On the road! Casey Affleck recently drove from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon — giving the actor time to reflect on eldest son Indiana leaving for college.
“Next week, my son is going to college. He was raised in Los Angeles. He’s moving to New York City. Despite all the traveling I’ve done between the coasts, NYC has never felt as far away as it does now,” Affleck, 47, told Haute Living in an interview published on Friday, November 4. “Although this feels unrelated to what I’m doing, it’s not. My son leaving is the only thing on my mind as I embark on this trip.”
The Manchester By the Sea star, who partnered with the outlet in August for the road trip, used the solo time to reflect on his relationship with his family and the memories made while taking their own cross-country adventures over the years.
“My kids and I take a long camping road trip every summer,” Affleck, who shares sons Indiana, 18, and Atticus, 14, with ex-wife Summer Phoenix, recalled. “We drive and cook and yell at each other. Most often we go coast to coast. Sometimes we explore other countries. Many of our best memories are from those trips.”
The Massachusetts native revealed that when his kids were younger, he and Phoenix, 43, drove them “across seven European countries in three weeks,” noting that they often “slept in a van on the side of a road,” teaching their little ones how to embrace the outdoors.
“So many things went sideways. We were often too cold or too hot,” he explained. “There was boredom, sickness, and annoyance, but they dealt with it. They dealt with it because somewhere deep down inside, they knew that, all told, something good was happening.”
Affleck, who tied the knot with the Growing Pains alum in June 2006, revealed to Haute Living that the experiences he and his family faced on the road “brought us closer, showed us new parts of the world and new parts of each other and ourselves.” He even added that “being stuck in a car together does something good for us.”
Now that Indiana is headed on his own adventure “3,000 miles away,” the Interstellar star shared that he hopes his eldest will find contentment.
“I know he will be fine. It isn’t his safety or success that I worry about. His happiness is what I want. But maybe this, too, is foolish. He will be happy and sometimes unhappy. No life should be anything else,” he said, adding that he’s confident his son will meet “the fear of the unknown and far away with a brave and curious heart.”
Affleck and Phoenix called it quits in 2015 after more than a decade of marriage, finalizing their divorce the same year. Since their split, the two have worked hard to maintain a healthy coparenting relationship — but it hasn’t always been easy.
“If there are two parents in the world who have figured out how to parent in perfect harmony, they should call me up and tell me their secret and they should write a book and save the world,” the actor, 43, told Us Weekly exclusively in June 2019. “In my experience it’s pretty impossible to not disagree. You both care about your kids so much, more than anything in the world. You both have had different childhoods from which you’re drawing your ideas from and eventually you’re going to have different opinions and it’s going to be tough to work out.”
However, the Oscar winner added that Phoenix has “always been an amazing mother” to their two little ones. “She’s loving and fun and the boys worship her, so I think that even in our differences, she and I have found a nice balance,” he told Us at the time.
Following his split from the ER alum, Affleck moved on with Floriana Lima in 2016 before sparking a romance with Caylee Cowan. The pair confirmed they were dating in November 2021 while promoting a local blood drive.
“@cayleecowan showed up,” Affleck gushed about Cowan, 24, via Instagram at the time.. “She is not on the Love’s active [baseball team] roster, but she is MY Love, and she ALWAYS shows up when it counts.”
The Willy Wonderland actress, for her part, commented on the post to declare her love for her new man. “I love you so much,” she replied.
