Truth about those Blake Lively and Ben Affleck rumors… why he seemingly ghosted her begging email… and Jennifer Garner's heartbreak

When he cast Blake Lively as his troubled ex-girlfriend in The Town, there was, for Ben Affleck, no one else better for the part.

The actor, now 53, was bowled over by the then little-known actress from the high school drama Gossip Girl who was 15 years his junior and had zero film credentials to her name.

'This girl came in, and no one had said to me beforehand, "Hey, look for this person,"' he told Interview magazine. 'And obviously she was really attractive, and so I thought, "Oh, here comes some blonde girl." She came in, did one reading, and just crushed it. Like, Boston accent – really good. I was sort of stunned.'

But such enthusiasm for working with Lively, now 38, has seemingly fizzled.

For despite heaping praise on the actress 15 years ago, the Daily Mail has learned why Affleck may not have been so keen to engage with his former co-star when she allegedly asked for his help with It Ends with Us – the film at the center of her bitter legal battle with director and co-star Justin Baldoni.

And the reason is said to lie with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner.

'The last thing he wants is to start a dialogue with Blake and for it to somehow go public,' an insider told the Daily Mail. 'He knew that would bring up bad memories for Jen.'

Affleck and Lively struck up a close relationship while working together on the 2010 movie. At the time, Affleck was married to Garner with whom he had daughters, Violet and Seraphina – now Finn. Meanwhile, Lively had been dating her Gossip Girl co-star Penn Badgley for around a year.

The film, which also starred Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm, was set in Affleck's hometown of Boston. He took Lively sightseeing around the neighborhood he grew up in, and gushed over her in multiple interviews. Other reports at the time claimed they enjoyed a dinner together after filming a steamy sex scene, in which Affleck had described her as 'very poised and comfortable.'

He repeatedly said there was no 'second choice' for the role and suggested he had discovered Lively. 'I think she's really going to blow up, and I want to look like the smart guy,' he told Interview magazine. 'I want to say I bought the stock when it wasn't $500 a share.'

While gossip magazines lapped up their chemistry, suggesting Affleck had great affection for his young co-star, it allegedly upset Garner.

'Jen trusts Ben, but there is a part of her that will always worry that he'll fall back into his former playboy ways… especially when he's working with a younger co-star like Blake,' a source told In Touch Weekly at the time.

And the off-screen drama seemingly imploded in 2011, when nude images alleged to be of Lively were leaked online. 

A rep for Lively insisted at the time that the grainy X-rated snaps, which fans speculated were taken for Affleck, were '100 percent fake' and that Lively had 'never taken nude photos of herself.'

In response, 17 more images were released, prompting the analysis of tell-tale details in each shot. Some noted similarities between the actress and the person in the photos who had star tattoos like those featured on Lively in The Town, and was using a similar cellphone.

Feverish speculation about the images continued when, that same year, Reese Witherspoon made a comment about women taking nude photographs while accepting the Generation Award at the MTV Movie Awards - where Lively was in attendance.

'When I came up in this business, when you made a sex tape you were embarrassed and you hid it under your bed,' Witherspoon said. 'If you take naked pictures of yourself on your cell phone, you hide your face.'

At the time, a spokesperson for Witherspoon told Us Weekly that the actress 'was absolutely not referencing Blake Lively' in her speech.

In 2023, when Garner referenced a dark time in her life during a conversation with Witherspoon in Los Angeles, fans were convinced she was referencing the photos. 'I think back to going through a very public, very hard moment in my life and Reese was right there,' she said. 

With the rumors undulating over the years, it is perhaps no surprise that Affleck might want to avoid becoming embroiled in a situation with Lively, especially given the close relationship he has managed to achieve with Garner. The couple were married from 2005 until 2018. They had their third child, son Samuel, in 2012. 

'Ben didn't see any reason to be pulled into the It Ends with Us saga,' our insider said. 'He had nothing to do with the movie. Also, it's not like they're best friends.

'He's obviously well aware of the rumors about him and Blake while he was married. It's taken years for him and Jen to get to the strong place they're at now. He felt bringing Blake into his life again would be a bad thing not only for him but for Jen too.

'They're not only great at co-parenting, they're also supportive of each other in other ways too. Ben wants Jen to be happy and vice versa.'

Lively seemingly contacted Affleck via email back in May 2024 during post-production on It Ends with Us, an adaptation of Coleen Hoover's hit novel, asking for assistance in her feud with Baldoni.

The correspondence was made public in newly released court documents amid the ongoing legal battle. Names were redacted, but with mention to a Dunkin' commercial, a wife named 'Jennifer,' as well as 'Matt' and 'Jason Bourne' – believed to be nods to Matt Damon – it seems that Affleck was the recipient.

'It's Blake. Don't hang up,' the email started. 'I hope life is treating you beautifully. Ryan [Reynolds, Lively's husband] was going on and on about you recently amongst all that chaos. He was blown away by you. Though he was equally effusive about your Dunkin' commercial. So know you have a Canadian fan club in my house. And a Burbank one too.'

'I've just come out the other side (well almost) of the most upsetting experience I've ever had on a movie,' she said, before suggesting that the 'making of doc of this film would be more interesting than the movie could ever be.'

She hinted at 'wild HR issues' related to Baldoni and went on to ask the recipient if they could 'give me any ideas or notes' and added that she would 'love' for 'Jennifer' [believed to be Lopez] to watch the movie. 'It would be an honor to have her take,' she wrote.

No response to Lively's email was filed with the rest of the documents, because, according to a second insider, Affleck 'didn't really get into it.'

'There isn't any evidence that he responded more than a few quick pleasantries at best and that if he could get to it, he would,' they said.

'He expects to be asked about it in future interviews and is very happy that this all came out after his RIP press tour, but once everything gets out there it will be seen that Ben didn't really get into it that much and just let it be something that he let slip by and lost touch with it.' 

The Daily Mail has contacted representatives for Affleck for comment.