Ben Affleck suffered a 'breakdown' while filming about a 'broken marriage' after Jen Garner divorce and rehab

BEN Affleck has admitted he struggled to film personal scenes about a broken marriage, following his own split from ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

The actor made to the revelation while discussing his new flick, The Way Back, which follows a basketball coach battling alcoholism and dealing with a divorce.

And the fact the story mirrored Ben's own real life struggles, following his public battle with alcoholism, made the filming process incredibly challenging.

Speaking to The Associated Press, he explained: "This movie was hard to make. Sometimes it was painful. And sometimes I was embarrassed. And sometimes I couldn’t believe my life had any similarity to this.

"Sometimes just feeling those feelings again purges them a little bit and frees you a little bit."

And the film's director Gavin O’Connor confirmed that Ben pushed himself — to the point of a breakdown.

He explained: "It was probably the second take, Ben just had a breakdown.

"It was like the dam broke and everything came out. I just remember the crew, everyone was frozen, watching him bear his soul. It was obviously real."

He continued: "A lot of things that he probably had to say in his own life, or maybe he had said, I don’t know.”

In fact, Ben was so vulnerable that the director cut some of the footage because "it would be too hard for an audience to watch, too personal."

Meanwhile Ben also added that the journey he has gone on in the past few years may have been painful, but ultimately led to important changes in his relationships.

Ben first checked into rehab in 2001 and made a second trip to rehab in 2017.

One year later, Ben checked in a live-in rehab facility after Jennifer staged an intervention.

In October, Ben admitted to relapsing during his alcoholism recovery – just days after celebrating a year of sobriety.

But the Argo star proudly stated in the interview: "I have a better relationship with my kids today than I did three years ago. I have a better relationship with my ex-wife, I think, than I did three years ago.

"I think I’m a more interesting person because most of the growth that I’ve had has come from pain."

Indeed, Ben and Jen have been able to maintain a good co-parenting relationship for their children Violet, 14, Seraphina, 11, and Samuel, who turns 8 this month, since their split in 2015.

The pair's outing comes after it was revealed that Jen's new boyfriend John Miller isn't happy about Ben's candid interviews.