships with their mother and Lopez, it seems the kids aren’t interested in hearing their dad’s take on love.
During his Sept. 24 appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Affleck revealed how the children feel about getting his advice on the subject.
Kimmel asked the “Gone Girl” actor how things were going with parenting teenagers, and he said, “Now I give advice and try to talk to them, parent them as you do.”
He added, “What I found is that now it’s not only one teenager rolling their eyes, I’ll kind of launch into something at the dinner table and I’ll catch them giving each other looks and I realize I’m the caricature in this story.”
Affleck said he never thought he’d not be considered a “cool dad.”
“I’ll give you an example,” he said. “My kids are talking at dinner, and they’ll talk about their friends and the drama and the relationships, and I have some lived experience, I think, that’s worth sharing, some lessons. You know these are the kinds of things we give to our children.”
The father of three recalled sharing some of his insight during the discussion.
“I’ll say, ‘You know, well the thing about that relationship there…” Affleck said, before cutting himself off to interject his daughter, Seraphina’s, response.
Mimicking Seraphina’s mocking tone, Affleck said, “And the 17-year-old turns to me and goes, ‘Oh, like you’re the expert on relationships?’”
One person who agreed with the kids said, “They are definitely not wrong!”
A second person shading Affleck with the kids commented, “He is an expert, he’s an expert on what you shouldn’t do.”
A third fan commented on Affleck’s glowing smile compared to how often he frowned during his divorce from Lopez. They said, “Ben looks happy & healthy.”
A fourth fan mocking his marriages typed, “He married two Jennifers !! Non of them stay.”
Affleck met Lopez for the first time on the set of the movie “Gigli ” in 2002. They played leading co-stars and love interests, and it turned into a real romance off screen.
Later that year, they got engaged, but the pressure from tabloids and the media became too much for the couple, so they postponed the wedding in 2003. They broke up the following year.
Garner met Affleck years earlier in 2000 on the set of “Pearl Harbor.” They started seeing each other shortly after he and Lopez ended things.
In 2005, Affleck proposed to Garner, and they married and announced her pregnancy. After about 10 years of marriage, they too split up.
However, they continued to spend quality time with their family, and they even went to marriage counseling in 2015. They officially filed for divorce in 2017 and finalized it in 2018.
Lopez and Affleck rekindled their romance in 2021 after her 10-year marriage to Marc Anthony ended. They share twins, Maximilian “Max” and Emme Muñiz, born in 2008.
She later dated and got engaged to Alex Rodriguez, but they split in 2021 after cheating allegations.
That same year, the “Love Don’t Cost a Thing Singer” and Affleck got back together. They were betrothed for a second time in 2022, and got hitched that same year.
After months of speculation, the bombshell dropped two years later, when Affleck moved out of their shared home. Lopez filed for divorce two months after they separated in April 2024, and it was finalized in 2025.
Lopez has maintained a relationship with Affleck and Garner’s children. They even ran into Lopez at school events because some of their children attended the same school.
As for Affleck and Garner’s kids, they don’t just give their father a hard time.
Back in February, Garner told Jennifer Hudson on her show that her kids think she is “cringe.”
Hudson asked Garner for advice on how to get “cool points” from her son, but Garner couldn’t quite help the talk show host, as she struggles to get them from her own kids.
“My kids do not — I mean I am fully cringe,” Garner said. “I am only embarrassing. I asked my kids if they were going to watch this season of the show [The Last Thing He Told Me], and they were like, ‘Do you need us to?’”
Not taking it to heart, Garner said, “But I mean, kids don’t want to see their parents in … right? They don’t want to see us cry, or have a romantic scene, anything. We’re just embarrassing.”
Jennifer Lopez talked about her and Ben Affleck's harmonious relationship with Jennifer Garner, calling her ‘an amazing co-parent, and they work really well together.’
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) November 8, 2022
🔗: https://t.co/MWW0obEEvm pic.twitter.com/lCYtvgXwQf
