Ben Affleck Talks About Early Stage Dating Woes Following J Lo Divorce

Ben Affleck’s peeling back the curtain on his messy relationship past -- but in true Ben fashion, he’s keeping it low-key and cryptic, using his latest movie role as the perfect smokescreen.

While doing a press junket for "The Accountant 2," Ben got into how his character, Christian Wolff, struggles with dating -- can’t flirt, super uncomfortable -- and then casually veered into real-life vibes, saying that’s how it is for most people ... including himself, it seems!

He said, "It's not easy for anyone figuring out relationships, particularly at the very early part, where you're trying to gauge, 'What does this signal mean? Is this person looking at me? Do they like me? Am I going to humiliate myself if I go over there?'"

Read into it how you want, but it sure sounds like Ben’s speaking from experience -- ’cause LBR, the guy’s had his fair share of headline-making romances … most recently, his rocky road (again) with Jennifer Lopez.

Ben and Jen's divorce was finalized in February after J Lo filed last August. TMZ spilled they didn't have a prenup when they tied the knot in 2022 -- so it took 5 months to untangle all that community property, including their $60M Beverly Hills mansion.

Despite it all, Ben’s keeping it classy -- recently saying he’s still got a lot of respect for J Lo.