Ben Affleck opens up about taking antidepressants since he was 26: 'They're very helpful for me'
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In the second part of Ben Affleck's tell-all GMA interview, the actor and director spoke more in-depth about his struggles with mental health and addiction.
The 47-year-old Oscar-winner revealed to ABC News' Diane Sawyer that he's battled depression since his 20s and has been taking antidepressants since he was 26 years old.
“I get depressed. I take antidepressants. They’re very helpful for me,” Affleck said. “I’ve taken them since I was 26 years old, various different kinds. I’ve switched and tried this and tried that.
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"Sometimes they won’t tell you about some awful side effect and you’ll come back and say, ‘Why am I 60 pounds heavier?’" he added. “And [the doctor says], ‘Oh, well you put on a little weight.’ And it’s like, ‘Oh, well thanks!’"
Affleck also spoke about attending church with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner and their three kids: Samuel, 8 this month, Seraphina, 11, and Violet, 14.
“I’d like to find some sort of sense of meaning and purpose. I was not raised religious — I’m not a very good Christian, although I go to church with my kids because it was important to Jennifer, and now I go too and I like it quite a bit,” he admitted.
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For Affleck, his 2018 divorce wasn't something he ever thought would happen to him.
"There are things that I would love to go back and change. I have regrets," he told Sawyer. "I made plenty of mistakes, some big, some small."
Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner split after 10 years of marriage in 2015. They finalized their divorce in 2018. (Reuters)
But the star is holding out hope for the future. He said five years from now, he wants people to say, "Ben Affleck is sober and happy, and sees his kids three-and-a-half days a week -- has made three or four movies that are interesting to him, probably directed two that he's hopefully proud of. And is in a healthy, stable, loving, committed -- relationship."
In part one of their interview, Affleck spoke candidly about his alcohol addiction and bumpy journey to become sober -- "I started to drink every day. I'd come home from work and drink until I passed out on the couch," he said.
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"I don't have any more room for failure of that kind," Affleck said in reference to his multiple stints in rehab. "I have to be the man I want to be at this point."