When the world first learned that Ben Affleck was dating Lindsay Shookus, many applauded the non-tabloidy nature of their relationship.
After all, Affleck’s divorce from Jennifer Garner had been finalized; the former couple had been separated for more than two years; and the timng seemed right for Ben to move on with someone new.
Then the tabloid media started doing some digging and they found, well … a lot.
For starters, several outlets claimed that Garner and Shookus had an affair for several years before coming out as a couple.
This is a bit of a problem, as until relatively recently, both were married to other people.
It later came out that Garner confronted Shookus after learning of the affair, which she found out about after noticing some expensive jewelry purchases on Ben’s credit card statement.
As for Shookus’ ex-husband, Kevin Miller, he reportedly just fouhd out about the affair a few months ago, and now believes it was the cause of his divorce.
(According to People and Us Weekly‘s timelines, Shookus began her relationship with Affleck just a few months after welcoming the her and Miller’s first child.)
Now, London’s Daily Mail has done even more digging into the Lindsay’s past and found that the SNL producer has a history of dating famous men.
The tabloid reports that Lindsay engaged in a low-key affair with Sex and the City actor Chris Noth, though Noth’s reps deny the claim.
Of course, that may have something to do with the fact that Noth would’ve already been involved with his current wife at the time.
Interestingly, the tabloid claims that Ben and Lindsay went on a break at at one point.
(Yes, if the timelines are accurate, they’ve been together long enough to have gone on a break.)
During that time, it seems Lindsay got involved with another respected actor with a famously messy personal life.
The Mail claims Lindsay dated Jon Hamm during this time, and news of the relationship royally pissed Ben off.
Affleck and Hamm are friends and they worked on the 2010 film The Town together.
They both got out of very longterm relationships around the same time, and it seems Shookus knew just how to make Affleck jealous.
It’s anyone’s guess as to how much of the Mail‘s report is accurate, but one thing’s for sure:
It doesn’t look like Ben will be able to leave his tabloid staple status in the past any time soon.
