Jennifer Garner, Ben Affleck Call Off Divorce to Give Marriage Renewed Try

By Julie Brown Patton
Garner and Affleck
Actors Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck reportedly now are trying to work things out after announcing their separation in 2015. The two are not "back together," reports People magazine, but they want to work on their marriage.  Reuters

Actors Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner recently decided to keep working on their marriage rather than divorcing, after announcing their separation in June 2015. Both 44 years old, the two were married for 10 years prior to the divide.

Rumors pegged Affleck as the guilty party for an alleged affair with the couple's 28-year-old nanny. Garner later rejected speculation that extramarital activities had contributed to their split in a candid interview for Vanity Fair, explaining their problems began long before "nannygate." Affleck's boozing and partying played a crucial role in their split, reports Radar Online. 

At the separation, they release a statement:  "After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce. We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children, whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time."

"Jen really wants to work things out with Ben," a source close to Garner told People magazine in the latest issue. "They are giving things another try."

But E! News called Garner and Affleck's relationship "very fluid" and indicated nothing has really changed drastically.

Sources close to the couple say the two still love each other, as well as their children and parents, so there's a chance of reconciliation. They share children Samuel, 5, Violet, 11, and Seraphina, 8.

While Affleck and Garner may be in a more healing phase for the marriage now, according to Yahoo News, they definitely went through a strained period that nearly prompted them to stop trying to save the marriage. "Jen was telling friends that she plans on filing for divorce," the source close to her says in People's new issue. "She just wanted to move on and focus on the happy things in her life. She was exhausted from all the ups and downs."

Through the last two years, Affleck and Garner remained somewhat close, living together much of the time and co-parenting their kids. They've taken family vacations together and celebrated the holidays together in Montana. Affleck told People in January, "I like taking my kids to school in the morning and dropping them off and having them know their dad is there. That feels good."

Still, they are not officially back together, but there seems to be hope because neither both decided to put a divorce on hold. 

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