Watch the interview below.

Video credit: ET Canada

On Today Monday morning, Ben Affleck revealed to Hoda Kotb that while he’s coming to terms with being an alcoholic, ex-wife Jennifer Garner has remained a central part of his life.

When Kotb mentioned ‘you can tell you still love her,’ the 46-year-old actor didn’t skip a beat, saying, ‘Of course, she’s wonderful.’

‘’Somebody’s the mother of your kids, they’re going to be the most important, central person in your life, and that’s good,’’ Ben said.

‘’I hope I’m a pretty good dad,’ he quipped. ‘I certainly try very hard. I’m lucky they’ve got a great mom, and she helps out a great deal with making sure that we co-parent in as good a way as possible.’’

‘’Dads are so important to kids and it’s our responsibility to be there for them, to be present, to be mindful, to be attentive, to be part of their lives … to be as in it as moms.’’

‘’That’s really the central preoccupation in my life, you know, the focus of my life is what I love doing. It’s what makes me happy and the rest of the stuff kind of follows.’’

The couple tied the knot in June 2005 and finalized their divorce in November nearly three years after separating.  They co-parent three children, Violet, 13, Seraphina, 10, and Samuel, seven.

He added: ‘’It doesn’t really bother me to talk about alcoholism and being an alcoholic,’’

‘’It’s part of my life. It’s something that I deal with.’’

‘’It doesn’t have to sort of subsume my whole identity and be everything, but it is something that you know you have to work at.’’

‘’I feel like I had a problem and I really want to address it, and I take some pride in that,’ he said. ‘It’s about yourself, your life, your family, and you know people. We encounter these kinds of hurdles and we have to deal with them.’’

‘’It was a little bit tough, but I did it,’ he boasted. ‘It’s awful for the first couple of days because I am definitely somebody who likes bread and sugar. It’s terrible, you get through it and you’re like I feel pretty good. Of course, by the end of ten days, I had three bagels.’’

 

 

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