Ben Affleck has won numerous awards for his acting and directing, but doesn’t want his kids to take the same path.
The actor, who has three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, got candid about parenting and his kids’ future prospects. Speaking to E! News at The Rip premiere on Jan. 13, Affleck said he and Garner don’t push the kids to follow in the footsteps of their famous parents.
“You put something on your children when you have a public life, and that’s complicated,” Ben told E! News. “We really want to give them room to figure out what they want to do.”
Garner and Affleck were married from 2005 to 2018. They share Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, or Samuel, 13.
“I wouldn’t push them into that. They’re brilliant and lovely and wonderful, and we love them, and we’re proud of them,” he said.
The Gone Girl star and Argo director, 53, added that he would “hope that they don’t waste their life acting.”
While Samuel and Seraphina are still in school, the eldest of the clan, Violet, is currently at Yale University. In September 2025, she addressed the United Nations on the long-term effects of COVID, arguing that people have been “ignoring, downplaying and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of long Covid.”
Affleck also acknowledged that his upbringing differs from that of his children. “In some way, it was kind of a blessing to anonymity, to struggle, to where we started, which was just in the middle of nowhere.”
The actor opened up about his children at the premiere of his latest Netflix film, which he stars in and produced with Matt Damon, 55, his longtime friend and professional partner.
Affleck and Damon’s press tour has included several stand-out moments. Damon revealed that his wife, Luciana Barroso, “thought Ben was the cute one.” Damon’s daughters made an appearance at the premiere too, leading to a viral moment when one of them roasted him for his red carpet poses.
The Rip, a thriller about Miami cops, premiered on Netflix Jan. 16.
