Garner and Cooper’s ‘flirty’ beach visit came a couple days after her ex-husband Affleck made out with his new girlfriend Ana de Armas on the beach as Matt Damon and his wife strolled alongside.
For celebrity spotters, Malibu was the place to be this week, as famous ex-spouses Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck both visited the storied beach community, though apparently at different times and with a very different set of famous and attractive friends.
Garner, 48, was photographed by TMZ hanging out on one of the town’s beaches with a shirtless Cooper, 45, and his 3-year-old daughter Lea De Seine. TMZ described Garner and Cooper looking “flirty.”
TMZ also reported that Garner is no longer dating businessman John Miller, who was identified as her first serious boyfriend after she finalized her divorce from Affleck in 2018.
The Daily Mail reported that Garner and Miller broke up sometime before Los Angeles went into COVID-19 lockdown in March.
The TMZ photos show Cooper looking as though he had just emerged from the water. At one point, the “A Star is Born” actor and director reclined on the beach as Garner built a sand castle with Lea, his daughter with his ex-girlfriend, model Irina Shayk.
TMZ and Entertainment Tonight pointed out the reasons that people shouldn’t conclude that Garner and Cooper’s beach visit was anything but platonic. The two have been friends since they were up-and-coming young co-stars in TV’s “Alias” in the early 2000s.
TMZ said Garner and Cooper have spent time together with their significant others in the past, while Entertainment Tonight cited Garner’s speech about their longtime friendship when she helped honor him at the American Cinematheque Awards in November 2018.
Affleck also regards Cooper as a good friend and thanked him for helping him with his recent efforts to get sober, Entertainment Tonight added.
Speaking of Affleck, the “Batman” star’s visit to Malibu was on Monday, though it’s not clear if he was at the same beach as Garner and Cooper.
Affleck, 47, was photographed with his good friend Matt Damon, Damon’s wife, Luciana Barroso, and most significantly, his serious new girlfriend, rising star Ana de Armas.
Affleck and de Armas, 32, were acting more than flirty during their Malibu trip. As in many other tabloid photos of the past six months, Affleck and de Armas were packing on the PDA. At one point, Affleck pulled her close and began kissing her, right in front of Damon and his wife and children.
“Ben is totally that friend in the friend group who’ll just make out with his girl when everyone else is not making out,” commented Lainey Gossip writer Elaine Lui. “There’s always one, you know? The ‘get a room!’ friend. … The PDA is clearly part of their love language. They’re all up in each other all the time.”
Affleck and de Armas have been romantically linked since meeting on the set of “Deep Water,” an erotic thriller directed by Adrian Lyne, in which they portray a married couple who play mind games with each other after falling out of love.
As Lui wrote, de Armas “has presumably been integrated into all areas of Ben’s life, including his own kids.”
Affleck has three children with Garner — Violet, 14, Seraphina, 11, and Samuel, 8. Affleck and Garner went through their share of turbulence over the end of their marriage, Affleck’s drinking problems and his reported romantic entanglements with his children’s nanny and a Playboy Playmate. Through it all, Affleck and Garner had been publicly committed to being hands-on co-parents.
