United Kingdom, Oct. 9 -- Ben Affleck's "long-term sobriety" just gets "easier".

The 54-year-old Animals star has been open about his battle with alcohol abuse but he's been sober for more than five years and he's now admitted he needed to hit "rock bottom" to really make him want to turn his life around.

Ben told Variety: "When addiction starts to really take hold, it's not enough to have it in your front brain and say: 'This is something I want to change. This isn't good for me.'

"Something has to click on an amygdala level. That's where the 'rock bottom' cliche comes from. It's the same thing: You've got to suffer enough to have something at stake you don't want to lose.

"Long-term sobriety, the gift of it is that it just gets easi...