Ben Affleck Reflects on Parents' Deaths, Childhood
The actor spoke about his parents' recent passing and how it has led him to re-evaluate his childhood and his mother's life.
Ben Affleck has broken his silence regarding the recent deaths of his parents, Timothy Affleck and Chris Anne Affleck. In a conversation with his "Animals" co-star Kerry Washington for her podcast "Street You Grew Up On," Affleck shared that both his parents passed away earlier this year, his mother in April and his father in June.
"My parents just died, both of them. In April and June," Affleck, 54, told Washington. "So I’ve been just like, you know, not just now or anything, but it’s just sort of a big thing."
Chris Anne Affleck died on June 2 at the age of 83, following a six-month battle with pancreatic cancer. Timothy Affleck's death at age 76 was confirmed by his other son, Casey Affleck, in September during a press conference at the Venice International Film Festival.
Affleck stated that the loss of his parents has prompted him to reflect on his childhood in a different way. "I’ve certainly learned to sort of even more deeply appreciate my mom and really value and see what she did and what the sacrifice and commitment that she made and how complete it was," he said of Chris Anne, who was a public school teacher for 35 years.
He shared that after his mother's passing, he read letters she had written to her parents when she was younger. This experience offered him a new perspective on her life. "First off, it’s this young woman, full of life and ambition and dreams," he recalled, noting that his mother had written about her aspirations to be a teacher and her involvement in protests in Mississippi. "She was, I mean, gorgeous and smart and thoughtful and passionate. I just thought this woman’s amazing and she could do anything," he added. "She worked really hard, and she came home and did everything."
Affleck admitted that he realized he had taken his mother's contributions for granted. "Probably in a way that she wants, in a way I want my children to take for granted," he said. "She did that so thoroughly and effectively over her whole life, that I didn’t even see her in a way as her own whole person apart from me. And it blew me away."
Timothy and Chris Anne Affleck were married in the early 1970s and divorced in 1984, when Ben and Casey were preteens. They raised their sons, both of whom became actors, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Ben Affleck has three children with his ex-wife Jennifer Garner: Violet, Seraphina, and Sam. Casey Affleck has two adult children with his ex-wife Summer Phoenix: Indiana and Atticus.