These are photos of Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill and Gal Gadot at the Mexican premiere of Batman v. Superman. Kaiser has photos from the NY premiere here.
Ben Affleck — Massive Back Tattoo Is the Real Deal!!! (PHOTOS) – https://t.co/oZM9hx8UaC pic.twitter.com/ubfFPjLcOw
— HollywoodFame (@_HollywoodFame) December 13, 2015
Everyone has been making fun of Ben Affleck’s giant back colorful phoenix back tattoo, seen on the set of his upcoming film Live by Night, for weeks. Hi ex Jennifer Lopez called it awful, his other ex Jennifer Garner threw supreme southern shade with a “bless his heart” response to a question about it in Vanity Fair, and just about everyone has been making fun of his midlife crisis ink. Only in a new interview with Extra!, Ben claims the tattoo is fake and it’s for a role. For a guy who wouldn’t let Finding Your Roots air the fact that he had a slave-owning ancestor, it sure took him a long time to defend himself against everyone mocking that tattoo:
The tatt on your back real or fake for a movie?
Fake for a movie.
You’re not at liberty to talk about it?
I don’t want to… I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to not have them in places where you have to do a lot of cover up. They get sort of addictive.
So what took him so long? Was it a big plot point of the film that he couldn’t reveal? Affleck has twitter and Facebook, he could have set the record straight ages ago instead of letting this one go and then clarifying it once he got a question about it. You know he pays attention to the press about him, this wasn’t a fluke. Affleck wanted to show that he could let this one slide off his back. (I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist that stupid pun!) Does this mean that he doesn’t even talk to Jennifer? She went on about the tattoo as if it was real, saying “A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.” That’s not really applicable if it’s a wash and wear tattoo.
Meanwhile E! has a new interview with Ben, and he practically gushes about Jennifer. This is opposed to the way he described her during their marriage (I mean technically they’re still married, but you know what I mean). He used to call her things like “polite and kind” and thank her for working on their marriage. He would gush over other actresses like Blake Lively. Here’s what he said about Jennifer at the premiere of Batman v. Superman.
While there was plenty of talk about the highly-anticipated flick, Ben couldn’t help but gush about Jennifer Garner who has a few admirable skills of her own.
“You know, I just marvel at my mother who did a great job of raising my brother and I. Parenting is hard work but it’s so rewarding and I certainly do my best,” he shared with E! News’ Catt Sadler. “Jen is a superhero mom. She is an amazing mother and I’m really lucky to have her as a partner to co-parent these kids with. We try our best, we put them first and that’s what we do.”
That’s really nice and uncharacteristic. Have you noticed how Garner has her groove back and is practically glowing in interviews? She seems different somehow. Maybe Ben notices that too.
photos credit: Fame
Knew it was fake! It was too large and colorful, and a headache to cover-up for future roles.
Well, I think he is lyyyyiiiing. It was first spotted six months ago and he still has it? What role is this thats taking so long? Also, why did Jen think it was real? I think after both Jens smirked at it, he is frantically booking laser removal surgery. That man lives for PR and being mocked over a tacky tatoo must be killing him.
Agree 100%. That was my thought when the denial appeared. In the Eonline article, he is more vague in his wording about it and it makes it sound like it’s real.
“I have a lot of tattoos. It’s true, I do,” the 43-year-old actor revealed to ET’s Kevin Frazier when asked him about his latest ink, what appears to be a giant phoenix spread across his back. That said, Affleck claims there has not been “a good representation of it in the media” and says there’s a reason he hasn’t shown the tat off himself.
@Diane How is “fake for a movie” vague?
After the whole slavery/roots thing, I highly doubt he’d attempt to lie about something that would be so hard to hide.
@Naya,actually more like ,over eight months.TMZ has a pic of the tattoo from July 2015.Unless it was removed and reapplied.
@lila the vague reference was to the etonline comments. I don’t blame him for being embarrassed about it and it is personal as he said. I assume Extra was his first question about it and he knee jerked on the answer to save face. We’ve all done that at some time, so I get it. There is no way to prove it’s real or not, so we may never know. I think it’s real, though.
IIKR? No one would have a fake back tattoo for almost a year for a movie, and certainly his ex wife wouldn’t talk about a fake tattoo that way.
I think he’s having many, varied regrets, and doesn’t want the bad PR.
Toooootally. It wasn’t fake until he realized his mistake. 😉 We’ll probably never see the “movie” it was supposed to be for. Bless his heart. 😉
Golly gee willickers, these men look horrible. I implore these people to stop doing stuff “for roles” (or otherwise), and leave their bodies alone!
-TheRealPinky
They look like wax figures. It’s kind of creepy.
Is his new face semi-permanant too? Let’s hope so.
Yeah… it’s a wreck. He looks a little less bloated in these pics though. He’s got that little double chin that drinkers get… a la Lohan.
Please don’t insult Affleck’s little double chin
I’ve had a little double chin since I was about 16 and it ain’t from drinking (or overweight either). He’s just getting older, and looks a little silly dressed like Tony in West Side Story.
What happened to his face? It looks creepy. Waxy. That’s not really Ben Affleck. That must be someone who kinda sorta looks like what Ben would look like if he had gotten really bad work done.
I agree –with the new face and hair the outfit is silly–the jacket and sneakers make him look like Dennis the menace and have the added effect of looking like lifts.
It is incredible. He is hardly recognizable. I typically have a hard time seeing “obvious” plastic surgery when people post about it, but he looks like a completely different person.
His eyes! So squinty!
I agree with the testosterone/estrogen argument that someone pointed out on a previous post. He took testosterone and maybe steroids to get big for Batman and his body started producing estrogen (or more estrogen) to counter the extra testosterone. Then he quits the PEDs and he’s left with extra estrogen, a rounder face, double chin, man boobs, etc. When he raises his eyebrows his forehead still looks like a piece of notebook paper, but he looks like he got fillers because of the estrogen.
Maude: I can never spot the plastic surgery either. Unless they look like the mess ⬆ there.
I almost never spot “work done” either. But his eyebrows do look higher, and he looks waxy. Also the pics from a few months ago show cheekbones that sort of jut out. Even when Ben was in his prime, he was more of a slack jawed, furrowed brow beauty. These improvements just homogenize him. What people are saying about the testosterone and steroid use makes sense too; he looks more feminine than I ever remember him looking.
As much as I like mocking him, I tend to believe the awful Phoenix tattoo was temporary for the movie. That explains why there are pics at all… From the movie set… Wearing a hospital gown. I assume he’d just got done in the henna chair and it needed time to dry.
He’s looking more and more like a wax figure.
Seriously! And how bad is his surgeon if he ends up looking like Bruce Willis? I think having to be next to the younger cavil was some oif his motivation to nip and tuck.
He looks waxy and Tussaud-like. Not a good look…
Next he’ll reveal that the mess going on with his face is fake too.
His eyes look like he went in and said, ‘Give me The Keanu’.
He looks really surprised!! 😉
Seriously though Hollywood, WTF? Not just the women, Now even 40 year old men feel they need work?!
Hooray equality?
Yikes, the work he’s had done to his eyes is really throwing me off.
What I think he means is, she is still doing literally everything for those kids while he’s never there. He’s glad that he had kids with someone who permits him to be absent all the time. As for the tattoo thing, it would have seemed thirsty to me if he had jumped on social media right away to claim that the tattoo was fake. He’s a poker player and he knew that it would be better to just let it play out. It also makes his exes look foolish for actually commenting on it. Clearly Garner had no clue that it wasn’t real. The whole sassy “bless his heart” business now looks silly considering that it’s fake.
Well it’s still technically a tattoo and it’s still fugly.
I don’t know. He’s always praised her as a mom. He rarely acted madly in love with her, but always praising her in that way, being a mom. It’s one of his saving graces in the divorce, I think. He hasn’t forgotten that part of the marriage, why he probably wanted more children with her. He thinks she is an amazing mother to the kids.
I compliment him for thinking of his children and not bashing their mother in the press. Even though he has fallen out of love with her, he can still acknowledge that she is a wonderful mother,
Exactly…Husbands and wives get divorced all the time…ALL THE TIME…and I have seen the poor kids put in the middle of many a split. Ben and Jen broke up, but they are trying to keep it as easy for the kids as possible. If this was any celeb other than Ben, everyone would be thrilled with the way they are handling this. I do agree that Ben was not a good husband, but that doesn’t make him a bad father…
Also, I have noticed how Jen Garner is looking so happy and pretty these days…Funny…everything points to it being Ben that wanted out, and yet, Jen looks happier than him. It reminds me of that Kelly Clarkson song, “Since you’ve been gone, I can breathe for the first time” Jen looks like she can finally breathe easy.
Wouldn’t Jennifer knows if it was a fake? I call it bullshit.
See, even if she knew. He probably told her not to say anything, or she decided to poke fun anyways. It’s still an ugly tattoo on his back at a really awkward time.
If they were no longer on intimate terms at that point there’s no reason she’d know one way or the other. Maybe she found out the way the rest of us did and when she asked him about it he got cagey. Thus she assumed it was real and spoke about it as if it was real. He might have thought that was funny. Eh, it’s pretty stupid either way.
Especially when they allegedly live in the same house and have spent holidays together??
I don’t know how fake tats work but I’m calling BS on him. He’s embarrassed and probably getting laser treatments secretly as we speak.
It’s nearly impossible to get colored ink out of skin, though. Blues, especially. It would be pointless to lie.
The fact that she didn’t know it was fake or in the alternative made light fun of it knowing it was fake? Well that certainly punches a few holes in their “still super close” family narrative. They’re not communicating nearly as much as they want people to think. Pure PR game.
Aren’t we all lucky to have Jennifer garner? I know when I read the the never ending post about her “normal” life, I feel like rainbows and sunshine.
She is perfect ! Even her divorce is perfect ! Even his cheating with the nanny was perfect ! Dimples,kitten,,rainbow and sunshine 🌈
Bawahah true I just loving hearing about them all the time and their “issues” seriously divorces happen everday time and it’s so much worse, so does cheating, I don’t feel sorry for her or him especially with the pr nuclear bomb (honestly they hit and covered almost every area of their separation), they need to stop.
And I think he’s lying about the tattoo, he doesn’t seems like a person with good taste or a brain (hence sleeping with the nanny) so I bet it’s real and will be renoved or he will forever cover it up
I like that he didn’t come out and defend himself.. because what did he need to defend in the first place.. If he had actually gotten the tat it was his business; no one else. His back his choice. So he let people ramble on spouting off how terrible it was; that he was a douche for getting it.. going on about his mid life crisis.. listening to his estranged wife and ex give their opinion.. then HELLO it is not real.
I’m not a Ben fan.. but good that he didn’t feel the need to defend something that didn’t need defending.
and Bless the hearts of both Jennifers.
I agree. And between that and his praising her now, her digs look silly. He should keep that up and have nothing but praise for her going forward.
He had this fake huge Tatoo during more 6 months .How is possible?
Ben looks like Trussaud’s wax statue here
So, in this case, does “fake” really mean “I’m currently having it removed”?
It does. It does indeed.
-TheRealPinky
of course it was fake, it was photographed when he was filming Live by Night, it’s beyond me why the press and people in general would believe it was a real tattoo.
The first time that the “fake” tatto has been photographed was in July long time before the filming http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3152427/Ben-Affleck-appears-exhausted-steps-without-wedding-ring.html.
Any henne or fake Tatoo resists so long time .
If it were for a movie, it would just be reapplied, not there the entire time.
ETA: The area of the tattoo shown in that daily mail photo looks different than it did when it was photographed on the set of Live By Night. It’s possible they were figuring it out prior to production. Or he got an enormous hideous tattoo, is humiliated, and is getting it removed. I’m guessing we’ll know when the movie comes out and when he’s photographed going forward. I don’t think it’s possible to remove a tattoo like that entirely. You can usually tell, especially something so big.
yeah. that was right when he came back to LA to start preproduction of Live by Night. They were probably trying looks for his gansgta character. And it’s really different from the tattoo photographed while filming. Never bought the phoenix tattoo story and I think garner knew it was for the movie but played along with the question for her own good.
I’m not sure if I believe him. The denial took way too long to happen.
Oh, please…that thing is real. He had plenty of opportunities to say it was fake for a movie that doesn’t seem to be filming now or in the future. Yet, he allows both Jens to make fun of him and says nothing. This is the same man so concerned about his image that he screwed over a PBS show to get his history whitewashed. Sure, Ben. Sure.
There are photographs of that awful tat in July AND December. So he kept a fake tat that long? I call total BS.
And both of his ex’s thought it was real? And didn’t question it. No way.
Didn’t he finish filming the movie in December, so it wouldn’t be odd that he had it in December still. I imagine he kept it on until he was sure he would need no reshoots of scenes.
I would love to believe him, that it’s fake, because it’s so ugly and massive. LOL
The filming has started in October so why was the Tatoo photographed in July ?
I want to believe him too. It’s so hideous and just mid-life crisisish lol I’d love for him to be photographed with no sign of the thing. Does his character have it in the book?
A few months while Ben was one the set of his new movie he looked really really bad. It was obvious he got something done and it was not looking right. But suddenly at the oscars and recent events he was been looking great and younger. I guess whatever he got has settled in and it seems like he also got a tan. He definetely got botox and something to help the crepeness you get under your eyes. I wouldn’t be suprised if he got something else tuck and pulled. His skin is tight and it unlikely that without some type of help he doesn’t have mosolabial folds. I’m not trying to criticize I’m actually very jealous that high profile celebrity and minor ones too are able to help such help and age the way they do. Lord knows I want that kind of help.
So one of them is lying. Jen Garner went on and on about it in her Vanity Fair interview as if it were real. And now he just said its for a role. I actually would believe Ben in this case because it’s so very hard to lie about whether a tattoo is real or not. Like a year from now if we spot it, how is he going to say “It’s for a role.” He obviously could still be lying but i don’t know It seems like Jen just wanted to spin the narrative which is not surprising because that’s what she does.
What puzzles me slightly is why this matters. It’s a phoenix on his back, not a Charlie Manson swastika on his face. People have ugly tattoos, but it doesn’t hurt anyone. Or they have ugly fake movie tattoos. If it’s real he’s probably butthurt about all the negative comments and since he’s not a plan ahead type of guy, passing it off as a fake for a movie is the easy way out. If it is fake, he likely thought that the subject was too asinine to bother with until someone asked him about it point blank.
I saw close up pics of Ben face at Lainey.. he looks fine.. nothing going on with his eyes. I don’t understand why people see plastic surgery every time they see a picture of a celebrity. Face wise he looks better than he has in some time..
Did you see pictures of him during Oscars weekend? He looked like plastic and was all bloated. And as Lainey has pointed out his eyes look like they’ve had work done. He doesn’t look like a guy who has been traveling the world promoting a movie. Contrast with how Ryan Reynolds looked during Deadpool…he had bags under his eyes that clearly showed the jet lag and what not. Ben Affleck looks like he was just born. Even his Ex-wife has had work done. There’s nothing wrong with it but let’s not pretend no work has been done.
Some actresses use botox as an eyelift, the places they shoot it above their eyelids or somewhere around the eyes and eyebrows and lifts the creppy eyelid skin up, or above the eyebrows, lifting them up. He may be doing something like that.
And it looks like he got a laser on his face or deep skin peel, like Brad Pitt did, that baby soft skin look.
@Lisa2, who wrote: “I don’t understand why people see plastic surgery every time they see a picture of a celebrity.”
I don’t either, but I’m more alarmed by people who believe that ‘everyone’ needs plastic surgery. It’s all about Genetics and one’s Family Tree. Sometimes it’s all about clever tricks … as in Paul Newman would dunk his face in a large bowl of ice water (with ice cubes) 30-minutes before leaving for a Hollywood event.
Ben Affleck looks like Ben Affleck to me, just 43-years-old (this is killing me because I’m not a big Ben Affleck fan anymore). I just think some days he looks better than other days, like all people. The only time I question whether or not someone has had work done is if it’s blatantly obvious–like the times Jennifer Aniston can’t speak without pursing her lips–or when they start to look like someone else entirely–like Kate Winslet, who to me is looking more and more like Keira Knightley and less like Kate Winslet.
I think he is lying about the tattoos. Back in July 2015, the tramp stamp was visible already when he bend down getting something from his car. The book Live By Night didn’t mention about his character having a tattoo. He could have laser removed it last week. 😊
Yes I knew it was fake but so many insisted it was real. Glad to know I was right !
That tat was first spotted back in July, as others mentioned, and he was widely mocked for it back then. That was right smack dab in the middle of the nanny scandal, and since we know how much he cares about his image – and he was already getting crucified – why didn’t his publicist at least state that it was for a movie? What would have been the big deal? And both US and TMZ reported that it was “real” at the time (FWIW.) That seems fishy to me.
And as for Jen, I’m not buying that she didn’t know it was fake. Come on, they’re together a lot, and they have kids. At a minimum, his kids would have asked about it. If it is in fact fake, then I fully believe she knew that when she spoke to VF, which goes along with what I’ve always thought about her. She’s shrewd, and not as sweet as she plays. That said, I don’t put a lot of stock into what either one of them is saying at this point. It seems to be a constantly shifting PR game for both of them.
Is he now trying to backtrack from the “freeing himself” message of the Phoenix and settle back into being “good boy” husband again? So he now wants to pretend it’s fake? I think he’s seeing all of the new media attention that Jen is getting and the way her status has been elevated as a result of this divorce, and now the marriage seems like a good idea again. She probably seems more attractive to him now because she’s acting more independent, less focused on him. They both kind of sicken me right now, even though I do tend to be somewhat of a Ben apologist.
Aw, Jo Jo, give up the dream. They are never ever ever getting back together, in the wise words of Taylor Swift. LOL Ben probably has a downlow girlfriend waiting back at the hotel for him that he can’t bring out until the movie is out and until the Saint Jen “love of my life” interview dies down.
Hehe. 😄 I’m not one of those people that wants to see them back together. I never thought they made any sense together. I just don’t really believe they’re divorcing, mainly because I believe he is pretty weak-willed.
What if it is Gal Gadot? Somebody noticed how Ben was heavily flirting with Gadot during the film promo over the weekend. So what if she is married? !
It’s possible they were testing it out in July prior to production starting. My fingers are crossed for that. But People also reported it was real. The post said maybe it’s some kind of plot point for the movie. I guess we’ll find out eventually.
How would Garner know that it was real, though? They aren’t sleeping together. They are estranged. She probably had no idea about it, real or fake, because he didn’t bother to tell her. She saw photos and figured that he was doing things without telling her — which makes sense. I know you think that they are secretly “together,” but that is not based in reality. The time they spend together is for (and with) their kids. Her not knowing that the tattoo was fake basically proves that she’s not in his personal space anymore.
I totally get where you’re coming from, but they do spend a lot of time together even if only for the kids. They go on vacations, eat out regularly and live in very close proximity. At the very least, wouldn’t his kids have wanted to know about this giant tattoo that suddenly appeared on his back? And wouldn’t he have said, “Daddy got it for a movie”? So Jennifer would know whether it was fake or not based on convos with the kids, at a minimum I would think. I just think either he’s backtracking and lying about it being fake, or Jen knew it was fake and just played along in the VF interview, maybe to keep making him look silly. I just don’t buy that she had no idea it was fake, if in fact it is.
The pictures of Ben and Henry look weird. Despite Ben looking more smuggier than ever, their heads are throwing me off. Does Ben have a giant head or does Henry look like some voodoo princess shrunk his? I can’t tell.
Why does he lie all the time? The truth will eventually come out. He’s such a mess.
He always cares too much what people think.
I always thought it was odd that photo of him on set. He is in a white gown type thing and shorts, and the back is wide open to see the tat. Was he in between scenes? It looks like it. Why was that gown open in the back? Is that how it was going to be in the scene, or did he just get out of the makeup chair (maybe tat just applied) and that’s what he had on, and it had to be a hospital type gown on, open in back, loose, nothing tight?
It’s what addicts do…lie. This guy is addicted to alcohol, gambling, next, I suspect, sex. Which is the rich people’s affirmation that they have no self control. The fact that he admits that tattoos are addictive, leads me to believe that the hideous back tattoo is real.
Ben does look different now even now that his face is back slimmer. This is him on The Town set, handsome with buzzed hair. I was thinking his eyebrows look lower, but now I don’t think so. I just think Ben is just aging as he’s in his 40s, Some men age better than others, unfortunately. LOL At least he has his broad shoulders and six foot four frame to carry him through his 40s if he keeps in shape and doesn’t pork up again.
Ben on The Town
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/89/7d/d4/897dd46ddf535dd013ccdc0ba1fadf10.jpg
Sorry to be crass, but he was pretty hot back then. 😄
But to me, he still looked much more like “Ben” even as recently as last summer/fall. Granted, he had a beard, but his eyes seem different now – less puffy, maybe a brow lift (w/Botox?) I think he looked better and younger aging naturally, and I think a beard suits him.
http://www.justjared.com/photo-gallery/3481712/ben-affleck-jennifer-garner-amicable-split-03/
My God he was so hot. He looks good with a buzz cut.
If he didn’t lie so much people would believe him. Who knows what the truth is, he and his wife will say whatever they think presents them in the manner they want to project. At times I want to like him but he appears so insincere, it’s a pity he can’t stop caring what other people think, own his faults, accept himself and others, then people would like him.
And please someone tell him to stop messing with his face. I swear both he and Jen share the same really bad surgeon. They’ve both transformed their faces to the alien race many Hollyweirders choose to become. Not attractive! He was looking so hot around the time of Argo.
The picture of Affleck, Cavill and Gadot has absolutely zero chemistry. It literally looks like they are three strangers getting a picture taken together.
This movie is going to be a disaster
What happened to his face? And his body is really weird. Naturally lanky guys who work out too much to look really buff end up like that.
IMO, he’s had work done. Not one line in that forehead. Not to mention the eyes.
I don’t really see the Bruce Willis resemblance, but for a moment I sort of saw him morphing into a Martin Short character. What an inveterate liar Ben is and how highly he gets rewarded for it. Sleazy to the last drop.