Ben Affleck’s dating history has provided his children with plenty of material, and apparently they are not wasting it. During a Thursday appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the twice-divorced actor said his attempts to offer relationship advice often receive the sort of blunt response only teenagers can deliver.

Affleck shares Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14, with his first wife, Jennifer Garner. He told host Jimmy Kimmel that conversations about the children’s friends, romantic drama and relationships occasionally tempt him to contribute some parental wisdom.

During one dinner-table discussion, Affleck began explaining his “lived experience.” He recalled saying, “You know, well, the thing about that relationship there with that person...”

His 17-year-old quickly interrupted: “Oh, like you’re the expert on relationships?”

A fair question, if not exactly the response he had prepared for.

Why his children question the advice

Affleck married Jennifer Garner in 2005. The couple separated 10 years later, and their divorce was finalized in 2018.

In 2022, he married Jennifer Lopez, reviving a relationship that had first led to an engagement in the early 2000s. That marriage lasted less than two years before the couple split.

With his children approaching adulthood, Affleck said he has become something of a “caricature” in their eyes. Standard parental guidance now comes with visible reviews from all three critics.

“I, like, give advice or try to talk to them like a parent, as you do,” he said. “But what I’ve found is that now it’s not only one teenager rolling their eyes. I catch them giving each other looks.”

The coordinated reaction appears to be the part that concerns him most. One teenager silently dismissing a parent is routine. Three exchanging notes is practically an editorial board.

A bookstore joke earned his respect

Affleck also recalled visiting a bookstore with his middle child when they spotted a book by a French author titled I’m Sorry for Everything.

“My kid immediately turns to me, deadpan, and goes, ‘Oh, look, Dad, it’s your autobiography,’” he said.

Rather than objecting, the Oscar and Golden Globe winner laughed and admitted he was “proud” of the timing. If his children are going to use his personal life for comedy, he can at least appreciate competent delivery.

Beyond his marriages to Garner and Lopez, Affleck has had high-profile relationships with Gwyneth Paltrow and Ana de Armas, among others. He has not publicly confirmed a new romance since his latest divorce.

Model Brooks Nader dismissed speculation linking her to the filmmaker earlier this year. Responding in January to a Deuxmoi post on Instagram, she wrote, “Haven’t met him in my life.”

For now, Affleck’s public romantic life appears quiet. His family’s commentary on it remains fully operational.