Ben Affleck has accumulated plenty of relationship experience over the years. His children are apparently not convinced that makes him the person they should be taking dating advice from.
The actor found that out during a family dinner when his kids were talking about friends, relationship drama and the things happening in their lives. Affleck decided he had learned enough along the way to offer a little guidance. His 17-year-old had a much faster response.
“Oh, like you’re the expert on relationships?” the teenager shot back, Affleck recalled during a Sept. 24 appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. The line got a laugh from Kimmel’s audience, but Affleck admitted it fits a larger pattern at home.
Affleck once assumed he would remain the cool dad as his children got older. Now, he said, starting a parental speech at the dinner table can prompt them to exchange looks while he realizes that he has become “the caricature in this story.”
Affleck’s Attempt at Dating Advice Backfired Fast
Affleck shares three children with Jennifer Garner: Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14. As they have grown older, conversations about friends, dating and relationships have become part of family dinners, giving Affleck opportunities to offer what he considers useful perspective.
Affleck told Kimmel that he has some “lived experience” and lessons worth passing along. PEOPLE also reported that he is proud of his children’s ability to give him a hard time, even when his own romantic history provides the material.
That history has unfolded publicly for decades. Affleck married Garner in 2005, and the couple announced their separation in 2015 before finalizing their divorce in 2018. He later reunited with Jennifer Lopez, whom he had first dated and become engaged to in the early 2000s.
A Bookstore Trip Produced Another Joke at His Expense
Fin found another opening while visiting a bookstore with Affleck. The two were browsing when they spotted a book by a French author titled I’m Sorry for Everything.
Affleck said his child looked at the title and immediately deadpanned, “Oh look, Dad, it’s your autobiography.” He told Kimmel that the joke did not bother him. Instead, he was “kind of proud” and appreciated that his children were willing to tease him so directly.
The bookstore exchange also came from the same child who challenged his credentials for giving relationship advice, leaving Affleck with two stories about being outmaneuvered by the 17-year-old.
His Two Marriages Give the Kids Plenty of Material
Affleck and Lopez rekindled their relationship in 2021 and married in July 2022, roughly two decades after ending their first engagement. Lopez filed for divorce in August 2024, and their divorce was finalized in 2025. Us Weekly noted that Affleck’s jokes about his children’s skepticism came after both of his marriages had ended.
His relationship with Garner has developed into a long-running co-parenting partnership. Garner told PEOPLE earlier this year that Affleck had become an “incredible co-parent” as their children grew older, calling him a “great partner” in caring for them when her work takes her away.
Affleck’s children are now old enough to challenge his advice rather than simply listen to it. He told Kimmel he had never imagined reaching the stage where all of them could collectively roll their eyes at him, but their jokes appear to be part of the family dynamic he now enjoys.