It is rare to see friendships that have stood the test of time, especially in a cutthroat environment like the entertainment business. But Hollywood superstars Ben Affleck and Matt Damon have proved that it is possible. The two actors have managed to carve a niche for themselves as unique talents, while also maintaining a rock-solid friendship that included award-winning professional collaborations as well. Affleck and Damon took their personal rapport a step further by starting their own production company called Artists’ Equity.
Both actors have also firmly supported each other through personal highs and lows. Matt Damon in particular, stood like a rock beside Ben Affleck during his courtship, breakup, and subsequent marriage to Jennifer Lopez. The Martian star admitted that the Argo director’s early years with Lopez were far from smooth.
Matt Damon Outlined The Drawbacks Of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez’s Relationship
Matt Damon once admitted in an interview that his close friend Ben Affleck’s relationship and brief engagement to singer-actor Jennifer Lopez between 2002 to 2004 affected his career significantly. The Bourne Identity actor spoke about the excessive paparazzi glare on the couple and how this amounted to a negative form of publicity for Affleck’s professional career, with every move being tracked, analyzed, and judged. This, in turn, made the process of marketing the star’s movies difficult.
“If you end up in their crosshairs, you’re really f*ked. Because there is an absolute relationship between how f**ked you are, if you’re on the cover of their magazines, and what happens to you as an actor. I mean, nobody knows that more than Ben,”
Having said that, Damon also credited his friend for being committed to the relationship despite not enjoying a private life. He stated that Affleck entered the romance for the right reasons with the intention of making it work for the long haul.
Matt Damon Stays Away from “Bennifer” Talk
After a history of courtship, engagement, and breakup, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez surprised everyone by rekindling their romance all over again in 2021. This time the two stars took the next big step to get married. Affleck’s close friend Matt Damon, who has seen the graph of their relationship over many years, expressed his happiness at Lopez and Affleck getting back together. But the Good Will Hunting star also firmly maintained that he would refrain from commenting on their relationship in public.
“I talk to him every day, but we don’t talk about personal stuff, we just talk about the movie. There’s not enough liquor in the world for you to get me to say something about that,”
Damon added that, in order to protect his professional and personal relationship with Affleck and in turn Affleck’s union with Lopez, it was important to maintain a dignified distance from the paparazzi and the tabloids.
Source: Cheatsheet
