[PEOPLE]EXCLUSIVE
Inside Ben Affleck's Battle with Addiction — and How Jennifer Garner Has Helped Him
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Ben Affleck hasn’t been afraid to ask for help in keeping his life and sobriety on track.

The Justice League star, who has been open about his struggle with alcohol abuse, leaned on others, including his ex Jennifer Garner, after suffering a relapse in September, sources tell PEOPLE in the magazine’s new issue.

“He asked for help,” a family source says, adding, “He wants to be sober.”

Garner and Affleck’s brother Casey helped Affleck, 45, go back into inpatient treatment for a few days. Since then, he’s been going to outpatient treatment in L.A., and has traveled with a sober coach as he promotes his latest outing as Batman. “This is a lifelong battle, not one that he takes lightly,” adds an Affleck friend, who says he’s been in “continual” treatment since a rehab stay in March. “His focus is on his family and getting better so that he can continue with what he loves.”

While he has “had a rough year” personally and professionally, the family source says “at the moment, he is doing great. He seems more honest with himself.”

Garner, 45, has been supportive of Affleck despite their pending divorce. “For Jen, it’s simple. She wants Ben to be the best dad possible to their kids,” Violet, 12, Seraphina, 8 and Samuel, 5, says the family source. “She wants Ben to be healthy.”

While support from his loved ones helps, an industry source close to the actor says, “He is always going to have to face those demons. How he goes forward is strictly up to him.”