Over the weekend, actor Ben Affleck gave cause for concern about his sobriety. A video posted by TMZ of Affleck showed his face covered by a Halloween mask, as he stumbled out of a parked SUV passenger’s door.
Affleck, who has recently spoken about the incident while traveling to ex-wife, Jennifer Garnier’s home, said, “Well, you know, it happens. It’s a slip, but I’m not going to let it derail me.”
“Sobriety is difficult and elusive for everyone struggling with addiction and Ben has acknowledged he’s going to slip up from time to time,” a source told E! News. “It was never as if this was simply behind him.” The source also added, “He’s very committed to his recovery and knows he used bad judgement. He is facing the music and dealing with it. These things can happen but he regrets the choices he made. He wants to be better for his kids and intends to be.”
The actor’s slip-up comes just a day after he published his story about recovery on Instagram. “Let’s be serious for a moment and talk about something that is actually important,” read Affleck’s Instagram post. “I have been in recovery for over a year and part of that is helping out others. @themidnightmission is an incredible organization that helps those in need with housing, training, development and recovery. I’m making a donation today because there are people battling addiction every day that don’t have the resources and need help. @raya, you in? Who else is with me?”
In 2018, Garner staged an intervention for the actor, where Affleck entered rehab for the third time.
“Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle,” Affleck wrote on Instagram. “Because of that, one is never really in or out of treatment. It is a full-time commitment. I am fighting for myself and my family. So many people have reached out on social media and spoken about their own journeys with addiction. To those people, I want to say thank you. Your strength is inspiring and is supporting me in ways I didn’t think was possible. It helps to know I am not alone. As I’ve had to remind myself, if you have a problem, getting help is a sign of courage, not weakness or failure.”