Ben Affleck's strict criteria for next girlfriend revealed

Ben Affleck finally feels ready to start dating again after his very public split from Jennifer Lopez – but he only wants to date women who are sober, insiders claim.

The recovering alcoholic, 52, rekindled his romance with Lopez, 55, in 2021, but the pair filed for divorce in August following months of speculation that their marriage had crumbled.

Affleck reportedly struggled with the 'tough’ fallout from their split, which served to show him how important it is to never jeopardize his sobriety. 

'Ben has not given up on relationships and finally feels ready to move forward and start dating again,' an insider told DailyMail.com exclusively. 

'He is not going to jump into anything serious until the divorce is finalized but that does not mean he cannot date.' 

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They continued: 'He only wants to date someone who is sober or in recovery. These past two years have been tough for Ben and as he begins to heal, one thing is very clear: his recovery comes before anything. He is not going to put his sobriety in jeopardy.’ 

After Affleck moved out of the $68 million mansion he shared with Lopez and into his own rental bachelor pad in Brentwood, California, friends feared that he could relapse as a result of the strain of such a public split.

DailyMail.com reported at the time that Lopez turned to the actor's ex-wife Jennifer Garner for help as she was one of a few people who could offer advice.

Affleck was reportedly upset by the news that people feared he would relapse after a lengthy bout of sobriety.

‘Ben tries to avoid reading the news but it did upset him that people thought he relapsed because he had not,' the source said. 

'Like every alcoholic, Ben just wakes up with one goal in mind. To stay sober for that day.'

Affleck has been open about his addiction battle and first stopped drinking in 1997.

'I just wanted to stop,' he told a reporter in 1998. 'I started regretting some things I did when I was drunk. It's funny to be obnoxious or out of control, but then it's like, "I think I hurt that person's feelings", "I made a fool of myself" or "I didn't want to kiss that girl". I have almost no inhibitions, so it's dangerous for me.'

He sought treatment for alcoholism in 2001 and again went to rehab in 2017 and 2018, after Garner - with whom he shares children, Violet, Seraphina (who now goes by Fin) and son Samuel - staged an intervention with the help of a sober coach at his home.

Speaking to The New York Times in 2020, he explained: 'I drank relatively normally for a long time. What happened was that I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart.

'This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems.'

He admitted that feeling 'trapped' during his marriage to Garner played a part in why he started drinking.

The Gone Girl star went on to tell The Hollywood Reporter: 'The idea that I was blaming my wife for my drinking. To be clear, my behavior is my responsibility entirely. The point that I was trying to make was a sad one.'

He continued: 'I was trying to say, "Hey, look, I was drinking too much, and the less happy you become, whether it’s your job, your marriage, it’s just that as your life becomes more difficult, if you’re doing things to fill a hole that aren’t healthy, you’re going to start doing more of those things." I think I was pretty articulate about that.'

The actor explained his thought process during those dark times as he recalled: 'You know I was like "I can't leave cause of my kids, but I'm not happy. What do I do?"

'And what I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.' 

Lopez and Affleck were famously engaged in the early 2000s before breaking up, only to reunite - and later marry - in July 2022 before holding another ceremony one month later.

Their initial two-year romance was highly publicized and the intense scrutiny on their relationship was difficult for the couple to handle.

Lopez filed for divorce in August, marking what would have been their second wedding anniversary. Their official date of separation was listed as April 26, 2024.

The On the Floor singer finally broke her silence on their failed union this month, describing her heartbreak as ‘sad’ and ‘scary’ in a risqué shoot with Interview magazine.

Lopez, who did not name Affleck, added that she is ‘not looking for anybody' right now and suggested that her ex did not embrace all of her flaws.

Affleck reportedly had a brief fling with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s daughter, Kathleen 'Kick' Kennedy, 36, in the wake of their split.

Page Six was the first to report the news after the pair were spotted getting super cozy at the Polo Lounge in Beverly Hills. 

A source told DailyMail.com at the time: 'Ben and Kick had a fling before he got back together with JLo. They met because Ben is from Boston and when you live in Boston, the Kennedy family is royalty.' 

The source stressed that the pair's romance did not ever overlap with the actor's rekindled relationship with Lopez.