Ben Affleck says he was worried about his kids seeing the ‘Sad Affleck’ meme

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Ben Affleck has addressed the “Sad Affleck” meme, stating that he was worried his children would see it and worry about his mental wellbeing.

In an interview with The Los Angeles Times published today (7 January), the actor spoke about the hugely popular meme that originated in 2016.

The meme in question is taken from an interview Affleck gave alongside Henry Cavill during which the pair were asked how they felt about the mixed reviews of their film Batman v Superman.

Cavill is seen answering the question with Affleck sat by his side in silence looking dispirited. The snippet was edited into a viral video, which focuses on the Gone Girl star’s face while Simon and Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” plays in the background.

Affleck spoke about the meme in the wider context of how he approaches negative press.

He recalled some “really good advice” that a therapist once gave him. Affleck said: “This was 2003 or 2004 and I was really struggling. People were just writing vicious, awful, hateful stuff about me all the time and it really started to affect me.”

Affleck split from Jennifer Lopez in 2004.

“The therapist said, ‘What I find about criticism is that if you can look at it honestly and take in what resonates with you, then the rest of it you can let go.’ And that was a process that got me into directing and gave me the confidence to start doing that,” said the actor.

The 49-year-old continued: “I got to a place where [the public perception] was so different from who I am that I just stopped reading and stopped caring.”

The Argo star went on to say that “the difficult part” came as his kids grew older and “started seeing the internet themselves”.

He said: “Even the ‘Sad Affleck’ meme – that was funny to me. I mean, there’s nobody who hasn’t felt that way at a junket. But then my kids see it and I think, ‘Oh, are they going to think their dad is fundamentally sad or they have to worry about me?’ That’s really tough.”

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Affleck shares three children – aged nine, 13, and 16 – with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner. The pair began dating in 2004 and married a year later. They divorced in 2018.

The actor recently hit back at claims that he partly blamed his marriage to Garner for turning to drink.

His comments, which were made during an interview with Howard Stern, caused a backlash, with many feeling that the Tender Bar star was blaming Garner.

Affleck, however, told Jimmy Kimmel that he believes the media twisted his words to make it seem that way, and that it “hurt my feelings”.