While it might not seem like Britney Spears and Ben Affleck have a lot in common, the actor is opening up about their similarities and why he says he “had a lot of empathy” for the troubled singer.
“I can remember a long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears,” Affleck, 52, recently said on Theo Von’s “This Past Weekend” podcast. “That’s not somebody [who] I knew or hung out with, but you see all this s*** that comes through. Having had my own experiences myself, I knew that these are people following her around in a time where she may or may not be having difficulty.”
While Affleck did not reveal what allegedly troubling moments in his own life he was referring to, Spears, now 43, was placed under a conservatorship in 2008 by her father Jamie, and later co-conservator Jodi Montgomery, following a series of personal struggles. The guardianship was eventually terminated in 2021 after 13 years.
“I don’t know her, but I do know that the cycle of having people harang you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you, it seemed like that itself was whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy,” Affleck theorized. “They’re, kind of, poking a stick at it. That’s the first time I thought, ‘This is a weird, kind of, unintentional culturally, but [also] collective cruelty, where what’s taken out of the image that you see are the people around you waving the stick at the tiger and all you see is the growling animal.”
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According to Affleck, part of the reason why people witnessed celebrities like Spears getting angry was because they were provoked through constant media attention.
“That’s when you think, ‘OK, this isn’t news [and] it isn’t even real. It’s not what would be happening if this effect hadn’t taken place,’” the Accountant 2 star explained. “That’s when I thought, ‘OK, you know, the wise thing to do is maintain one’s perspective and try to remove yourself, which is what I would like to do.”
While Affleck repeatedly stressed that he has never known the pop star, she previously claimed that they once interacted.
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“Cool pic of me and Ben Affleck and Diane Warren years ago!!!” Spears captioned a throwback Instagram photo in February 2024. “He’s such an amazing actor. Did I fail to mention I made out with Ben that night … I honestly forgot … damn that’s crazy!!!”
According to Spears, she “actually forgot” about the onetime, alleged lip lock until revisiting the moment in 2024.
Affleck has never publicly addressed whether he and Spears indeed kissed, but later that February dodged a photographer’s question about her claims. He was seen smiling in TMZ footage without saying more.
