Ben Affleck Has a Message for His Younger Self
Ben Affleck is best known for staring in Goodwill Hunting alongside his best friend, Matt Damon. As he became one of the highest-ranked celebrities in Hollywood, his life took some unexpected twists and turns. Here’s the message Affleck would send to his younger self.
Ben Affleck in ‘The Tender Bar’
Affleck stars in The Tender Bar, which is based on a novel by J.R. Moehringer. He plays the role of Uncle Charlie. Actor Tye Sheridan plays J.R., a young boy searching for a father figure. George Clooney is the film’s director.
Affleck says he felt a connection to the J.R. character. Although he didn’t have an absentee father, he says there were times his father wasn’t available. “Before he got sober, he was present intermittently,” he tells The Wall Street Journal. “So, I know what that journey is like. Most boys want their fathers to be heroes. They want to learn about what is expected [to] become a man.”
Ben Affleck says he has been very ‘lucky’ in his life
Affleck is aware he has had a lot of luck in his life. He has experienced personal struggles, but he managed to rise above them. He appreciates being the recipient of “second chances.”
“I am very lucky in my life in that I have benefited from second chances, and I am aware that other people don’t even get first chances,” says Affleck in his Wall Street Journal interview. “I’ve had second chances in my career. I’ve had second chances as a human being. Life is difficult, and we are always failing and hopefully learning from those failures.”
What Ben Affleck would tell his younger self
Affleck says he felt like he was talking to his younger self during many of the scenes in The Tender Bar. When asked what he would say to his younger self, Affleck says one thing he would say is, “You can’t get there the easy way.” He learned it takes hard work to get where you want to be in life. There are no shortcuts to success.
“I had to learn those things in an authentic, meaningful way to really learn the lessons that I’ve really internalized, that have created the values that I have now even though most of them were born of failure.”
Affleck says he would also tell his younger self that suffering is sometimes necessary. He says this is true when it comes to alcoholism. “Oftentimes they want to sell you: Do your 30 days, and it’ll be fixed,” says Affleck. “The only real cure for alcoholism is suffering. You just hope that your threshold for suffering is met somewhere before it destroys your life.”
Affleck answered the same question during an interview with Barbara Walters. He told her he would tell his younger self that you have to go out and live your life. According to him, the most valuable life lessons come from real-life experiences.
“The truth is, about youth and experience, and success and failure, is that you just have to go live it and experience it,” says Affleck. “And if you don’t, it doesn’t make you a mature adult. I think that you’re defined by how you rise more than how you fall.”
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