Matt Damon‘s best buddy is going through it right now.
Of course, the Rounders star has been very good friends for a VERY long time with his co-star on Good Will Hunting. Matt and Ben Affleck go way, way back to their pre-fame Boston days together. But now, as Matt looks on, seeing Ben struggle with the disintegration of his marriage to Jennifer Lopez has been an awful situation.
Related: Matt Damon WARNED Ben Affleck About Marrying Jennifer Lopez!
The 53-year-old Damon admitted as much in a rare comment he made during the latest episode of the Radio Times Podcast. On the podcast, where Matt was joined by Ben’s brother Casey Affleck, the A-list film star took aim at the difficult life Ben has been forced to live in the public eye by relentless paparazzi photographers and fans who want more and more gossip. Damon admitted that he has been lucky NOT to have to go through nearly as much scrutiny, saying:
“I’ve been really lucky in that way … especially when I look at Casey’s brother, Ben. I can’t imagine living under that kind of scrutiny.”
No kidding…
Matt continued by noting how much differently Ben has been treated by the media, magazine and tabloid coverage, and fans in general over the last several decades:
“And it’s been like that for 25 years and we’ve had parallel careers in a lot of ways and so I’m fortunate to have been kind of excused from that part of [fame].”
Undoubtedly, part of the difference in treatment is that Matt has been married to the same woman for a very long time. He wed his wife Luciana Barroso way back in 2005, and they’ve lived happily ever since. To that end, he rightly recognized during the podcast that his love life simply isn’t as attention-grabbing as that of Affleck and Lopez:
“That magazine culture that was so huge … 25 years ago [they] kind of ignored me. Like a guy who’s married, it’s so boring.”
Damon continued:
“What would sell those things were scandal and sex and all that stuff that people would read … and as long as you didn’t do any of that stuff it wasn’t really worth their time to wait to take your picture and so I ended up kind of getting left alone.”
He’s not wrong! He’s not wrong at all! Ben and Jen have definitely been under a microscope this entire time. And now that Affleck’s relationship with J.Lo is falling apart again, the whole thing is just revamped for the digital age. What do U make of Matt’s comments here, Perezcious readers? Sound OFF with your thoughts (below)!
[Image via Nicky Nelson/MEGA/WENN]