BEN AFFLECK, MAN CRUSHED

Celebrity Divorce Changes Things.

When you get married and have kids you need to be ready.

Ready for what?

Ready to say, “OK.”

The old gang shows up ready to do old gang stuff.

You’re ready too, until you look at your wife’s face.

It’s the expression that doesn’t need words. Why? Because she’s said them before with the same expression.

She doesn’t need to say things twice. She said that before too.

If you’re Ben Affleck you’ve got a lot of friends, new and old gang types.

Did wife Jennifer know the difference?

More important, did Ben know?

We’ll all know so much more once the dust settles, counseling calms down, and rehab centers are no longer on speed dial.

I won’t be paying attention. Instead I’ll  be tending my crushed man crush.

Ben was The Man.

Here was a guy who could take the Wife Look and do something new with it.

The old way was either ignore the look, or cave and stop doing whatever brought it on.

If there’s a new option, let me know.

Ben seemed like he’s a guy who got it, that he chose married life and wife looks over what’s next.

Three kids solidified his choice. A Man’s Man who is also a husband and father is more manly than ever.

All husbands and fathers tell themselves the same thing, and having Ben on our side proved we’re right.

How many whipped men stayed whipped because Ben was whipped? How many dads gave up their favorite things to be with the wife and family because Ben did?

The ripple effect starts small but once the kids start acting out it’s a tsunami. Three kids all going off together sounds like a nightmare you’d want to run from, but that’s part of the deal.

You don’t run off on your own kids.

How many kids would Brad Pitt be abandoning if he bailed? They’re all his kids once he adopts. What, you thought I’d make a distinction between organic and adopted? Not with Angelina in the picture.

There’s Ben getting pumped for movie roles of heroic proportions while Jennifer gives interviews talking about her comfort level with her baby belly, or mom belly, or that extra weight of whatever name.

A yoked man and a soft woman? Why not? A strong man listening to a weaker woman? Happens all the time.

The key word here is, “OK.”

“Ben, I need you here to help with the kids.”

This is where he says, “OK”, instead of sending over a substitute, or manny nanny.

“Ben, we need to see the teachers and hear them talk about our kids.”

Once again “OK” works better than sending a cameraman to archive the moment.

A forty three year old mom/movie star isn’t the same as a forty two year old man/movie star.

Ben can still play any role in a script; Jennifer’s choices move toward the Julia Roberts roles.

Remember Julia’s last hit movie?

Should Jennifer follow Angelina’s movie picks?

Remember Angelina’s last big movie?

Maybe all three women could star in a movie about growing older in Hollywood.

Add moms in the mix. One mom would be Sally Field, another Diane Keaton, with a third played by Meryl Streep.

That’s a movie with box office, but not the box office Ben will get if he decides to take on the best WWII epic ever written.

There’s Ben directing scenes from the War in the Pacific. His kids watch him recreate island assaults, Japanese firebombing. They watch him direct actors trying to save children.

He’s still a champion in their eyes, if not Jennifers. They think he’s Clint Eastwood.

To show he’s still got more heart than given credit for, Ben adds parts to the WWII epic for Sally Field, Diane Keaton, and Meryl Streep.

Hilarity ensues.