Ben Affleck appeared to have a lot on his mind during a trip to the market with his estranged wife, Jennifer Garner, on Thursday, July 6, an eyewitness exclusively tells Us Weekly.
The amicable exes arrived separately to the Brentwood Country Mart in Los Angeles for a brief outing with two of their children, Violet, 11, and Samuel, 5. (They are also parents of 8-year-old daughter Seraphina.)
“Ben was by himself and he seemed tense,” the onlooker tells Us. “Soon after, Jen stopped by and dropped Violet and Samuel off to be with him. Jen and Ben were friendly with each other, but he wasn’t very cheerful. He was pretty tense the whole time and wasn’t really talking much. One of the kids was reading a book and Ben was just on his phone.”
The eyewitness tells Us that Garner, 45, and Affleck, 44, did not hug when she arrived, noting that he “seemed super distracted.”
But a source close to the actor tells Us that the actor tends to be more guarded in public situations because of the constant attention on him. “Ben is a dedicated father. He looks forward to time with the kids. He loves being with them,” the source says. “It is hard to judge someone’s feelings by a look or a picture.”
Us confirmed on the afternoon of July 6 that the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actor has been quietly dating Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus — and the romance began while he was still married to Garner, multiple sources claimed.
“Ben and Lindsay started their affair about three years ago, just a few months after she became a mom. They were not casually dating — they were having a full-blown affair,” a source close to Affleck and Garner claimed to Us. “They were sleeping together, sending each other cute texts and meeting up whenever they could.”
However, a source close to the Argo director countered that he has only been dating Shookus for three months. “Lindsay was not what led to the end of their marriage. They had a ton of other problems,” the insider claimed.
Affleck and Garner split in June 2015 after 10 years of marriage. They didn’t officially file for divorce until this April.
