Ben Affleck opened up about the darker side of fame, expressing empathy for Britney Spears as he reflects on the intense public scrutiny and media pressure both have faced during their careers.
While conversing with This Past Weekend With Theo Von podcast, the Gone Girl star, “A long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears.”
Affleck added, “Because I remember it seemed like … these people are following her around in a time where she may or may not have been having difficulty.”
Affleck, 52, clarified he was only speculating that Spears, 43, may have been struggling when paparazzi were following her around during the unspecified period of time.
The Good Will Hunting star mentioned that his fear the Womanizer singer didn’t feel comfortable due to media presence for a long time.
“I don’t know because I don’t know her,” he said.
Affleck went on to say, “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,” the Batman actor added.
Britney Spears claims about Ben Affleck:
Notably, Ben Affleck made these comments after Spears made claims that she had 'made out' with Ben years earlier.
In February 2024, the Baby One More Time songstress dropped a throwback photo of herself with the actor as well as Diane Warren in a since-deleted post.
She had penned in the caption: 'Cool pic of me and Ben Affleck and Diane Warren years ago!!! He's such an amazing actor. Did I fail to mention I made out with Ben that night … I honestly forgot ... d**n that's crazy!!!”
Spears added, “Wish I could tell you guys the story that happened before that !!! Oh dear, I'm just being a gossip girl. Psss I actually forgot!”
