Boy Ben Affleck sure has come a long way since his high school and college days. He says he used to be a loner kid dealing with his alcoholic father who didn’t give him a lot of support. “I grew up in a home environment where I wasn’t getting esteem for anything I did.” That seemed to lead to a pretty low sense of self worth, causing Affleck to attend the University of Vermont simply because his then-girlfriend was going to a school nearby.

“‘Two weeks after I got there, I called her room, and some guy answered the phone!’ he recalls. ‘Then, when I was playing an intramural basketball game, I fractured my hip. I was miserable,’ he says. ‘I was now on crutches in the coldest university in America, living in the dorm farthest from the main campus, and I didn’t know a soul, nobody!’

“After eating by himself in the cafeteria and skipping Spanish class for five weeks, Affleck got hold of his childhood buddy, Matt Damon, who was at Harvard.

“‘I called Matt,’ remembers Affleck, who told his pal, ‘You’ve got to pick me up! I can’t walk that well. Come and get me now!’

“Sure enough, says Affleck, ‘Matt was there in six hours. That was the last I ever saw of the University of Vermont. I never went back. I don’t think I have any credits. It was not money well spent.’”

[From People]

I’m guessing that the whole situation was actually a good thing for Affleck – it was after that time that he and Damon costarred in “School Ties” and eventually wrote “Good Will Hunting.” Bad things can ultimately lead to much better times; you just have to get through them first. That’s my personal mantra right now. I’m the poor man’s Oprah today. Affleck seems like he’s clearly found a great amount of happiness in his life now, not just professionally but personally.

“To shelter daughter Violet from developing a sense of entitlement, her celebrated parents Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are looking at schools in Los Angeles and New York – and in Georgia, where the family has a country home. Of course, they do have some time: Violet isn’t quite 2.

“Still, her proud papa, 35, considers his little girl ‘the best thing that ever happened to me,’ he tells Parade magazine for its Oct. 14 issue. ‘She is happy as hell and talks like crazy!’ says Affleck. ‘She has the ability to make me smile and feel so good and be so charmed that, when I’m not with her for a while, all I want to do is go home, just to be around her again.’”

[From People]

I love the thought that a child can be “happy as hell.” What an accidentally dark way to put it. Babies are so cute when they get to that little babbling phase, which is where I’m guessing Violet is right now. In a backwards way, it’s probably a good thing that Affleck didn’t have everything handed to him on a sliver platter. He may not be the greatest actor around, but he’s worked hard for what he has and probably has a greater sense of appreciation for it.