Ben Affleck talks about being a recovering alcoholic and his role in 'The Way Back'

Actor Ben Affleck in his recent portrayal of Jack Cunningham in the film The Way Back had earned him praises from the critics as well as the moviegoers. In The Way Back, he portrayed the character of a former high school basketball star, who had walked away from the game only to return as the coach of his alma mater’s team.

In the movie, the audience gets to know that his character has experienced tremendous pain from his battle with alcoholism, the end of his marriage and the loss of his child. In a recent roundtable discussion with The Hollywood Reporter, Ben Affleck talked about how the character and the movie resonated with him on various levels. 

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Ben Affleck on alcoholism and his character in The Way Back 

During the discussion, Affleck revealed that he is a recovering alcoholic himself. He further added that the movie is about grief and losing a child. He also called it 'probably the worst thing' that one can experience. However, the movie and his character is also focuses a lot on alcoholism.

In the discussion, Ben Affleck said that alcoholism and compulsive behaviour are not inherently super interesting, but sometimes what is interesting is what a person discovers about themselves during the recovery. He further shared that he feels the interesting part is trying to figure out what went wrong, how to fix it and how one would want his life to look and what kind of ethics that he wants to lead the life by. Talking about his battles with alcoholism, Ben Affleck shared that he is an alcoholic, he had a relapse and he also went into recovery again.

According to a report by eonline.com, Ben Affleck has publicly discussed his own battles with alcoholism and his sobriety journey in the past. Just like his character in The Way Back, he has also gone through a separation. He and Jennifer Garner had announced their decision to divorce in 2015. The former couple had tied the knot in 2005 and share children Violet, 15; Seraphina, 12; and Samuel, 8. They officially filed for divorce in 2017 and parted ways next year.

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Image Credits: Ben Affleck Instagram