Ben Affleck “didn’t want to get divorced” from his ex-wife Jennifer Garner

He confessed: “I never thought that I was gonna get divorced. I didn’t want to get divorced. I didn’t want to be a divorced person. I really didn’t want to be a split family with my children. And it upset me because it meant I wasn’t who I thought I was. And that was so painful and so disappointing in myself.”

Ben recently stated his divorce was spurred on by his battle with alcoholism, and has now explained he found it “hard” to watch his and Jennifer’s children - Violet, 14, and Seraphina, 11, and Samuel, seven - struggle through their parents’ split.

He added: “Divorce is very painful and alcoholism is very painful. They just are. If there’s something that your child is suffering, that’s a level of pain that is not easily gotten past, not easily forgiven, not easily forgotten. And it’s hard.”

The ‘Argo’ actor says he’s now “doing [his] very best” to be a “good enough” father to his brood.

Ben said: “You’re not going to avoid causing your kids pain, all pain. Pain is part of life. I take some comfort in that. I’m doing my very, very best … It has to be good enough. I don’t really have a choice. I have to be the man I want to be at this point. I don’t have any more room for failure of that kind.”

And the star also sent a public message to his ex-wife Jennifer, as he thanked her for being “a great mum and person”.

Speaking during an appearance on ‘Good Morning America’, he said: “What I want to say publicly and privately is, ‘Thank you. Thank you for being thoughtful, considerate, responsible, and a great mom and person.’ ”

Ben opened up about his divorce earlier this week, when he confessed his alcohol addiction began to make their marriage “fall apart”.

The 47-year-old actor said: "The biggest regret of my life is this divorce.

“Shame is really toxic. There is no positive byproduct of shame. It's just stewing in a toxic, hideous feeling of low self-worth and self-loathing.

"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."