NEW YORK • Actor Ben Affleck says his divorce from Jennifer Garner is the biggest regret of his life.

Tracking his failed relationship with the 47-year-old actress, Affleck, also 47, told The New York Times that "I started drinking more and more when my marriage was falling apart".

"This was 2015, 2016. My drinking, of course, created more marital problems."

In 2018, the couple, who had been married for 13 years, went their separate ways. They now share custody of their children Violet, 14, Seraphina, 11, and Sam, seven.

But Affleck knows that "it's not particularly healthy for me to obsess over the failures - the relapses - and beat myself up".

"I have certainly done things that I regret. But you've got to pick yourself up, learn from it, learn some more, try to move forward," said the actor whose sports drama The Way Back is slated for release next month.

He portrays a former basketball star who looks for redemption as a high school coach after his alcohol habit sank his marriage.

There is a scene where the character apologises to his former wife and the movie's director Gavin O'Connor told the Times that Affleck had a "total breakdown" on set after completing the shoot.

"It was like a floodgate opened up. I think that was a very personal moment in the movie (for him)."