Ben Affleck Just Called Out "Gleeful" Tabloid Headlines Hoping For His Death

Stephanie SoteriouTue, October 13, 2026 at 1:48 PM UTC

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“It’s one thing to be unknown; it’s another thing to be like: ‘No, we know who you are, we just don’t like you.’”Ben Affleck has compared how he was treated by the tabloids in the early ‘00s to Britney Spears’s treatment, as he recalled shocking headlines that hoped for his death, which made him believe that his career was on the "verge of extinction."

Arnaldo Magnani / Getty ImagesAs I’m sure you know, Ben first shot to fame in the ‘90s alongside his childhood best friend Matt Damon after they co-wrote and starred in the hit movie Good Will Hunting. But while Matt’s Hollywood career went from strength to strength, Ben found himself in the center of constant scrutiny — largely due to his public romances and battle with alcohol addiction.

Ron Galella, Ltd. / Getty ImagesIf you need a reminder, Ben started dating Jennifer Lopez in 2002 after they met on the set of the movie Gigli, and they got engaged later that same year. Their whole relationship was incredibly well publicized and an absolute fixture in the tabloids, so much so that the couple actually cited the intense media attention surrounding their relationship when they postponed their wedding just days before it was scheduled to take place in September 2003. They officially announced their split in January 2004.

Chris Weeks / Getty Images

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Throughout all of this, Ben was struggling with alcohol addiction, having first sought treatment for this in 2001, with subsequent stays in rehab in 2017 and 2018.

Jun Sato / Getty Images

While it’s not really relevant to Ben’s latest quotes, it’s worth mentioning that Ben and J.Lo did, of course, end up getting back together in 2021 following failed marriages to other partners.

This time, they actually made it down the aisle, getting married in July 2022 before splitting for a second time in 2024.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, all of this has made Ben a pretty firm fixture in celebrity gossip headlines, with the star often the subject of viral paparazzi photos thanks to how often he has been pictured looking like he’s having a pretty miserable time of it.

Michael Buckner / Getty ImagesIn fact, Matt previously reflected on the stark difference between their fame journeys despite starting at the very same place in an interview on the Radio Times podcast alongside Ben’s brother, Casey Affleck. He admitted that he wouldn’t have been able to handle the “scrutiny” that Ben is subjected to.After it was noted that he had “navigated” fame well, Matt said that he thinks this is a result of him throwing himself into his work, and ultimately marrying somebody who wasn’t famous. He said: “Luckily, I fell in love with someone who was not in the business and who would tolerate that side of it, and that really helped me, because all of that magazine culture that was so huge, Us Weekly and all that stuff 25 years ago, kind of ignored me because it wasn’t that exciting a story.”

Miikka Skaffari / Getty Images

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“The guy who’s married, it’s so boring,” Matt went on. “So they sent, I’m sure, some photographers twenty-something years ago around, and I was like: ‘Well, I can out-wait you. I’ll just sit in my house, and if I leave, I’m going out, and I’m with my wife,’ like, there’s nothing there… What would sell those things were scandals and sex and all that stuff that people would read a gossip magazine for. And as long as you didn’t do any of that stuff, it really wasn’t worth their time to wait and take your picture, and so I was kind of getting left alone.”“I’ve been really lucky in that way,” he said of how the paparazzi treated him. “Like, if something happens, they come and get a little shot; other than that, I’ve been really lucky — especially when I look at my friends, like [Casey’s] brother.” Discussing Ben directly, Matt added: “I can’t imagine living under that kind of scrutiny, and it’s been like that for 25 years. We’ve had parallel careers in a lot of ways, and so I’m fortunate to have been kind of excused from that part of it.”

Carlo Allegri / Getty ImagesAnd Ben reflected on this low point in his early career during his recent appearance on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, where he admitted that he pivoted to directing after fearing that his time was up as an actor. When asked by host Josh Horowitz about his decision to switch to a behind-the-scenes role with his 2007 directorial debut, Gone Baby Gone, Ben said: “Oh, I think I was on the verge of extinction.”

Francois Durand / Getty Images

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“It was pretty much a wrap,” Ben added of his acting career in this era. “I don’t think I was going to be able to work. I was so uncool and so unsought after. In fact, at one point I went back and looked at some of the press around and about me from like 2003, 2004. It was so nasty — but in a way that even now would be viewed as irresponsible.”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.com“Like, one of the real examples of, I don't know if it was the same time, but it was roughly the same time, was the way Britney Spears was treated during what was obviously, like, an episode of tremendous trauma and mental health issues,” Ben continued. “And there was this sort of gleeful celebration and kind of hideous cultural, collective schadenfreude at what was going on with her. And I experienced something kind of similar.”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.com“I mean, there were people who were saying, literally like: ‘Well, one hopes Ben Affleck is dead soon,’” he recalled. “You know, stuff like that. Now, you think people at least would recognize… That would be called bullying, or something along those lines.”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.comValidating some of how he was treated, Ben added: “It’s true that at the end of the day, if you do a bunch of work that isn’t good… You may not expect people to cheer your death, but you’re not going to work.”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.comHe added that as a direct result of the public scrutiny, Ben didn’t even consider starring in his directorial debut, nor did he want his credit to be “eye-catching” because he didn’t want anybody to have the “negative connotation.” He mused: “It’s one thing to be unknown; it’s another thing to be like: ‘No, we know who you are, we just don’t like you.’”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.com

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Thankfully, Gone Baby Gone was incredibly well-received, and Ben was able to revive his career off the back of it. He said: “I kind of got to live to fight another day, but I was keenly aware of the fact that if that movie didn’t work, it was really likely I may have to find another line of work — and that was really scary.”

Happy Sad Confused / Viayoutube.comWell, I, for one, am grateful that we live in a universe where Ben stayed in the acting world and was able to give us even more hits like Gone Girl, The Town, and — of course — the dazzling documentary The Greatest Love Story Never Told.As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

More on thisMatt Damon Just Got Seriously Real About How He Navigated His Overnight Superstardom And Managed To Avoid The “Scrutiny” His Best Friend Ben Affleck FacesStephanie Soteriou· Aug. 14, 2024“It Was The Worst Day Of My Life”: Ben Affleck Shared The Arguably Surprising Thing That Made Him Get Sober, And People Are DividedStephanie Soteriou· Aug. 4, 2026“Oh Look, Dad, It’s Your Autobiography”: Ben Affleck Just Shared The Absolutely Brutal Ways His Kids Roast Him, And People Are Obsessed With His Self-AwarenessStephanie Soteriou· Sept. 28, 2026“What A Depressing And Profound Line”: People Are Sobbing After Ben Affleck Shared The Seriously Poignant 8-Word Statement His Mom Made Before Her DeathStephanie Soteriou· Oct. 8, 2026

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”