In 2024, TMZ released a video showing Ben Affleck unleashing his anger on paparazzi waiting outside his house.
“You’re gonna get me into an accident,” he told the photographers as he exited his car. “Don’t flash your lights when someone is driving down the driveway. Don’t do that. That’s dangerous. I can’t see! You’re gonna get somebody hurt doing this s—!”
The Good Will Hunting star added: “If you flash the lights on (my teenage daughter), you’re putting her in danger. Do you understand that?”
Over a year after the incident, Affleck opened up about his experiences and said he empathizes with Britney Spears, who has gone through incredibly cruel treatment from paparazzi.
“Having had my own experiences myself, I knew these people (were) following her around in a time where she may or may not have been having difficulty,” he said during an appearance on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast.
He continued: “I don’t know, because I don’t know her, but I do know that the cycle of having people harangue and yell at you and hassle you and follow you, it kind of seemed like that itself (could have caused Spears’ mental health to decline).”
While Affleck noted he understands the “symbiotic relationship” between Hollywood and the press, he revealed he would be “much happier” if he was just “left alone.”
