Ben Affleck recently spoke about pop icon Britney Spears, while also addressing paparazzi culture. Affleck himself has been tailed by paparazzi in his personal life, with his every move being captured and documented. As a result, major events in the 52-year-old’s life, such as his divorces from Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez, have been widely speculated and reported on.
Ben Affleck talks about Britney Spears and paparazzi culture
Ben Affleck recently sat down for an interview with Theo Von on the latter’s podcast This Past Weekend w/Theo Von, where the two talked about Affleck’s experience with paparazzi. “A long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears,” Affleck said.
Affleck further added how people had been “following” the singer at a time when “she may or may not have been having difficulty.” However, he clarified that whatever he said was mere speculation, since he did not personally know the pop star.
“But I do know that the cycle of having people harangue you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you,” Affleck shared. “It seemed like that itself was kind of whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy.”
Affleck then mentioned how Spears’ experience was the first time he thought of the paparazzi’s actions on a cultural level as “a weird, unintentional kind of collective cruelty.” He backed his sentiments by pointing out how in the images of celebrities who seem annoyed, “what’s taken out” are “the people waving the stick at the tiger or poking on it.”
“All you see is the growling animal,” the actor added. Affleck’s comments about Spears come a year after the latter claimed in a now-deleted Instagram post that Spears had “made out” with the actor (via Page Six).
