Ben Affleck hasn’t tweeted anything since December of last year. He’s not very active on social media and mostly uses Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to promote his projects and charity work and issue the occasional statement. So when he tweeted at The New Yorker recently it was notable. He wrote:
@NewYorker I’m doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos.
— Ben Affleck (@BenAffleck) March 29, 2018
Affleck is likely responding to this article, written by Naomi Fry last week, about how Ben represents the kind of sadness of privileged white men who don’t know what to do with themselves. It was about how people both identify with and lightly mock Affleck and how he’s like so many men in power. Fry didn’t even mention the sexual harassment allegations against Ben, but that came to mind as I read her piece.
So does this tweet represent a particular self awareness by Ben, meaning he knows he has thin skin, or does he actually think by declaring that he has thick skin we’ll believe him? Is Ben pulling an “I’m a stable genius” on Twitter or is he being self deprecating? He’s admitting he has that tattoo and is using Fry’s adjective, “garish.” Interesting how he kept up the facade that the tattoo was fake for a full two years. This is a man who didn’t want the public to know that he had slave-owning ancestors. This is a man who called a video showing him grabbing a woman’s boob a misinterpreted hug. He doesn’t want the press to focus on the fact that he lied, he wants us to think that he’s ok with that and that he’s owning his mistake. Fry’s article hit close to home.
Twitter users are trolling Fry over her column and she’s owning them.
i love my job https://t.co/lEFFBVG09D
— Naomi Fry (@frynaomifry) March 29, 2018
Manically depressed in a lifeless hole is my rap name https://t.co/9f1vqVTwnx
— Naomi Fry (@frynaomifry) March 30, 2018
Also The Cut’s Lisa Ryan did a story earlier this week about Ben Affleck’s t-shirts always being stained. He’s no doubt seen that one too. Last month Allie Jones wrote an article called “A Miserable Gallery of Ben Affleck Smoking Through The Pain of Existence.” I love her opening line! “Ben Affleck loves to smoke and hates the thought of existing in his own body for the rest of his time on earth.”
An Ode to Ben Affleck’s Stained T-Shirts https://t.co/vRc3NpID76 via @thecut
— semiographs (@vizcult) March 28, 2018
These photos are from 1-28-18 and 3-18-18. Credit: Pacific Coast News and Backgrid
He looks so bloated and unwell.
What’s so crazy is that he was so jacked up and buff in Batman vs Superman. To go from that, which was really not that long ago, to looking like this kind of shows you he’s just literally “blah’ing” his way through life.
Its quite alarming really. Though I don’t think he carried that muscle all that well.
Lots of steroids, then not. Are they stains or does he have flop sweat all the time?
I though he looked bloated as batman, and like his bloat was pushed into muscle shapes by the suit. He looked thick around the middle. Not exactly fat, but not ripped.
He’s an alcoholic. All of his problems stem from that and until he gets that under control his life will always be a mess.
This is the best comment on this thread. So true.
If Ben thinks he’s doing just fine, then he either lacks an appropriate sense of shame or self-awareness. He’s like walking male toxicity.
he lacks both shame and self awareness AND is now de facto poster boy for poor privileged me walking male toxicity.
she could have brutalized him -he is sort of very well known in NYC as THAT “celebrity masshole” and plenty of folks have caught his “act” live and sort of hard to forget what a honking hypocritical ENTITLED male chauvinist pig he is after witnessing it first hand with some regularity. he might have stopped going to scores but he’s still the same old Ben around town! He’s FINE.
And the reaction to the article -“yes, we know Ben’s awful but why be so mean about it.” -Well, why not be so mean about it? Call all this out for how gross and pathetic it is. Ben is not Sad Keanu, he’s a predatory creep. Do we all think he’s done with harassing women or enabling other harassers?
Yes, it was mean spirited and there are people who will always object to meanness but if the author had gone after Brett Ratner, would the internet react like this?
Yeah he feels fine. There seems to be an urge for people to paint him as “regretful” (maybe they think it makes Garner feel better/look better?). He might regret the PR issues and the loss of Garner’s “management” skills but people need to get over this delusion that he regrets cheating and ending his marriage. Garner regrets the loss of the marriage, he’s happy to be out. Let’s stop making excuses for him.
I read that article by Frye and found it mean spirited, over the top, stupid, and pointless. The comments on it were much the same. I think less of Frye for her having written it, and I’m no Affleck fangirl at ALL.
Same thought.
Affleck reacts better than Hammer but just by the fact of replying,he gives too many importance to this article
+1
I agree with you. I love NYC, but I find ironic that a writer living in New York is calling someone sad… The impression I had the first time I went there over a decade ago is that they seem sad all the time.
What a ridiculous generalization
@i, pet goat 2: are you replying to me? I was not making any generalization. I did not say: New Yorkers are sad. I said my first impression the first time I went there. I have been there many times before. And I did not state every time I go there, I have this impression.
I am super confused by your comment, Miss M. Are you suggesting that Fry is using sad as an insult? Are you? Your entire comment is saying that the author must be sad because she is a New Yorker (pun intended), and therefore it is ironic that she call someone else that. But now you are saying that New Yorkers are not always sad? So where does this leave the irony?
Ps. I say this as a New Yorker who is sad a lot 😛
Yes I was, @ Miss M.
Ada already got it, though.
@Ada: bear with me, 😀
She does not know Ben Affleck. But wrote a petty article by saying he is sad based on her impressions about him over the years. She is basically saying he IS sad and goes on to use him as a metaphor to the downfall of man.
What i took from her article is that she is using sad, in a way as an insult and using a aingle man she does not truly know as an example of men probably like him.
What I found ironic is I could basically do/say the same she did using my first impression about New Yorkers. So, if you have an impression about someone can you actually state as an absolute true And use that as a metaphor for a group of people? To me, that’s what she did in the article.
So, no I don’t think every New Yorker is sad, but many seemed to be. And If I acted like her and used my first impression about NYers to state it as a fact and used as a metaphor, would it be ok? On top of it, it wouldn’t be true, and would be a pointless metaphor very much like her article. Sorry if I am not explaining my thought process well.
Agreed.
That’s how I felt reading it also.
Am curious why so many of you are calling Fry’s article stupid and mean? She is not directly critical of Affleck himself. The piece is close reading the photograph of him on the beach and putting it against this particular moment in culture and American celebrity iconography. There are no personal attacks here and it does not pretend to be an exhaustive portrait. Like the photo it looks at it’s an analytical snapshot.
There is, however, something longer to be written about “sad” memes involving men. Sad Keanu gave me life for way too long.
“The piece is close reading the photograph of him on the beach and putting it against this particular moment in culture and American celebrity iconography.”
YES.
I thought the article sort of ended on a whimper. It started off as an analysis of a picture, but by the conclusion I’ll admit I was unsure of what point she was trying to make. I couldn’t tell if she was commenting on celebrity culture, paparazzi/meme culture, Affleck himself, men in general, or the set up of patriarchal society in general. If the ending were clearer, I probably would have come away thinking the article was illuminating. That’s just my 2 cents.
I assume she was talking about celebrity culture, but I could see how Affleck might be taken aback as symbolically being seen as “the downfall of man.” I don’t even like him — I think he’s gross the majority of the time. But for a split second, I did think it’s probably got to feel weird to be written about that way — to be considered an archetype for the way society is going.
I’ve seen articles like this done on royal figures, but usually there’s an outright admission in the article that they’re talking about the legends myths cobbled together about the person (i.e Princess Diana) rather than the real person. Here, I don’t think the admission was made in the same way, and so, by the end of the article, it did seem she was coming at Affleck as much as our reactions to celebrity culture? (I think? as I said the ending confused me).
Lolest! I knew he would read it. You can bet he saw it over the weekend and it’s been gnawing at him all week. Such an over sensitive big man baby.
Good thing he isn’t a female celebrity, he couldn’t handle even a fraction of the coverage they get.
Ben hasn’t looked like himself (healthy) since he did Gone Girl. I said it before that when he took on the role of Batman he went down hill fast. Ben does not have the body frame to carry a lot of weight. And bulking up for that role (I think he used steroids) to get big fast. And it just messed up his body. He is not muscular the way you get from working out. No definition. He needs to drop some weight. He looks much better thinner.
I would imagine for anyone that the constant piling on again and again can be hurtful. Even to a man.
Well, that man sexually assaulted women so I DGAF about how hurt he is. No pity party for Affleck today.
He’s going to get through this and keep being presented to us as a palatable option and that bothers me so much. He’s such open sleaze.
Amen Nat.
” Fry didn’t even mention the sexual harassment allegations against Ben, but that came to mind as I read her piece.”
I think she probably should have. Then there would have been a justification to use him as a metaphor for what’s going on in society. Without direct reference to it, I came across wondering how strange it must be to be a celebrity (and, yet a sad, lonely person), and be used as a metaphor for the downfall of man.
Of course he’s doing great. His #1 enabler let him move back into the family home and he didn’t even have to give up the girlfriend OR the bad habits. Gettin’ that cake and eating it, too. Ben always gets his way.
Right? He comes across as a male bumbler but this is a guy getting his way almost all the time and leaving a mess around him.
I can’t believe Jen Garner will do ANYTHING to just be around Ben. It’s sad
She lets him back in the home after he cheated, dumped her and has a new girlfriend he is currently partying with in Hawaii.
She will never get a man if she keeps this up! She is going to be known by everyone as the woman who NEVER got over loser Ben Affleck.
I want to thank Ben Affleck and Jennifer Aniston for assuring us that they are fine.
I obviously have deep seated self loathing because I often find him very attractive (often not as well). Having said that, I’m not a big fan, I’ve never found him to be a great actor worthy of the many second chances he has had. He should probably write and direct and stay completely out of the public eye.
I also found that article to be mean spirited and got nothing from it other than a sense the author might be projecting some of her own issues onto sad Ben.
I think that article is a little bit of projecting lol. I love gossiping about them in the comments but we really don’t KNOW these celebrities, we piece together what we THINK is their life based on photos and tabloids…and court filings.
I do believe Ben is back in the family home because Jen Garner is a doormat. I understand why HE does it, convenience, familiarity and easy access to his kids. I’m sure he is BS’ing Shookus though, telling her “I’m there for the kids, I’m not having sex with Jen when I’m there!” Jen Garner is as usual, taking whatever crumbs he gives her.
I think he is in a romantic relationship with SHookus in a way he has not been with Jen Garner in a very long time. I haven’t seen him smile at Jen Garner or hold her hand in the way we have seen in him SHookus in like 5 years.
While I think they are both getting fed some BS, I think Shookus is probably putting up with him staying at Jens a few times a month because — she put it up with it for 3, 4, 5 years while they were having an affair so maybe a few more months isn’t going to blow the relationship.
Again, I think Jen Garner looks the most pathetic. Will she be staging her retaliating Easter pap photos? Jen Garner is in some weird competition with the mistress in my opinion. They are both still fighting over this guy – Jen will never let this man go…he has a girlfriend for crying out loud what is wrong with her?!
It’s not projecting, it’s a symbolic analysis of a visual text in its sociocultural context.
OK I have to toss this out here. There are zero credible (or close to credible) outlets saying Affleck has moved back in with the family. The paparazzi practically live on Garner’s doorstep. If he was there it would be reported by outlets a lot more credible than Women’s Day and US Weekly (who you will recall have been bought by the National Enquirer crew). I have no doubt he’s there a lot (I doubt she wants the kids alone at his place for the time being) and far be it from me to give Garner any credit, but there is just no real evidence she’s sunk that low to let him live there again.
There have been multiple paparazzi pictures of the kids getting dropped off at his rental house so he does get time alone with them.
In recent weeks, there have been paparazzi pictures of moving trucks at the family house and his rental property apparently was back on the market. However, he was photographed looking at a house with Violet a couple weeks ago so is still looking to buy his own place.
He’s working in Hawaii and South America over the next few months so maybe they decided it would be best for the kids if he spent his time in Los Angeles as close as possible to the kids, in the guest house.
The idea that he wanted to move back in so that Jennifer would mother him and cook him meals is ridiculous. Apart from anything else, most A list stars, included Affleck and Garner when they were a couple, have chefs/housekeepers. I don’t think Jennifer is pining over him since he got with Shookus. She looks at him now with what I read as contempt in some photos.
Where are these pap shots? Never saw anything of them being dropped at his house or the moving trucks?
They were Backgrid USA photos, taken on March 17. There weren’t photographs of whatever was being moved, just multiple trucks from the same moving company they’ve used over the past few years. The caption speculated that Ben was moving back in (because that’s what might make a media outlet buy a photo of a truck parked on a street..)
Regardless, if he is staying there, it’s not a gossip story. He’s still with Shookus, still looking to buy his own house.
The notion that Ben would move back in because he wants it all to be easy is not absurd, it’s perfectly logical. What’s absurd is that Doormat Garner would allow him to live on the property again for any reason. For all the money that he has there is no reason whatsoever for him to leave his rental (which has not been sold or anything, why did he leave?) to go back to the guest house. It’s enabling, it’s a total lack of boundaries, etc. As for the kids, if he is in the guest house it will be that much MORE obvious when he isn’t there because he’s off visiting his girlfriend. And if he falls off the wagon again, they’ll get a front row seat to Drunk Daddy in the Guest House again. THAT is absurd, ridiculous, as well as the Jen fans trying to create excuse after excuse to try to rationalize all this. Your girl is spineless. Get over it.
I loved this article. Ben Affleck is a talentless bloated pig. I love to laugh at his sad, entitled, narcissitic mess of a life and his stained T-shirts. The fact that he is such a laughable cliche is the only thing that keeps him from being canceled. The sadfleck meme never fails to amuse me.
Garner is in Hawaii with kids now, according to another comment from another site.
someone please call Dr Phil asap
So here’s some news for you all, not gossip either, jen and the kids are in Hawaii as we speak, arrived yesterday. Our travel agency in honolulu picked her and her kids up atvth e airport, she is renting a house for a week, i was told, Ben is living in a condo while filming, they are not together. She set up a bunch of sight seeing trips for her kids, a nanny and herself only while on spring break.
are you kidding ME!??!?!?!?!??!
is shookus still there?! I’m sorry but Jen Garner is a total idiot and Ben is living the dream. His girlfriend goes home to her child and he flies in jennifer GARNER and his kids. Where are Jennifer Garner’s friends and family to slap some sense into her? Does no one love her enough to give her some tough love and tell her the truth?! he doesn’t love you girl!!!!!! he was just banging shookus ALL week!!!!
If pap photos of him frolicking happily in the ocean with his “new” girlfriend of 3 + years wasn’t enough to make Jen CANCEL her hawaiian doormat vacation then she really is hopelessly in love with this guy…
For real, Jen needs to ship the kids off to Hawaii with a nanny and their FATHER Ben and maybe Grandma Affleck (if he is SUCH a degenerate that cannot be alone with his children, why did she have 3 kids with him? I’m sure they will survive just fine with Ben, Shookus *who is a mother* and a Nanny). Then SHE needs go spend a week SOMEWHERE ELSE THAT BEN IS NOT PHYSICALLY AT and start focusing on herself and preferably a new man. She is sooooo pathetic.
Jennifer Garner is the side chick now.
GOOD GOD i have no words for this arrangement!
Im surprised your taking my post that way… you must really have some deep down hatred for jen.. wow!! My point was she’s in hawaii having spring break with her kids whose father just happens to be there on location, why shouldn’t she go, its freaking Hawaii, i think its fine actually, she’s in her own house…big deal
no hatred just complete utter pity for the woman following her ex husband around as he gallivants with his mistress turned girlfriend!! I mean its her life to live but how miserable! Ben Affleck is SO not worth it!
There are a million places to vacation in the world as nice or nicer than hawaii, following a cheating ex husband would be the last place in the world I would want to be! I think she is totally nuts!
She needs to find a new man to follow around because Ben aint her man anymore! good god this woman doesn’t learn!
If my sister or mother was acting this pathetic and in such a toxic situation, I would feel compelled to say something to them. I’m shocked her family isn’t stepping in at this point!
I’m not surprised she went to Hawaii so the kids could vacation and see their dad at the same time. It’s something they have done before ala the month they spent in Europe while he was filming justice league. It’s really just the pics of him hanging out with the girlfriend last week – which were not salacious at all.
I am surprised she is not spending Easter at home first.
I’m sure shookus left a few days ago.
Although at the time they were in Europe for a month, you were one of the ones saying it was hatd to believe she could be there – and in the same rental house – as just friends. And we now know that things might still have been on/off at that time. And of course there was the infamous Miami Herald blog while they were in Europe that said Ben was in a car to the Miami airport with a blonde arguing – this was before we knew about Lindsay. That blog was pulled down pretty quickly.
Would have to hope/assume things really are different now with her staying in a different house, etc. Wonder when that divorce will be finalized.
@jojo you are right, along with you , 2 years ago when they were in Europe together I could not buy that they were living in a house together, vacationing together and doing this as just parents and friends. Now role clock forward 2 years – they did file for divorce , he is public with his mistress turned girlfriend. And when she brings the kids to him, she does not stay with him. I really believe she is done, just wants him to be a good dad, and maintain some sort of semblance of family for them.
@kate, enews or people is reporting she is staying at a resort and ben rents a house – who has the better intel you or them?
I don’t know about Ben’s career, but Jen is in a wonderful, heartwarming movie, Love, Simon. See it. It’s lovely. Many stars have bought out free screenings at movie theaters in different states to support this movie. It has an A plus Cinemascore.
Please support this gay coming-of-age movie and take your teenage kids.
Don’t really care if the column is a satirical post-modern social commentary on Hollywood leading men or a literal description of Affleck mental state. I reserve my sympathy for his kids.
One of this weeks’ rags has an article on how Lindsey wants a baby. Of course, it’s already been denied, but the article throws some shade on her. Total garbage, but made me laugh.