What to Know
Kids have a way of humbling you, even when you’re famous, apparently. Ben Affleck, an award-winning actor and filmmaker, doesn’t seem to impress or interest his kids much. When his kids were younger, he thought achieving more would make them proud. Now that they’re older, he realizes they have different priorities: their dad is a humorous meme.
To be fair, in addition to his successful acting career, Ben has become well known for his paparazzi photos. Somehow, he’s frequently caught looking totally exasperated or defeated. Numerous paparazzi photos show him smoking a cigarette and looking kind of miserable. Others show him trying to carry a significant amount of stuff, including coffees from Dunkin’. If you spend a lot of time online, you’ve probably seen these photos pop up in comment sections—and it’s not hard to see why his kids find them amusing.
And to them, it’s far more interesting than his acting career.
Literally be feeling like the Ben Affleck meme. https://t.co/ODc47Q2xmO
— journalist jawn (@dirtywhiteups) November 18, 2024
During an appearance on Late Night with Seth Meyers, Ben was asked about whether his kids are interested in his movies. Ben’s three children—Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13—are at the age where they might start to appreciate some of Ben’s older films like Dazed and Confused. Ben admitted that they’re actually way more interested in the photos of him looking depressed and dropping coffee.
“I remember when my daughter was born, right around the time I directed my first movie, and I had a bunch of movies that didn’t work, and was very uncool and felt kind of despised, and thought like, ‘God, I really want to make my kids proud with my career,'” Ben recalled.
In his kids’ eyes, however, it’s the memes that make him “relevant.”
He’s learned that they really don’t care about his career success.
Anyone else feeling like they live in the “Ben Affleck Smoking” meme everyday for the last 18 months? Disclaimer: I do not endorse smoking https://t.co/Vs5c40ui07
— Jason Weatherald MD (@AlbertaPHdoc) August 23, 2021
Ben continued, “As I’ve gotten older, my kids have gotten older, what I realize is they don’t give a (expletive)… they really don’t care.”
To them, Ben’s movies are not as “cool” as the fact that he’s a popular meme. “The most cool thing that I’ve ever done, in my kids’ eyes, is, like, become a meme,” he explained. Does he himself think this is cool? Not necessarily.
“I’m like, ‘Why is that cool?'” Ben questioned. “Like because I’m spilling a coffee? … They’re like, ‘You’re relevant.'”
Ben doesn’t seem particularly convinced that this is a good reason to be considered “relevant.” He added, “I’m like, ‘I’m relevant for being this, like, beleaguered, depressed man.'”
People online found this hilarious and unsurprising.
Ben Affleck says his kids think his depressed memes are cooler than his movies “I remember when my daughter was born, right around the time I directed my first movie. And I had a bunch of movies that didn’t work and was very uncool and felt kind of despised and thought like, ‘God, I really want to make my kids proud with my career’” “And as I’ve gotten older, my kids have gotten older, what I realize is, they don’t give a shit. They really don’t care. The most cool thing I’ve ever done, in my kids’ eyes, is, like, become a meme” “I’m like, ‘Why is that cool?’ Like, because I’m spilling a coffee? They’re like, ‘You’re relevant.’ I’m like, ‘I’m relevant for being this beleaguered, depressed man’”
— Yonan (@yonann) October 8, 2026
Like, can you imagine being a popular meme that your kids could send to you at any moment? “It cracks me up thinking that his own children send this to him when he asks them to do take out the trash,” someone wrote on Reddit.
Another parent added, “If I was a meme I do think my kid would find it hilarious and awesome. If it was anything like Ben Affleck’s, he’d send them to me as a (response) to pretty much everything.”
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