>>2325169 (lb)

Insanely detailed recollection, especially given the fact that initially he couldn't quite make out the connection even though AW and HA had been in the headlines for several years now.

I believe HA and AW married in 2010, he states AW pointed to HA and referred to her as his wife. So either AW felt the need for some reason to pretend to a total stranger to be married, or in this particular detail Ben confuses "partner" or "girlfriend" with "wife" in his recollection, or maybe this is what it appears to be: total BS.