I always kind of believed that Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck have an ideal modern marriage. They both still work and you see them out together with all three of their little ones. It has looked like a pretty good balance. Ben works more and Jen undoubtedly gave up a fabulous career to focus on making motherhood her first priority. But then, that’s what women do. I liked the idea of Ben being in the parenting trenches with her more often than we realize, until I stumbled onto a snippet from a new interview with Ben. He dishes to Details magazine via Celeb Baby Laundry about the perils of fatherhood in general saying,
“I don’t want to be a stay-at-home dad. Work is very important to me. I like to work. But I need my work to mean something to me in order for me to not be home with them. Anytime you think, ‘I’m wasting my time here,’ the first thought you have is, ‘I could go home and be with my kids,’” he says. “Now, you may go home and be with your kids and very quickly start thinking, ‘I wonder what’s on the work front?’ I am not very present in the rest of my life. My wife’s very patient. She does everything,” he shares. “If I have time, I try to spend time with the kids, even if just to be a physical presence, the bath, whatever.”
Just wow. So many fathers would give body parts for the opportunity to pick and choose their work, in order to spend more time with their kids. Ben really sounds like it is a chore and when he is home he admits to not being very present! Why keep expanding the family if it’s so tedious to actually simply BE with them?
We see lots of family photos of them all out together which makes me wonder, does Ben step out with Jen and the kids because it’s a photo opportunity that will endear him to the fans? Does he do it just to feed the happy family image that he has worked so hard to ensure? I mean, if it’s hard to be at home with your little ones then taking them out in public is usually worse!
Are Ben and Jen the real deal or did she give up an awful lot just to prop up her husband’s career? Tell us your thoughts below!
Image Credit: Details Magazine