Jennifer Garner Sweetly Holds Hands With Son Samuel, 8, After Ben Affleck’s Trip With Ana De Armas

Jennifer Garner treated her son Samuel to ice cream after picking up the eight-year-old from school on March 9! Meanwhile, Jen’s ex has been sparking dating rumors with his new co-star.

Jennifer Garner, 47, had the best surprise for her son, Samuel, after picking up the eight-year-old from school on March 9: ice cream! The sweet duo made a trip to Rori’s Artisanal Creamery in Santa Monica on Monday afternoon, and during their outdoor stroll, the mother and son looked giddy as they sweetly held hands. Samuel even excitedly broke into a run in front of Jennifer as they made their way across a crosswalk, and Jennifer appeared amused by her son’s enthusiasm. With ice cream on the agenda, the young boy’s enthusiasm was understandable!

Meanwhile, Jennifer’s ex-husband and Samuel’s dad, Ben Affleck, is having fun himself! The 47-year-old actor had been vacationing in Cuba with his Deep Water co-star Ana de Armas, 31, in her hometown of Havana. Thanks to their multiple public sightings in Ana’s home country and photos with fans that began surfacing on March 6, the duo is convincing the Internet that they are indeed dating (of course, Ben and Ana have yet to confirm this). Ben and Ana do play a married couple, however, in their upcoming psychological thriller that will premiere in theaters on Nov. 13, 2020.

If Ben is actually dating again, we’re hearing that Jen doesn’t have a problem with it. “When it comes to people that Ben may or may not be dating, Jen’s attitude is different at all stages of a relationship that Ben will have,” a source EXCLUSIVELY told HollywoodLife. “If he is dating and having fun, she’s OK with it, she really doesn’t have any say in any of that.”

Rather, Jen is more focused on Ben’s new film The Way Back, which was just released on March 6. It was an extremely personal film for Ben to star in, seeing that his character also deals with a failed marriage and alcoholism. The film’s director, Gavin O’Connor, even revealed that Jen insisted the movie shouldn’t be called off when Ben “fell off the wagon” and checked into rehab in Aug. 2018, the director told 34th Street Magazine.

The movie was in the preparation stage at that point, and The Way Back‘s director said, “His ex-wife Jennifer Garner called me up, and told me that when he went to rehab, he took a basketball with him. She said, ‘Gavin, he’s asking you, please don’t pull the plug on the movie, he really wants to do this.’” As you can see, Jen and Ben still share a close bond as parents; in addition to Samuel, they also share daughters Violet, 14, and Seraphina, 11.