This post needs some kind of warning. I don’t know what to put so I’m just going to warn against Ew. Ben Affleck was on The Late Late Show promoting Air. James Corden asked about when he, Casey Affleck and Matt Damon shared an apartment in Los Angeles. Although Ben had many lovely things to say about his “best friend” Matt, he would not recommend him as a roommate. The reason? Matt’s a slob. Apparently, Matt was so delinquent in his share of household chores, that Ben and Casey went on strike to get Matt to chip in. After two weeks of letting things go, they walked in to find an oblivious Matt surrounded by trash and food covered in maggots. Again, ew.
They’ve shared a bank account and the silver screen, but one thing Ben Affleck will never share with Matt Damon again is an apartment.
Affleck said that his Good Will Hunting costar was such a messy roommate that it once pushed him and younger brother Casey Affleck to their breaking points when the trio shared an apartment together in Los Angeles.
“Matt’s a beautiful guy. I love him. He’s my best friend. He’s been great to me my whole life. He’s a brilliant guy,” Affleck began on Thursday night’s episode of The Late Late Show. “I would not suggest living with him.
He credited Damon with having the very unique ability to “block things out” entirely, even if, unfortunately, that also included “the idea that, when you finish with something, it has to be washed or thrown away.”
After cleaning up his clutter “for years,” Affleck said that he and Casey couldn’t take it anymore and decided to go on a silent strike to see if Damon would realize the depths of his filth and start tidying up after himself. As Affleck put it, “We’re just gonna wait and see how long he will go before he actually gets up and goes, ‘God, I’m covered in garbage!'”
He said the pair made it “two weeks without touching the apartment” before Damon’s Pigpen-like behavior caused them to snap.
“Came home one day, me and [Casey]. Matt’s there in his shorts and his T-shirt playing the ’92 Sega hockey game in the middle of what was the living room, just surrounded by concentric circles of garbage,” he explained to host James Corden. “Pizza boxes. I look down at this sushi thing that was a week and a half old, and there’s maggots.”
“And we were like, ‘We submit. We submit. You are too good. We cannot beat you,'” he continued. “He just was like, ‘Hey what’s going on fellas?’ [We said,] ‘That’s a rat on you!'”
Ben ended this segment saying there was a special place in heaven for Matt’s wife Luciana Barroso because of what she likely has to put up with. Please, for the love of Pete, tell me Matt has changed after all these years. I don’t doubt he probably leaves his plates in the sink for someone else to load in the dishwasher or conveniently doesn’t see stuff left on counters but tell me a man hoping to run his own studio does not leave food out anymore. Of course, Matt and Luciana likely pay someone to clean up after him now. My gawd, I cannot with man-children. It is not cute or fun and they should be embarrassed.
Those strikes never work, though. We’ve all had that roommate or dated that person that didn’t do their share for whatever reason. But I’ve never heard of any of them suddenly getting it because the rest of us stopped doing the work. I’ve just walked into a similar scene that Ben did after a week. Only unlike Ben, I ditched that relationship.
And what’s worse is that Ben is telling this story as Chris Messina is sitting next to him on Corden’s couch. Forget Matt, talk about Chris. He’s just better in, like, all ways.
Photo credit: Getty Images, Cover Images and backgrid
Lots of folks are slobs. Why not Matt? Ben still telling stories from 20-30 years ago.
We’ve all had crummy room mates and/or spouses who do next to nothing when it comes to household chores.
Wasn’t Matt’s wife a waitress or a bartender or something like that when they met? That just makes this story so much worse to me.
As many issues as Ben has had and continues to have, I like him more than Matt. Ben seems to have a good, if at times troubled, soul and an openness to learning what he doesn’t know. Plus a decent sense of humor—at least he seems to be developing some self deprecation this late in life.
I’ve always preferred Ben. It’s partly the sense of humor, though Matt can do funny too (he was great in the Brett Kavanaugh sketch on SNL). Ben seems to be a little quirkier and more introspective, maybe. I also prefer his acting style. And he’s way more my type physically, Old School tall, dark and handsome.
I like the fact that Ben can handle being married to a successful woman who enjoys (and gets) the spotlight. I’m not saying Matt can’t handle that, but since he didn’t marry another celebrity, there’s no way to tell for sure. Ben seems happy to let the focus be on JLo.
It’s a funny story. Let’s not make it too deep. Lol
I’m cracking up. I wasn’t *quite* as bad as Matt (food goes in the trash), but let’s just say I’m totally oblivious to messy spaces. Mr. Bathory thinks I’m part goblin.
Lol!
There’s a Family Guy joke that shows Matt typing out the screen play to Goodwill Hunting and Ben lying on the coach passing gas asking “Can you put my name on that too?” Or something along those lines. It is CLEAR that Ben Affleck is the most talented of the two. Damon peaked at Goodwill, and maybe Jason Bourne. I don’t give a shit about the Oceans movies cause that was an ensemble.
Matt Damon is a raggedy ass punk. And is aging like eggs.
Agreed, and it annoys me. I feel like Ben started getting undeserved flak after “Pearl Harbor.” Granted, the movie missed the mark and his character was kind of an ass, but he was just playing him as written and directed. I’m not sure any actor short of maybe Daniel Day Lewis could have elevated that material.
Matt just got lucky because they flipped a coin and he got to play Will in GWH while Ben played the friend.
Ben isn’t aging great either, but he’s still better looking than Damon. Always was. Matt has a piggy face.
I have always had a thing for Ben and always will, (that picture of Jen Garner Over It and handing him his fast food on the way to rehab seared in my brain notwithstanding) and ALWAYS thought he was the deeper, more empathetic, more “good” of the two between Matt and Ben. Ben has demons and trauma, but he accepts them and tries to do better. Matt has always seemed smug and glib to me. Ben is the one that you hear “underground” positives about from people on-set and service workers and other “normies.” That means a lot IMO.
I will be honest, the Ben-JLo renaissance has given me LIFE this year. I hope they are as happy as can be and stay that way. I was a young engaged/newlywed their first time around. I just celebrated 18 years of marriage with a man I am so proud to be married to, who I love more every day, and I am thrilled to bits that they found their way back to each other.
When Matt Damon was younger, and he was considered such a heart throb by many, I never saw it.
He and Marky Mark are such generic white guys to me.
I live in Minnesota and honestly you can see guys who look like them standing around everywhere. I mean at the gas station, bus stop, sports stores, working at Sams Club, etc.
MD, BA, Pitt, Cruise, Matt Dillion, Clooney, Channing T., Chris Hemsworth, Chris Evans, Chris Pine, Adrian Brody, Cillian Murphy who was terrific in Peaky Blinders, and even Christian Bale are all getting stale to me.
Keanu, who needs something new besides John Wick endlessly, still my favorite. But Hollywood needs new stars, new ideas.
I never got the hype about Matt Damon either. He’s nice looking enough but he has kind of a piggy face to me. I also can’t unsee him in “School Ties” as the the rich little bigot punk who called Brendan Fraser’s character a “dirty Jew.”
Ooh! Gross roommate stories? I have one: Sophomore year of college I shared a 1-bedroom with another girl who was a slob. One day she cooked a large pot of pasta sauce and then just…never put it away. Some days later I looked in the pot and it had mold growing on it and I quickly walked away. Later that same day I came home and she had it simmering as if it wasn’t now mold sauce and she ate it for dinner. Pretty sure she served it to her boyfriend too. Hork
In college I knew guys who used cut up socks as toilet paper. Never went to their house.
Ah yes, manchildren. I don’t know how my husband resulted from his dad AND stepdad who both did and continue to do exactly nothing in terms of household chores. I am petty enough to not clean up after people who are old enough to rinse a dish and put it in the empty dishwasher, or even put their plate in the sink but leave it on the table. My FIL is a big guy and extremely childish, and has no regard for others, even animals. Acts like he doesn’t hear us when we tell him ten times to take off his shoes. Pouts when he finally does. Last summer we rented a cabin and we picked up the house before leaving…except him. He sat there eating his fckin bagel and read the paper. Finally said “why are you cleaning? Don’t we pay for that?” (Yes but not our dishes, you still load them for the crew.) I finally lost my patience and said “why do you care? You’re not doing anything.” That shut him up 🤣
My slob story, my finace’s family took over our place for the week before the wedding, leaving him to sleep on the floor while I stayed with my parents. His grandmother loved to snack on frog legs. They were going to sightsee the day after our vows, while we started our honeymoon. Upon our return, ten days later, the sink was filled with every one of my wedding dishes soaking in a stew of leftovers and countless rotted amphibian appendages. And that was only the beginning…
LOL “countless rotted amphibian appendages”
Between living with ALL females & having a housekeeper, I would hope that Matt picks up after himself now. I always expected Ben to be the one who was the slob.
That’s a sign of ADD. Hope he’s gotten help for that.
Ew