We know that Ben Affleck was on a week-long vacation in Montana last week because “a source close to the couple” told People Magazine. Some of you speculated that People got the news from social media, which may have been the case but doesn’t jibe with this couple’s need to tell the celebrity press about every up and down in their relationship. Maybe they’re trying to lay low for some reason, but I doubt it. One piece of news we found out from social media was the fact that Ben was in London this past weekend for a showing of the play Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, which he attended with his daughter, Violet, 10. The Facebook page for the play posted the photo with the cast above, and if you squint you can see Ben and Violet on the right. Also at the same showing was Ben’s Suicide Squad costar, Margot Robbie, and other celebrities including Glee’s Darren Criss.
As US Weekly points out, Ben is renting a house in London, where he’s been filming Justice League. And as we mentioned yesterday, he spent his birthday last year at The Wizarding World of Harry Potter with his family and has since been seen out wearing a Sirius Black t-shirt. Harry Potter is a Warner Brothers property, so it’s not surprising to see Ben at a showing of Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. In no way am I suggesting that his Harry Potter interest is not genuine, we love HP in our house too and my son just finished the new book/screenplay, just that it was probably easier for him than most to get tickets.
Many of you mentioned Ben’s new face in yesterday’s post. He’s had so much Botox that he looks like he’s having trouble emoting in interviews, although it seems to have settled somewhat since he first got injections late last year. We talked about his face quite a bit when he premiered it and he actually looks better now than he did back then, but you can obviously still see the difference.
Here’s Ben with his Sirius Black t-shirt back in August. This was his 1.0 face but you can’t really tell because of the beard.
Here’s the before and after pic I did of Ben right after he got his new face in December.
And Margot Robbie at the play.
Photos credit: FameFlynet, WENN, Facebook
He looks so waxy and ridiculous now. I don’t even get it. All he needed was to work out a little. I never found him hot, but he’s alright. He just looks funny now.
He does look younger, though. Weird, not like himself, but younger. I guess that’s the main goal.
Younger, but not in an attractive way. He looked much better before. The picture with the obviously dyed hair is the worst. Why do people do that?
When it comes to his looks, it depends on the day I guess. There are pics of him, the hot nanny and his oldest daughter in London a couple of days ago and while he looks tired and was chain-smoking, he did look his usual self. I’m more amazed that the hot nanny accompanied V to London. Can he not look after one child on his own?
The nanny is not going everywhere with them – they were at the HP play by themselves. Presumably Violet needs someone to accompany her on the flight back to the US while Ben continues working.
That nanny has been with them for awhile now, she has a real case of “Resting Bitch Face”. I’ve seen a lot of pics of her with Jen on school runs, I actually think they might be tight, I think her loyalty is with Jen. Violet may even prefer her to the other nanny. She’s probably at a hotel while Ben is with Violet at the rented home, just an assumption, which is what we all are doing here, assuming.
Plus, he is in London filming of course he needs someone to watch her when he goes to work. It is easier to fly an established nanny over and give her a room in the rental house or a place near by rather than hire someone one new and very temporary while he is in London. I used to go on business trips and family vacations, it isn’t that odd if you have a good relationship with the whole family. For all his faults he does seem to genuinely enjoy his children and has established and maintained a strong bond with all of them.
He’s not working. They are all on vacation atm. Henry is in Florida and Jason Momoa is in Ireland. So, no need for the nanny unless Ben is not trusted alone with a child, which is what I think. He is clearly still drinking excessively.
The waxy look is not good.
It’s the dye job, too. Previously, his hairline was softened by his salt-and-pepper hair. The new, solid brown hairline looks very stark against his doughy complexion. I find this is the case with a lot of middle aged people who dye their hair dark again. Sometimes, an aging face needs to be framed by lighter hair!
He dyes it for film roles – it’s greying again now that he’s back playing Batman.
When your hair starts to change color, your skin tone does, too. That’s why people who dye their hair back to its original color look “off,” somehow.
Sorry, I know we are all supposed to hate Ben, but I think this is sweet!
So do I. Violet looks very happy 🙂
I like Ben. He loves his kids, and they adore their daddy. I think he’s still in therapy (seen coming out of therapist’s office I think) and trying to make up for nannygate and the pain and embarrassment he caused his family and so is staying low key this past year since the split. The children seem happy. That’s all that really matters.
He needs inpatient treatment because his current therapist seems to be ineffective. He needs to atone for the Finding Your Roots debacle. He must have been drunk or arrogant af to strong arm a black man into covering up his slave-owning ancestor. Worst thing he’s ever done IMO.
Agreed. I like Ben too, despite his flaws. Going to be interesting to see how they handle things when he gets back from London. Not sure when that is – this Fall? Will they still push the whole “still living in the same house / property narrative”? They’ve been apart for quite a while now – months – seems like that could be an awkward adjustment.
@ Jayne, or maybe he’s trying to APPEAR as if he’s trying. Not saying he doesn’t love his kids, because I’m sure he does.
Lainey had a pic of him about 10 years ago reading one of the books, I think he’s a long-standing Potterhead.
He was reading half blood prince two days after it came out and his daughter was photographed reading the books/ wearing potter T-shirt. It’s probably a family thing
Yea I think I’ve seen somewhere they he read them first then with Violet. I think the interest is genuine and of course he can get tickets easier than the rest. I have to wait till next summer to see the play and I got my tickets during the last release a few weeks ago haha. Can’t wait till this moves to Broadway.
As for the Botox I think it just looks better or worse depending on the day
He was a Harry Potter fan before Violet was born – there are paparazzi pictures of him reading The Half Blood Prince outside a cafe on the day of its release.
Except for the hair color I don’t see any difference in the before and after photo.
I don’t know why he had that work done. Midlife crisis? He really was much more normal and handsome before. Age gracefully Ben !
You mean “Ben Affleck, and his new face, took daughter violet to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Chikd”. That’s better lol.
He needs to lay off whatever he has been doing to his face, it looks ridiculous.
Darren Criss also co-wrote and starred as Harry Potter in A Very Potter Musical.
President at Hamilton? Cool.
Dan Radcliff, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Tom Felton at Harry Potter? Cool.
Everyone else, we don’t need to see it. Just another rub us mortals don’t have tickets.
I could care less about Ben Affleck’s maybe/probably plastic surgery/injection insanity debacle, although I do think that hair color is ridiculous.
I just really enjoy that Jen and he have always encouraged their kids to read, as far as I can tell. Michelle Williams is the same with her daughter, Matilda. (A friend who used to live in Brooklyn near them told me that she used to see Michelle at a local bookstore all the time) It’s a very primal urge inside of me, encouraging me to yell “Bookworms Unite!” at the top of my lungs. I’m not up enough on celebrities to know who all my fellow worms may be, but I suppose I should find out and send my dollars their way when new movies or albums drop.
Also, I have to admit to being super jealous about anyone seeing the show. If it comes to Broadway (please. Pretty, pretty please?) I am so there.
As a former teenage theatre performer I cherish the trips my Mom and I make to NYC to indulge in my love of live theatre. She brought me a couple times when I was in high school and it was always amazing to come to New York and be transported in these amazing theaters. When I transfered up North during college, I would make day trips to the city to see shows on my own every so often when I could score cheap tickets or whenever I managed to save up to treat myself.
Sometimes various friends and family members join my Mom and I when we manage to go now. It was especially nice this year as we brought my eldest two children to shows with us, my son for the first time. My daughter loved Matilda even more this time around than she did the first time she saw it and seeing Hamilton with her is something I will never forget, just as I will never forget the way The Lion King and Aladdin knocked my son for a loop. He’s still talking about the magic carpet and wanting to know how it works and begging The Mister and I to let him learn to walk on stilts.
It’s so lovely to share something to close to my heart with my kids, so I commend Ben for bringing Violet to see live theatre. There’s nothing quite like it, the way you can connect as an audience and be completely consumed by what’s happening in front of you. It’s something you just can’t get from TV or film, no matter how wonderful certain shows or movies may be.
Its sad that he feels the need to get botox but at the same time its refreshing in a way to see that guys also feel that pressure to stay “young”.