Did Ben Affleck Know Lindsay Shookus Before His Divorce?

We probably should have seen this coming.

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Since Ben Affleck went public with his first relationship since his split from Jennifer Garner, rumors have been going wild that his “new” relationship is actually years old and that his marriage to Garner fell apart because he was cheating on her with his now-girlfriend, Lindsay Shookus.

A number of sources (all anonymous, of course) have come forward to outlets like People and Us Weekly to claim that Affleck has been seeing Shookus on the side since 2013, years before his 2015 split from Garner. The Us Weekly source even claimed Shookus was “the catalyst” for the Bennifer breakup.

“Lindsay was the main reason that Jen decided to leave Ben,” that source claimed. “They had a multitude of problems, but this was the breaking point for Jen. This wasn’t just sex, this was infatuation and a full-blown relationship that Ben and Lindsay were having while they were both married.”

More:Jennifer Garner Addresses Unauthorized Divorce BS for the Record

Peopleis also reporting that Garner even found out about the alleged affair in 2015 and confronted both Shookus and Shookus’ ex-husband, Kevin Miller. “Lindsay refused to back down or quit the affair,” a source told People. Other sources, who the magazines have confirmed are people close to Affleck and Garner, deny all of this, of course.

A friend of Affleck’s told Us Weekly that Affleck and Shookus have only been dating three months, adding, “There is not one reason to end a marriage. These two have a lot of love and respect for each other.”

And an insider close to Shookus denied those confrontation rumors, telling People, “Jennifer and Lindsay do not have any relationship.”

This kind of news needs to be taken with a grain of salt, especially when you consider the relationship that Garner and Affleck clearly have after their split. They co-parent peacefully. They hang out and appear to enjoy each other’s company. They even went on vacation together over the Fourth of July. Does that sound like a couple that split after some dramatic confrontation about a mistress?

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Didn’t think so.