At this point in his career, Ben Affleck is an elder statesman of Hollywood. There’s little he can’t do, and there’s even less he hasn’t experienced — chief among them being the harassment of the paparazzi. Affleck recently revealed that they’re the reason he always looks so grumpy in photos, and he even speculates they may have played a role in Britney Spears’ infamous breakdown.
During the press tour for the excellent The ant 2, Ben Affleck has been more forthcoming than usual. He hasn’t been shy about discussing how he raises his children, his proudest career moments, and even where he sees the industry heading. So when he stopped by This Past Weekend with Theo Von, fans of the podcast already knew a gem would be mined. Theo Von has this unique way of interviewing — the kind where Mark Zuckerberg’s bonkers personality can unravel, just from being asked what he thinks about coffee.
To be fair, Zuckerberg is also the guy who thinks the best use of AI is creating an Instagram reel that chats with s and sells them ads directly — so that shouldn’t be too hard.
When Theo sat down with Affleck, he was more interested in why Affleck always looks like the most miserable person alive. Affleck has long served meme galleries across the internet — whether he’s on a coffee run to his beloved Dunkin’ Donuts or holding the door open for his off-again-on-again-then-off-again partner J.Lo, Ben Affleck almost always looks like he’d rather be anywhere else.
Affleck explained to Theo that it only looks odd because the photos and videos never show the “poking of the tiger,” just the reaction. He then shifted his thoughts to the long-battered Britney Spears, expressing that “years and years” ago, during the early 2000s, when they were both coming up, he felt a “lot of empathy” for her. Affleck said, “I don’t know because I don’t know her. But I do know that the cycle of having people harangue you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you — it seemed like that itself was kind of whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy.”
“That’s the first time I thought this is kind of a weird, unintentional — I think culturally — but kind of collective cruelty where what’s taken out of the image that you see are the people around waving the stick at the tiger or poking on it.”
Affleck and his family have long been critical of the paparazzi. In 2013, his ex-wife Jennifer Garner was at the forefront of championing a law that made it illegal for paparazzi to harass or publish images of minors — mostly the children of celebrities — without parental consent. Hollywood has them to thank for the blurring out of children’s faces in those school pickup shots or other moments where people should just be able to live without fuss.
Spears, unfortunately, had that particular breakdown to thank for her years-long conservatorship, which only ended recently after an intense fan campaign. Paparazzi are, ultimately, just trying to make a living — and under normal circumstances, there’s a glimmer of empathy in that. But their approach can, at times, be far too aggressive.
If you want to celebrate these stars and document them, then it’s best to build a rapport. It’s not just good business — it’s good manners.
Published: May 7, 2025 11:40 am