Inside Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s ‘Deep Friendship’: They’re ‘Closer Now Than They Were’ While Married

They split in 2015 after 10 years of marriage. Now, after nearly another decade, they’re not only in one another’s lives but frequently together. In January, Ben Affleck evacuated his home amid the L.A. wildfires and fled to first wife Jennifer Garner’s place, where he reportedly stayed with his ex and their children, Violet, 19, Fin, 16, and Samuel, 12, until it was safe to go back.

The exes spent Thanksgiving morning feeding the homeless together before gathering at Jen’s house to share a holiday meal. Before that, they vacationed together in Japan during their kids’ summer break, celebrated Ben’s birthday together in August and in June 2024, Jen was even seen letting herself into the house the actor-director rented following his April 2024 separation from second wife Jennifer Lopez.

There are amicable exes — and then there’s Ben and Jen. “They had a very difficult breakup, but they’ve healed those wounds and are incredibly close,” a source exclusively tells In Touch, explaining that for the Oscar winner and the Deadpool & Wolverine actress, both 52, it “goes beyond coparenting. They have a deep, meaningful friendship.” Some friends “might say they’re closer now than they were when they were married,” while others might think “maybe they’ve gotten a little too close for comfort.”

After Ben married J. Lo in 2022, the music star and actress praised his former wife. Jen, J. Lo told Vogue, “is an amazing coparent, and [she and Ben] work really well together.” People who knew Ben and the “Jenny From the Block” singer, 55, “thought J. Lo might have felt threatened by Ben and Jen’s bond, but she didn’t think anything romantic was going on,” says the source. “Though she saw how they acted around each other, the body language.

There was a closeness between Jen and Ben that J. Lo may have felt she could never compete with.”

WHAT ABOUT JOHN?

Jen’s longtime boyfriend, John Miller, has had to accept the way things are. “He seems less threatened by their bond,” says the source, noting that the CaliGroup CEO, who’s coparenting two kids with his own ex, started dating Jen in 2018 — the same year she finalized her divorce from Ben weeks after driving him to rehab. In other words, John knew what he was getting into, says the source, who believes “John and Jen are in this for the long haul.” Besides, “John seems to like Ben,” adds the source, noting that the men have spent time together and are hardly strangers.

John has nothing to worry about, insists the source. “Jen will always want to ride to Ben’s rescue, but it stops there. The ship has sailed as far as the romance returning,” the source says. “They’ve just been through so much together, how can they not be incredibly close and bonded forever?”