Jen & Ben’s not so perfect 10

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck arrive for the Oscars in Los Angeles in 2013. The actors have confirmed their divorce plans. Photo: John Shearer

Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck arrive for the Oscars in Los Angeles in 2013. The actors have confirmed their divorce plans. Photo: John Shearer

Published Jul 3, 2015

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Life in the limelight sets you up for failure. If that sounds like a contradiction in terms, you need only examine the relationship upon doomed relationship that has come crumbling down under the merciless glare of the showbiz scene.

Some romances are so completely incongruent, that they should be fleeting is not the startling factor; rather, that they should have ever been regarded as anything other than an obvious ploy for added publicity (Miley Cyrus!) is what boggles.

But then there are those loved-up matches who defy the Hollywood dictates of gushing groupies looking for a quick-fix to glory, an endless stream of cash that leads you to believe you can buy anything – or anyone – and a posse of people whose sole purpose is to reaffirm your sense of self-importance.

Until recently, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner were chief among them. Following the official announcement of their impending divorce this week, the Twitterati have gone into overdrive on the “she started to look like a house vrou, which led to Benny boy having a roving eye” front, which – forgetting for a moment the absurdity of the notion that looks alone can sustain a marriage – is completely at odds with the Bennifer the world had come to know over the last decade.

While other celeb couples would scarcely be seen in public sans a lick of lippy or decked out in a carefully casual ensemble, looking ever so chic as their harangued nannies haggled with their brood of offspring, Ben and Jen were all about the “Living Like Common People” philosophy.

Where Ben was reduced to little more than eye and arm candy while courting Miss High Maintenance J the First (aka Jennifer Lopez), with his career all but in the doldrums, J the Second inspired him to new, untapped heights of success. Mostly while wearing jeans, takkies and a T-shirt.

They afforded each other the room to be the people they were beyond the glamorous public persona that Tinseltown is so insistent on having us buy into… People with bad hair days; people clad in laidback rustic clothing with little regard for high-end (and unaffordable!) fashion; people whose idea of a fun weekend entailed family trips to farmers’ markets (Benny’s frequent solo expeditions to casino gambling rooms notwithstanding, ahem); people with a penchant for regular injections of caffeine on the really tough days, as provided by a walk to their local Starbucks.

Which is what so endeared them to us normal folk who exist beyond the bubble of fame and fortune. Perhaps this is the reason the news of their split, while hardly surprising in light of the growing wave of whispers, has witnessed a distinct veil of sadness descend over industry watchers.

Unlike other celebrities so ostensibly beyond our reach, they came across like our regular friendly neighbours; good ol’ Ben and Jen. The salt of the earth sort who were completely compatible in every way. As fate would have it, however, it seems their very compatibility is what steered their relationship from “fire and passion” to “friends sharing a cup of hot cocoa”… RIP Bennifer. Your modesty will be missed.

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