Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner's Ups & Downs in Their Own Words

With news the couple's officially divorcing, look back on how they've faced life's happier — and tougher — times

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"I am a giant fan of Jennifer. She’s just a fabulous person. She’s just a wonderful person. She’s a great mother. She’s a real talent. She ... has set such a good example and a lead that I follow. She's somebody that I admire and respect and remain excellent friends with."

—Affleck, on CBS This Morning in March 2016

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"Jen is a superhero mom. She is an amazing mother and I’m really lucky to have her as a partner to co-parent these kids with. We try our best, we put them first and that’s what we do."

— Affleck, to E! Online at the March 2016 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice premiere

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"I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him. And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You can't have these three babies and so much of what we had. He's the love of my life. He's the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. He's just a complicated guy. I always say, 'When his sun shines on you, you feel it.' But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it's cold. He can cast quite a shadow."

– Garner in the March 2016 issue of Vanity Fair on the dissolution of her marriage to Affleck

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"We all swooned … He's your basic tall, dark and handsome. He's it. You want him to save you. I can't imagine anyone the world I would rather see swoop in and save the day than Ben."
– Garner on Affleck in Daredevil, in his 2002 Sexiest Man Alive profile

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"We were able to have a beautiful, private wedding, and I couldn't be happier."
– Garner, speaking to InStyle about the couple's intimate 2005 nuptials

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"I can say that I took getting married again incredibly seriously and still do. If you ask the guy who asked me [Ben], I don't think he would say it was easy getting me to this point. We worked pretty hard to get to this point."
– Garner, introducing the couple's idea of marriage being "work" in a 2007 interview with The Chicago Sun-Times

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"She's the most beautiful woman out there."
– Affleck, gushing about Garner to Access Hollywood at the 2013 Golden Globes

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"You know how as a kid you picture yourself with a tall, handsome husband, and you imagine him cuddling your baby? Ben is that, like, on crack. Granted, I still obsess: 'Do you know what you're doing?’… But Violet prefers him to anyone. He's a teddy bear of a guy. Nothing makes me happier than to see the two of them together and her little hands on his face. He has a prevailing calm. Of course, he has the benefit of sleep."
– Garner, revealing what Affleck is like as a father in a 2007 interview with InStyle

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"I don't know what makes [the relationship] work. But it does … One thing that makes it not not work is that we're both pretty nice."
– Garner, opening up to Marie Claire in 2007 about married life

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"Partially that we don't talk about it … It's that we don't talk to [the press]. But the other – oh yeah, we talk to each other endlessly."
– Garner, explaining how she and Affleck make their marriage work, in an interview with The Houston Chronicle back in 2009

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"Getting to know her, falling in love with her and being connected with her gave me a foundation to reach out and say, 'Okay, I'm going to do Hollywoodland; I’m going to direct Gone Baby Gone.' Those were the steps forward I needed to put positive stuff on the board. She is by leaps and bounds the most important person to me in that respect. Over the past 10 years she has allowed me to have a stable home life while accomplishing my professional goals."
– Affleck, explaining to Playboy in 2013 how Garner helped turn his life and career around

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"Ben is sexy and kind, but he’s also a riot. We can be very goofy together … You steal the time. You steal a date, you steal a kiss, you steal a whisper. You sit next to each other on the couch with computers on your laps. After the kids are asleep you … well, you know. Whatever it is. You slip away for a night, which we've only just now done for the first time. Of course, I call home while we're away. Ben would be surprised if I didn't."
– Garner, gushing about her husband to Parade magazine in 2010

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"I want to thank my wife, who I don't normally associate with Iran. But I want to thank you for working on our marriage for 10 Christmases. It's good. It is work, but it's the best kind of work, and there's no one I’d rather work with."
– Affleck, thanking Garner in his now-infamous 2013 Oscar speech, while accepting the Best Picture prize for Argo

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"You know, all marriages, all relationships to a certain extent, require your work. They're not just work in the sense that it's like digging ditches, but they require work and investment. If you're willing to work and invest, you can be successful in a relationship with another person. If you're not, you might as well just walk out the door because it's not gonna work. We work on it together, we try our best, and nobody's perfect."
– Affleck, explaining what he meant when he referred to the couple's marriage as "work" in his Oscar speech

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"I know Ben. I knew he meant it as the hugest, warmest compliment in the world. I think he was saying, 'Look, what we have is really real, and I value it above all, and I'm in it with you, and I know you are in it with me.' That's the way I took it."
– Garner, sharing her perspective on Affleck's speech

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"I mean, what I have to say is: 'You're welcome.' You know, I just, I try to consider myself a charitable person, and I wanted to give back. You give me so much. I wanted to give something back to all of you … I hope he had on a wide lens!"
– Garner, joking with Ellen DeGeneres about Affleck going full-frontal in Gone Girl

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"You can't expect to be courted all the time, and I don't want to court him right now – I don't have the energy … But we're definitely in a very mindful place where we're making an effort to be together, do things at the same time, and be loving."
– Garner, telling InStyle how she and Affleck have kept their marriage strong over the years

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"My husband is always the one saying to me, 'You have to work, you have to work. This is part of who you are. We'll figure it out' … That's powerful, when your partner has that serious mantra."
– Garner speaking to Elle in 2014, about how Affleck supports her career