Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck began dating in 2002 and were married in 2004
Ben Affleck says he is grateful to have been given second chances by people after struggling with drink and drug abuse.
The 43-year-old actor met Lopez at the West Coast premiere of his movie Triple Frontier last week.
The couple, who were married from 2002 to 2004, watched the premiere together.
Affleck, who this week said he had taken up tennis, told People magazine that his second chance in the American public eye had helped him learn to seek help.
“I’m very grateful for my life to the extent that I did a lot of things wrong and was very unpleasant in a lot of ways and in a lot of ways was a horrible person,” Affleck said.
“I think if I wouldn’t have had second chances, third chances, fourth chances, a lot of things would have gone a very different direction in my life.”
Affleck was in rehab in 2010 and 2011 following alcohol and cocaine use.
Affleck and Lopez met at the West Coast premiere of his film Triple Frontier. (Image: Getty Images)
Speaking of their first meeting on the red carpet, Affleck said they were enjoying dinner before going to the cinema.
“We were having a little talk, and then I suddenly leaned over to her and said, ‘Can I call you Jennifer?’, and she said ‘OK’, and they came over,” he told the magazine.
“It was just really nice to see her. We had a nice dinner and then she and I went to see the movie.”