“Marriage is work.”
It’s the least sexy thing anyone ever says about long-term relationships. It’s not even sexy when a movie star says it.
It’s also one of the most famous things that Ben Affleck ever said about his and Jennifer Garner’s life together.
You can watch him muddle his way through it in front of an epic crowd, here:
“Thank you for working on our marriages for 10 Christmases,” he said, standing on the most famous stage in the world, clutching the award that marked the pinnacle of his brilliant career to date. “Because it is work, but it’s the best kind of work, and there’s no-one I would rather work with.”
Affleck was slammed for that 2013 speech. It was deemed insulting and unromantic. There will those who, today, hearing about their impending divorce, will point to it as a huge, flashing danger sign. “See,” they’ll say. “He wasn’t happy. She was making it WORK.”
Because of course, marriage isn’t WORK. Relationships should be simple, sparkly things, made of equal parts friendship, laughter and mutual, multiple orgasms.