Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner (aka Bennifer II, aka Ben & Jen) have been officially separated for almost a year. Amidst their split, the beloved celebrity couple, who share three adorable children, have managed to do something rare in Hollywood: remain (at least publicly) friends. Affleck and Garner are frequently photographed together or spotted on vacation with their kids. The two are even rumored to be working on a fundraiser together to benefit Garner’s home state of West Virginia following devastating floods. Interestingly, neither Affleck nor Garner has filed for divorce, leaving fans hoping that there might still be a chance for the Hollywood power couple after all. Only time will tell whether or not these two will get back together. In the meantime, let’s take a trip down memory lane and remember all the Ben & Jen moments that made us fall in love with them in the first place.
They enjoyed baseball PDA
“When I was first dating Ben, I’d never watched baseball. I didn’t really care, I may say, about baseball,” Garner revealed in an interview with People in 2014. She might not have been into baseball when she and Affleck began dating in 2004, but she definitely looked pleased to sit in the stands at a Red Sox game when she and Affleck made their first big public appearance as a couple.
They joked around together
“Ben is sexy and kind, but he’s also a riot. We can be very goofy together,” Garner said in a 2010 interview with Parade magazine. Looking at this sweet moment, I don’t doubt it.
They supported each other
Affleck and Garner have been great supporters of each other professionally ever since the two starred together in Daredevil. “Look at Daredevil. That’s where I found my wife. We met on Pearl Harbor, which people hate, but we fell in love on Daredevil,” Affleck said in a Playboy interview.
They joked together
Daredevil, it turns out, wasn’t just the start of their romantic relationship. It might have predicted their future: “By the way, she won most fights in the movie, which was a pretty good predictor of what would happen down the road — my wife, holding swords and beating the living shit out of me,” Affleck joked to Playboy.
They worked together
“We both know we couldn’t do this without each other,” Garner told InStyle in 2011. Being married to a movie star isn’t easy, especially when you’re also a movie star. But, Garner said, she and Affleck made it work by constantly supporting each other. “Ben always says, ‘If you love it, we can make it happen.'”
They were almost too adorable
“You know how, as a kid, you picture yourself with a tall, handsome husband, and you imagine him cuddling your baby? Ben is like that, like, on crack,” Garner told InStyle in 2007. Back then, Ben and Jen’s union was only officially a few years old, and their first daughter, Violet Anne Affleck, was just 2 years old.
They thanked each other
“I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It’s good, it is work, but it’s the best kind of work. And there’s no one I’d rather work with,” Affleck said when he accepted the Oscar for Best Picture in 2013. While his comments caused a bit of an uproar, Affleck was essentially saying in the most honest way possible that he loved being married to Garner.
…And thanked each other again
When asked about his Oscars speech by reporters in the press room, Affleck said he didn’t mean to insult his marriage, but wanted to be true to the work they put into their relationship. “She’s more perfect than I am, I can tell you that,” Affleck said
They made us jealous
“I am madly in love. I have the best family,” Affleck told Ellen DeGeneres in 2010.
They gushed over each other
“In our family, my wife does extraordinary work with early childhood education in the United States, and the Appalachians and West Virginia and Kentucky and the Central Valley of California is something she cares deeply about. She’s extremely effective at it. And we’re all very proud of her and impressed,” Affleck said during his testimony at a Senate subcommittee in 2015. Affleck made sure to acknowledge his wife’s charity work before speaking about his work in Africa as Garner and their eldest daughter, Violet, looked on.
They embarrassed each other
“My husband plays a lot of baby doll. He is really cute. I will walk in and he will be sitting on a little chair. He’s so tall! And he’ll have a baby doll and I’ll say, ‘What are you doing?’ ‘I’m watching Frankie [the baby doll] here,'” Garner recounted in an interview on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2011. Garner and Affleck have two daughters, Violet and Seraphina, and one son, Samuel, who was born later that year.
They helped each other
“She is, by leaps and bounds, the most important person to me in that respect. Over the past 10 years, she has allowed me to have a stable home life while accomplishing my professional goals,” Affleck said in an interview with Playboy. Affleck has largely credited his successful career as a director to Garner’s support.
Ben & Jen forever
“Jen is a superhero mom. She is an amazing mother, and I’m really lucky to have her as a partner to co-parent these kids with. We try our best, we put them first and that’s what we do,” Affleck told E! Online after their split. Garner has been equally kind toward her estranged husband. In her first big interview post-split, Garner admitted to Vanity Fair, “He’s the love of my life.”
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