Matt Damon Gives Update On Ben Affleck's Recovery Journey

At a UNICEF masquerade Halloween ball in West Hollywood, Ben Affleck, who recently left rehab for alcoholism, appeared intoxicated leading many to wonder if he had fallen off the wagon. Affleck wasted no time in confirming that he had relapsed but that his sobriety remained of the utmost importance.

“It happens, it’s a slip, but I’m not going to let it derail me,” Affleck told paparazzi the day after the party. Since the high-profile slip, Affleck has laid low but his long-time friend and collaborator gave an update on his Good Will Hunting co-star.

Damon Speaks

"He’s looking great, and he’s doing great," Damon said, according to The Blast. "We’ve been working together on this screenplay, and … he’s just doing great."

The duo are working on their first project since Good Will Hunting, which earned the duo an Academy Award for  best screenplay and a place in Hollywood's A-List. According to Deadline, the duo are co-writing The Last Duel based on the book 

Affleck has been transparent with the public about his battle with alcoholism. In 2018, Affleck addressed his decision to open up about his journey to sobriety on Today while promoting his Netflix movie Triple Frontier. 

“Being an alcoholic, it’s part of my life, it’s something that I deal with,” Affleck told host Hoda Kotb. “It doesn’t have to subsume my whole identity and be everything but it is something that you have to work at.”

His Rehab Stints

The Argo director first entered rehab in 2003 for alcohol addiction. (He was driven to the Malibu rehab by pal Charlie Sheen.) Ater completing a 30-day program, Affleck returned to movie-making and found love with actress Jennifer Garner. The Daredevil stars married in 2005 and began their family. After a decade of marriage, they parted ways but Garner remained an important person in Affleck's life.

A couple years after they parted ways, Affleck entered rehab for the second time in 2017, with the support of Garner.

"I'm lucky to have the love of my family and friends, including my co-parent, Jen, who has supported me and cared for our kids as I've done the work I set out to do," Affleck wrote in a 2017 statement. "This was the first of many steps being taken towards a positive recovery."

Navigating superstardom, family life and sobriety is particularly difficult but Affleck understands that the addiction struggle doesn't end after 30 days in rehab.

"Battling any addiction is a lifelong and difficult struggle," the actor wrote on Instagram in 2018. "Because of that one is never really in or out of treatment. It is a full-time commitment. I;m fighting for myself and my family."