Ben Affleck is going public with his girlfriend and we've got the pix!

Lindsay Shookus is a producer for Saturday Night Live and we're told, despite numerous reports claiming this is a new relationship, that these two have been dating for YEARS. In fact, they dated before Ben hooked up with Jennifer Garner. And his relationship with Jen didn't stop these two from seeing each other. "Ben made frequent trips to New York to see Lindsay over the years and Jen didn't fully understand what was going on, though at some point, she suspected something. Ben did a lot of bad stuff during their marriage, but this was the one 'other woman' that was more than a fling. He and Lindsay always had a strong connection," our source tells us.

Thursday night, the pair was photographed leaving Santa Monica hotspot Giorgio Baldi but we were onto these two a month ago when we photographed Lindsay taking an Uber as she left Ben's huge new bachelor pad manse one morning. Another day, we caught up with Lindsay as she left her own house, headed to Soul Cycle for a spin class.

Lindsay was married to another SNL producer in 2010, Kevin Miller. It's not clear if the two are actually legally divorced ...

As you know, Ben and Jen have been on the outs for while, with Jen filing for divorce mid-April after announcing their split months earlier, filing, pulling the filing and then re-submitting the divorce papers. The couple appeared to be reconciling numerous times, but no matter how hard Jen tried to make it work, it wasn't working and Ben moved out right after the legal filing in April. He picked up an amazing bachelor pad about 2 miles away from the family's Pacific Palisades home.

Ben and Jen reunited on the 4th of July to attend the annual Pacific Palisades Independence Day parade, as is their family tradition. But it appears Ben has officially moved on and will make his relationship with Shookus more public now that the news is out!