14 DAY TRIAL // Jennifer Garner’s 10-year marriage to Ben Affleck has gone down the drain and she needs all the support she can get to deal with the fact that he was the one to destroy it, by sleeping with the children’s nanny.
In between public displays of unity with Ben, Jennifer has been struggling to come to terms with what happened. The fact that she reconnected with ex-boyfriend Michael Vartan helps, The National Enquirer says in its latest print issue (story via CB).
Vartan is a shoulder to cry on for Garner
The report says Garner is still in shock over what happened, even though it’s been almost 2 months since she decided to pull the plug on the marriage, reportedly after she found out about the affair and that Ben had slept with the nanny on a family holiday in the Bahamas.
She wants them to remain on relative good terms for the sake of their children, but she’s finding it very hard to get over the feeling of utter betrayal and disappointment she has whenever she looks at him. One insider even says that she told him she “hated” him for what he’d done.
The fact that it’s all playing out in the media is only an added offense for her: she’s hurt and humiliated, confused and resentful, but she still wants to do the right thing for the kids.
Michael Vartan has proved a surprising strong shoulder to cry on, the report adds. The two dated during their time on the hit TV series “Alias,” before she met and fell in love with Affleck, between2003 and 2004, and reconnected just recently.
He too split from his wife this summer, and he can relate to what she’s going through.
“She’s tried to keep things amicable, but the longer time passes the angrier she gets that Ben threw their marriage down the drain,” an insider says. “Michael’s been a total rock for Jen throughout this whole nightmare. The both know exactly how the other feels.”
Affleck’s lover is still trying to get on TV
Meanwhile, the nanny, Christine Ouzounian, has been getting photographed by the paparazzi on a daily basis, running errands and acting very much like a celebrity. She’s enjoying the attention, too, smiling for photos and even handing fruits with a friend to the paparazzi.
Whenever she’s photographed, she’s dressed with attention to detail and has her hair and makeup done, as if she had known photographers would be waiting.
Juicy gossip about her affair with Affleck stopped, and reports say that he finally paid her to stop leaking stories to the tabloids and the glossies. She probably signed an NDA too, but she’s determined to use the boost in attention on her to kickstart a career in television.
She got offers to appear on talk shows, but she had to turn them down because the NDA bans her from speaking of Affleck in public. Still, she’s thinking she could appear at least on The Bachelor or on ABC’s dancing competition Dancing With the Stars.