When you hear the words “Ben Affleck” and “tattoo” in the same sentence, I can almost guarantee the photo that comes to mind.
Honestly, it’s an image that’s hard to forget — and Lord knows I’ve tried. But, despite all that’s been said about the controversial ink over the years, it seems Ben doesn’t consider it to be the worst thing he’s ever had permanently etched on his skin.
Taking part in Complex’s “GOAT Talk” video series, Ben and his Accountant 2 co-star Jon Bernthal were asked to reveal their worst ever tattoos. Jon kicked things off by recalling that his wife once had to talk him out of getting the word “nasty” tattooed, which was probably a good call. And when it came time for Ben to answer, he told a story that made no mention of the rising phoenix.
“I have a ton of cover-ups, you know? I’ve had them removed, I’ve had cover-ups, over and over again. But probably the worst was when— I was 16 or something, I thought I’d do a barbed wire thing,” he said, gesturing to his shoulder and bicep area.
Ben said this was one of his first ever tattoos, and he’d seemingly underestimated how painful it’d be, meaning he could only withstand getting a small part of it done. “It was terrible, so I was like, I better get something to cover that, and it started the process,” he said, gesturing towards his back for a brief moment. “I just don’t have them where you have to see them for work.”
Without sounding weird, Ben isn’t one of those celebs we often see walking around topless, à la Jeremy Allen White, so it’s easy to forget about his numerous tattoos. However, back in 2023, Jennifer Lopez shared a rare shirtless picture of her then-husband in honor of Father’s Day (???), in which you can see tattoos around both his shoulders — one of them presumably covering the barbed wire mishap.
“It represents something important to me… It’s meaningful to me,” he said during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2019, addressing the online mockery of his back tattoo. “I like it. It’s something that I sort of kept private… I love my tattoo. I’m very happy with it.”