I didn’t see Live By Night (and I didn’t see The Accountant either) so while I don’t personally know whether Ben Affleck’s back was shown in either film, many people have said that his large phoenix tattoo on his back, which he claimed was “fake for a movie,” was not shown in Live by Night. As you may recall, Affleck was spotted in December, 2015 on the set of Live By Night with that large tattoo on his back. Jennifer Garner referenced it in her Vanity Fair interview by throwing the southern shade phrase “bless his heart” and saying that she refuses “to be the ashes” that the phoenix is rising from. Jennifer Lopez also made fun of the tattoo on WWHL, calling it “awful” and saying it had “too many colors.” Then, in March, Affleck claimed the tattoo was “fake for a movie,” but many questioned that after Live By Night came out and the tattoo wasn’t shown. It was always possible that the tattoo was planned in a scene and that they didn’t use it for some reason. Affleck was photographed this week with his shirt riding up and the thing is visible again. So liar liar phoenix on fire? The Boston Globe, his hometown paper, is calling him out on it.
Here’s the original photo of the tattoo from December, 2015:
Ben Affleck — Massive Back Tattoo Is the Real Deal!!! (PHOTOS) – https://t.co/oZM9hx8UaC pic.twitter.com/ubfFPjLcOw
— HollywoodFame (@_HollywoodFame) December 13, 2015
The Globe published this photo of Affleck’s tattoo, it was taken on Sunday outside of church, and for a fake tattoo it’s stuck around for over a year.
So Affleck was busted fibbing about his tattoo. Why didn’t he just admit that it was real when he was asked? Did he think he would be able to hide it forever, or was he just so embarrassed after both Jennifers made fun of him to the press that he didn’t know how else to respond except to lie? I’m one of those people who cannot tell baldfaced lies like that, and this really makes me question his character. I guess we already knew enough about his character given the stories which have come out about him. His go-to response is to lie when he just as easily could have said no comment or changed the subject. It’s got to burn him that he’s being found out about this because he hates negative publicity so much, but hey at least The Pats won, right? Plus it’s not like any of this disqualifies him from politics.
Thanks to the tipster who sent this! Photos credit: FameFlynet
No regerts.
Hahahaha! Bless his heart.
No egrets.
(Sorry, couldnt help myself)
Bahahaha great comment!
LOL! I love those tattoo mistakes posts.
No ergerts.
Ok, here’s me putting my two cents…I think it IS fake. If he’s got it for a movie, nowadays they can make fake tattoos that last for weeks! Tech is pretty impressive.
Because if not, that tattoo, in normal tattoo terms, would have had to take a LONG frikken time, and unless he had time to sit for that in one month all super quick, I highly doubt it being real.
ew. It’s too early for that.
Zero Ass at all? Has this always been the case? Damn
Hank Hill ass.
Thank you thank you thank you for much needed lols.
Crack shot! Eeeew!
Those damn permanent back tattoos and slave owning ancestors… you just can’t make em disappear
Omg this comment section is making my day, thank you!!
hahahahahhaa ziiiiing
Ewwwwwww. If she was hoping for a reconciliation I hope this changed her mind.
I didn’t expect to see his buttcrack.
I’m not a big Jen Garner fan (either get back together or start divorce proceedings already) but boy was that Vanity Fair interview a masterclass.
Or maybe they should live their lives as they see fit with no explanations to you, which is hopefully how you live yours. Having said that I am making it my business to demand that he buy fitting underwear and damn belt.
jen garner’s stans are so funny lmao. you’re telling people to mind their own on gossip site.
How dare you invade the privacy of his pants like that? Let him live his life in crappy underwear as he sees fit!
How? She’s STILL his ashes. She can take all the umbrage she wants.
Hahahahahahhahahaha this is amazing.
This guy is neverendingly mortifying, much like that Tat
Maybe he had instantaneous post-binge regret and lied while having that huge thing slowly and painfully lasered off. Or maybe he’s just that guy (we all have to deal with these types) who lies without compunction. I think the second–he seems to have poor impulse control.
Dad butt.
Eeewww gross. Can’t unsee it
Dad butts are way better than that ‘tattttttttttt’.
Holy mid-life crisis Batman!
God that must be a pain for the makeup department if he has to do shirtless scenes. Or maybe this is his way to try and get out of doing shirtless scenes? 😏
It’s a tattoo. It’s not like it was just going to go away on its own.
I can’t for the life of me comprehend why she fights to keep that fella around.
Seriously, all the guy had to say is “It’s my tattoo, and my back, and it’s nobody’s f*** business if I wanna cover it in ink” in his trademark Boston accent, and he wouldn’t have lost any respect from me about it. But the fact that he caved in to the ladies’ ragging about it tells me all I need to know: a tiny, fragile male ego that revolves around how he’s perceived by the opposite gender and the public at large. Sad.
Ben, own your shit. It’s so freeing, seriously. Wear mismatched socks, own your stupid tattoo mistakes, laugh about it. THAT will help you win with the ladies.
If you need a life coach, call me.
Yep. Or just a chuckle and a shrug—” Seemed like good idea at the time.” No problem.
But lies get found out and never go over well.
You would seriously be a kick ass life coach.
Well that was always obvious. A tattoo like that was never going to feature in that film, unless enormous liberties regarding period and character were taken. It’s a very modern tattoo.
Such a dumb and weird thing to lie about. It’s not like it’s a small tattoo he could just get removed, he was obviously going to get called on the lie at some point and yet it seems his natural inclination was to lie anyway. Weird guy.
STOP IT!!!
The tattoo is cr@p, but why do people care so much about what this dumb@ass (or anyone else for that matter) have on a mostly covered part of their body? I suppose if he wanted a piece for open discussion, he’d have gotten it on a more exposed part of his body. Let the idiot have his dopey tattoo.
Hahahaha.
That’s all I have to say.
Why does he need to confirm his tattoo status? Who gives a $&@!
Agreed.
I did not see LBN. However, in the original photo when the big Phoenix was “discovered”, he is wearing a hospital gown open to the back. Surely part of a scene that was filmed. Also, in one of his interviews, he claimed he cut out a lot of “sex scenes” because he did not like the way he looked. That being said, LBN finished filming a year ago – if it was fake for a movie, it would be gone by now. Better yet, if he and Jen were actually getting back together, real or fake, it would be gone by then. Who knows – but this is not the 1st time he has been caught lying.
@JenFan – As an aside, my prediction for your questions in another thread are yes (Montana in Feb.) and yes (VF party.) 🙂 Jen made a point to highlight last year on Jimmy Fallon that she goes every year with Nicole.
Yeh – except 2013 when she campaigned him all the way to an Oscar. It is weird to me that when they were “together”. They did not attend the actual oscars together. The pics from the 14 vf party – he looks drunk or drugged out.
Last year – there were stories about how they got in a tif at the vf party – but that was denied. However there was one story a reporter wrote about her experience going to the vf party – how people behaved etc – and she specifically says how all eyes were on Ben and Jen that night following her article – and that they were hanging together the whole time the reporter was there (I think she was only allowed to be there for an hour). Can you imagine Jen shades him In That article that comes out on a Friday, they do Sam’s birthday on Saturday and then hang together at a party Sunday night. I honestly don’t know how these two can really work this ( they don’t seem together , but not really apart either)
“I honestly don’t know how these two can really work this ( they don’t seem together , but not really apart either)”
Because they’re not honest people. They’ve been selling/lying about their dream marriage for years. It was all for show and we know that behind the scenes it’s been a mess, probably since the novelty of family life wore off for him and the reality of doing 100% of the work at home hit her. This is what they do and have done for literal years. It’s all PR and for good press, both use their kids and private life for it. The proof that it hasn’t been a real marriage? The nanny. Jen’s reaction to that. Any normal woman would be furious beyond repair, he would have been made to move out. Instead she was just like, oh we were already separated at the time. *cough* BS.
@zoologist Yep. They’ve been spinning a yarn for years, this is just more of the same. How do we know all of this stuff about their private lives? Because they TELL us! lol They told us about their annual ski vacation in MT, what they do for their kids’ birthdays, even what their kids get for xmas. They’ll turn around and complain that they have no privacy and say that they’re such victims oh but right after they tell you what Sarah got on her spelling test. It’s all part of their act. Like Jen who pretends to hate the paparazzi when Ben is around but when doing her daily strolls is all smiles and laughs. I can’t believe that anyone still buys what they’re selling after all these years. They were never some great Hollywood romance for the ages, they got married because she got knocked up. The end. The rest? Fake, fake, fake.
Why why why is she still with him?
How can she shag him with that horrific tattoo that even she made fun of. I dunno- but imo once you’re making fun of/ burning your romantic partner the romance is kinda dead…how do you go back after that?
How do you go back (or at the very least not throw him out) after Blake Lively, Emily R and the nanny, plus many unnamed, not famous women around LA? Seriously, he was banging the household help, a woman who took care of the kids. What about all of his other lies, hiding slaves, gambling and getting thrown out of casinos… Doormat Jen is in a pathetic league of her own here. She attempted to gain some fans by mocking him in that interview & pretending like she had left him, but to the surprise of no one, she quietly went crawling back to him. All that said, LOL, I’m not 100% convinced that they are back together. He’s been rumored to be seeing someone, as is she, and they are only ever spotted together doing co-parenting things with their kids. Neither one ever looks happy while doing so.
We are supposed to believe they are not back together nor moving on in their individual private lives for the sake of their children. So they will both be celibate until the last kid turns 18. Sure Jan, sure.
Meh…it’s okay. Also, I saw LIve by Night and thought it was actually pretty good but i’m into gangster films. Too bad it did so poorly at the Box Office.
he often lies though, so it’s nothing new. remember when he was trying to hide his ancestors owned slaves? also, he’s a cheater and cheaters lie pretty well. i’ve been questioning his character for a while now.
LOL! It’s not even that big a deal that he’d get a tattoo (it’s not like they’re unusual in this day and age, and besides it’s his business), but then he had to go and lie about it. Dude, just own it.
I never peg him to be the type who would wear blue undergarment. He looks like a gray or white type undie guy. Maybe he got a pack of 6 undies in diff. colors for Christmas. Maybe the color complements the phoenix. Why am I even?
Bahaha!
I don’t think people care so much anymore that he has that horrendous back tat so much as he LIED about having that hideous back tat (permanently). Had he just said “F- it, it’s the real deal” we woulda laughed momentarily and moved on. Now, it’s back to haunt us….& him. All bc of his lies
David Fincher did say he was duplicitous…
All of this is gross. He’s the worst.
Why is he such a liar? It’s really creepy how easily, casually, frequently (and publicly) he lies about even minor things. Can you imagine being married to him? How could you ever trust someone like him? Jennifer Garner must be as bad as he is because she doesn’t seem like a victim. She had her eyes open the entire time they were married, remember? Giving her the major side eye for clinging to him for so long and having so many band-aid babies to keep him around. Both are trash IMO.
I don’t see where it could be that full tattoo after comparing photos. They probably took what he had and then created a full back tattoo for the movie, building off of the tattoo he had on his back.
people.com/movies/ben-affleck-spotted-with-tattoo-on-his-back-post-split/amp/
It’s the same one. Ben is just a liar.
@Jayna – I love that you’re giving him the benefit of he doubt. 🙂 I’d like to too, but I do think the full phoenix tat was/is real. I remember another story coming out at the time he got it saying how someone came directly to his home to do it. He only backed down on its realness when he started getting crap about it, and then he probably felt silly, but he should have just owned it.
When you look at the gown pics here, you can only see portions of the left side of his back, and the portion on the lower left (that you can see) matches the DM/Globe pics. Plus, I think Jen pretty much confirmed it was real by her comments in VF.
Then he turned around and made her look stupid by claiming it was fake. lmao
Poor thing that is one hideous ginormous tat. Imagine what it will look like when he’s 70! I hope there’s a “face lift” for backs.
I do not believe a word that comes out of this guy’s mouth. He literally lies about everything. Bless her heart. Or as we say in the North, you’re a f****** idiot.
Probably lost a bet. Do we really care after all that’s happening in the White House???
Cannot.stop.laughing. Side note: for the love of God, someone by that man a belt. Zero desire to see his asscrack
Focusing on Jen in this post. Her face looks like mine today so, I like her <3
He probably forgot it was there because he can’t see it 🙂
“Oh yeah! Back tattoo!”
LOL
Ben. Geez dude. Total midlife crisis. And quit with the damn low rise Jeans dude! No one wants to see a butt crack!
Every time I turn around, Ben Affleck is knee-deep in his own sh-t. Like, he wouldn’t be the first celeb to hit the casinos but of course he has to count cards, get caught, and then very publicly get thrown out. It’s also perfectly okay to date if you and your spouse are separated, but banging one of your kids’ nannies? Really, Ben? He’s not the only person to have ancestors who owned slaves but he is the only one who manipulated an elderly black man into covering it up for him on a tv show. He has a bunch of ugly tattoos, why bother lying about this one? What is his damage? He has a lot of really serious problems.
Counting cards is a legal strategy and pretty impressive if he was able to do it effectively.
Very UNimpressive that he can’t do it without being obvious and getting thrown out and banned, humiliating his family. But go ahead and think that he’s some kind of amazing man.
Counting cards really isn’t difficult, if you play regularly and possess basic math skills you’ll eventually do it automatically.
Most people don’t gamble enough for that though, nor are they invested enough in gambling to learn. That he does it purposefully and yet still badly (it’s like bluffing, if anyone can tell, you suck at it), doesn’t suggest intelligence, it suggests he’s a degenerate gambler.
@Jessie I feel like your post needs to be copied and posted in every Affleck thread because there are one or two posters who seem to think that he’s some kind of math genius because he can count cards. He gets caught every time, lol, just like sleeping with women who aren’t his wife and lying. he’s terrible at it all.
Dad bod city! Like him or not, dude is a hunk imho.
Oh my gosh, that’s like ten times worse than a tramp stamp. And a dragon? Really? Honestly, the Patriots logo above his ass crack would be more tasteful …
This is reminding me of that How I Met Your Mother episode where Ted gets a tramp stamp but doesn’t realize it.
Also, I feel bad for any make-up crew that has to cover that up for future films. Yeesh.
That tattoo is a classic mid life crisis tat that middle aged men get. Thou i guess colour tattoo’s are easier to remove but it was be very very painful.
Bless his little pea-pickin’ heart as my grandmother would say (deep country girl). He recounts his rise from the JLo days ashes every chance he gets and then has it immortalized on his back so he only has to look in a mirror to celebrate it again and again. I do think that is what it represents. I think he has deep fear of going back there. He said in an interview once that the narcissistic part of his personality was his least favorite too. Well there ya go…
Diane – that is an interesting observation. Except the timing is way off. Broke up with Jlo 2003/4 got this tattoo in 2015
And yet he was sharing it again recently in interviews, and has been doing so routinely the past few years. Many comments here about him throwing JLo under the bus and not owning responsibility for his downfall.
It seems to be his defining moment in fact. Reminds me of an old high school football player who retells the winning touchdown 10, 20 years later. I think it comes out of that same place in the mind/ego.
100% agree he has a deep-rooted fear of “going back there”, and I’ve always said, I think this is a primary motivation behind a lot of his behavior, including all of a sudden hedging on the split once the nanny went public and he realized, well … he could be going back there again.
All of that said, I don’t think the tat represented JLo or that time period. He got it well after Argo (arguably the height of his career, interns of the Oscar anyway) and during the height of his split with Jennifer G., so I think it represents him (thinking that he was) entering a new phase of his life, presumably freedom.
Maybe he got it as a divorce tat. Their marriage has been crap for ages, we all know that. They’ve either been on the verge of splitting up before (thanks, Band-Aid Sam) or actually been separated without anyone knowing it (2014/2015ish).
Being that this dude is dealing with a crippling alcohol/gambling problem, I highly doubt he’s concerned that his fib about a back tattoo is being found out.
Is he dealing with a drinking problem? He’s still allowed to drive the kids around. Of course it could be that the Doormat isn’t going to tell him ‘no’ when it comes to a pap stroll.
I noticed that as soon as I saw the photos. Jennifer has enough money she needs to quit clinging on to this marriage. I feel like Ben is waiting until something betting comes along. He hasn’t said he is working things out, nor wearing his wedding ring again. Is she just going to continue waiting on the sidelines for someone that has no romantic interest in her? She is rich and Ben will always be their dad they can co-parent seperately.
I wonder if the Cabo woman is the same person people saw him with on his yacht several months back. If he/she are in a serious relationship now, that person must be pretty understanding to “wait in the wings” while they sort their issues out.
I think he gets his takes pointers from Tom Brady – just evade, evade, evade.
Nice job, Backfleck.