Going from small time actor to Hollywood superstar can be hard.
This week, Ben Affleck appeared on SiriusXM’s “The Howard Stern Show” to promote his new movie “The Tender Bar”, and he opened up about becoming a tabloid star and getting bad press.
“Three movies in a row bombed. I became the most un-f**king cool guy in the world,” Affleck said. “I remember telling Matt [Damon] … ‘Somehow I ended up in this worst of both worlds where I can’t sell any movie tickets but I can sell tabloid f**king magazines by being on the cover.’”
He continued, “It was like hell. I’d have given it all back at that point to work at 7-11.”
The actor also talks about how being a public figure hounded by paparazzi has affected his family.
“My responsibility to my children is the highest responsibility I have,” he said. “I would never do anything that is painful or destructive to them if I can help it. That being said, I know that my life affects them. I dropped my [nine-year-old] son off at school two days ago and … heard [other people] go, ‘Oh, Ben Affleck, Ben Affleck!’ The kid looks at me and goes ‘Hashtag, welcome to my life.’”
Affleck also talked about his film “Argo”, which won Best Picture at the Oscars, but for which he was famously not nominated in the Best Director category.
“I’m not going to lie, that was the single most sort of self-satisfying moment,” he recalled. “For so long, I felt I gotta prove I belong here. I gotta show these people … I mean something, I’m worth something.”
He added, “I did assume I was going to get nominated because everybody said it. I’m proud of the movie. The only guy who f**ked up was the lead and the director? I can do the math on who the a**hole is here.”
READ MORE: Ben Affleck Says Blake Lively Had No Idea He Was Friends With Matt Damon When They First Met
On a lighter note, Affleck also opened up about his decision to take the role of Batman in Zack Snyder’s series of superhero films.
“I wanted to do a movie for my kids—for my son—that they would see and be proud of, and now I realize your kids by definition are never proud of you,” he joked. “They love making fun of you. My kids only want to see ‘Armageddon.’ Like, ‘Tell us again how you’re an astronaut.’”
