Ben Affleck shares how he got better and moved on after struggles with alcohol, Part 1 | ABC News

Now we have ABC News' exclusive one-on-one interview with Diane Sawyer inside Affleck, the Oscar-winning actor, talking about his

struggles

and how he found hope. Diane, as always, I open, I open, oh, thank you very much, you know, I've interviewed. Ben Affleck since he and Matt Damon lit up Hollywood with their youth and their talent and Good Will Hunting and then Ben was the race car who talked faster than anyone, read everything and was overflowing with optimism, but life is life and today he returns to talk about strength. you have to find in a difficult season Ben Affleck enters Xavier High School in New York with a characteristic high-octane, fast-talking energy and in a funny manner we head to the gym where the junior varsity basketball team is preparing for a playoff game Affleck has a The new movie coming out is called The Way Back and it's about a group of young basketball players who need to believe in themselves and a struggling coach who also needs faith in order to overcome addiction and get his life back.

Which am I? This is you. Oh, it's okay here. We are glad to see you again. Glad to see you again. Looks great. I think you were 27 years old. We did our first interview. Know. 47. And like I said, you look the same. I am quite visible. 47. You can see that it doesn't set. far away for a Hollywood star to be ready to talk about the addiction failures in her life that I've been through. I got sober when I was younger when I went in 2001, which I now see as kind of the JV version of what. Really the problem is that I was sober for a couple of years and then I thought, you know, I just want to drink like a person. normal and I want to have wine with dinner, etc., and I and you know I could do it.

Able to do so for about eight years, he says he maintained a kind of balance when he married a beloved actress, they had three children, they watched the Gazelle while grazing and his career as a director brought him a whole new dimension in Hollywood. . Ben Affleck, thank you, thank you. All a lot, but he says he learned that sooner or later your vulnerabilities can find you. I started drinking more and more and it was very difficult for me to accept that this meant I was an

alcohol

ic. It was. I can go back. I was fine before you know it I'm just taking a break I just need to slow down I just need it I'm fine you know I mean this isn't me and I started drinking here every day I come home from work and I start drinking and I sit there , I drink, I don't pass out on the couch.

He says he had struggled with depression for years and added that there was instability in his marriage and the powerful family story we didn't know about a boy whose grandmother took her own life. in the midst of

alcohol

and barbiturates, his aunt was addicted and his father was also addicted to me seeing my dad was like every day and that was life and as that got worse, that was really very painful and I always said that I would never it will be me. I will never do that. I wish I had been sober during those formative years, but what he taught me is how important it is for me to be sober now during these formative years for my children.

He says his mother was his support, but also his family. he broke up he swore never to repeat it it was the hardest thing for you to be honest with yourself about that I was going to get divorced that I never thought I was going to get divorced I didn't want to get divorced I didn't want to be a divorced person I really didn't want to be a broken family with my children and it bothered me because it meant he wasn't who I thought he was and that was very painful and very disappointing in myself twice in the last three years he went to rehab he was always worried that his alcohol use was affecting the children at the center of his life.

I really don't want my children to pay for my sins, being afraid for you or being afraid for me, which is one of them. of the difficult

part

s of being the child of an alcoholic, do you think? What happens if my dad gets drunk? What if he does something stupid or what if he ends up on TMZ? You know, he's on my

news

and other kids. Did you see this? I slided. I saw a little bit, I saw a little bit of it, so yeah, I guess I saw some of it, but not all of it.

I know what it feels like to be drunk. I don't need to see more. A relapse. broadcast around the world and he delivers a wake-up call about the father he is determined to be. I took the last half of the year off and just have to be a dad. Take him to school, pick him up, go to the swim meet, no, that's just it. Where parenting happens is in the cracks, it's in the moments where you just take them out of football and they say something profound or they talk about how they really feel about something and it's like that's where you get to be the Parent. , that's the joy and that's what I don't want to miss, that's why I wanted to make the movie about the underdog team that finds a victory on the other side and the coach who comes to believe that what is possible is stronger than what is possible. it's possible.

What happens is my favorite scene in this movie. A slight spoiler is where my character loses his job because it's really about consequences and you understand how desperate he is to not have to suffer those consequences and how painful it can be every time. you say the word pain your face changes what he does you go somewhere it is very painful divorce is very painful and alcoholism is very painful you just know if there is something that your child is suffering that is a level of pain that is just not easily overcome It is not easily forgiven, it is not easily forgotten and it is difficult.

You are not going to avoid causing pain to your children, all pain, pain is

part

of life. It comforts me a little that I'm doing the best I can and I hope that's what you know, you know, it has to be good enough, I have to do it, I really have no choice, I have to be the man I want to be right now. , I have no more room to fail on that. kind and you know, he said one thing about Jennifer Garner, his ex-wife doesn't want to talk about the marriage that was private, but she says what I want to say publicly and privately is thank you, thank you for being thoughtful, considerate, responsible and a great mother and person, so she has really started a new path and tomorrow I will bring you a little more of what she has learned about the underlying causes of alcoholism and also you know, the famous, famous, glamorous cover that a guy is going to do.

He also talks about what he's learned about women, oh it really seems like some of the stuff in the back, yeah definitely, and some of the humor, it's really funny and you're unpredictable, as you'll see, they say what's possible is greater than what happened. mighty, that's where it is, yeah, okay, morning sun, hey, thanks, you'll be back tomorrow and we're one of the returnees. It's his movie and it will come out on March 6. Everyone will be able to see it tomorrow.