Daredevil actor Ben Affleck has spoken for the first time on his marriage breakdown with Jennifer Garner.

In a recent Vanity Fair cover story, Garner spoke of the split and joked about Affleck’s new tattoo, saying she refused to “be the ashes” in the image of a phoenix rising from the ashes.

Affleck, who has weathered accusations he cheated on Garner with their nanny (Ricky Gervais even joked about it at the Golden Globes) told The New York Times he and Garner were on great terms.

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“Jen’s great. She’s a great person,” he said.

“I just saw her this morning, so that’s the reality that I live in.”

Affleck said he understood why Garner had decided to open up about the split in the magazine.

“She felt like she wanted to discuss it and get it out there and get it over with so she could say, ‘Look, I already talked about it – I don’t want to do it again’.”

After 10 years of marriage and two children, Garner and Affleck announced their divorce in 2015, among rumours he was having an affair with the nanny – allegations Affleck denied.

But Garner told Vanity Fair the nanny rumours had nothing to do with the decision to split permanently.

“We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny,” said Garner.

“She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation. Bad judgment? Yes.”

Yet the actress was also full of praise for her ex-husband, who will soon star in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.

“He’s the love of my life. What am I going to do about that? He’s the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. He’s just a complicated guy”