We all recollect where we were when we see that rise capital of Arizona for the first metre …
When you hear the words “Ben Affleck” and “tattoo” in the same sentence, I can almost guarantee the photo that comes to mind.
Ben Affleck. Drying off on the beach. Enormousrising phoenix back tattooin all its multicolored glory. Yep, you know the one.
Honestly, it’s an image that’s hard to forget — and Lord knows I’ve tried. But, despite all that’s been said about thecontroversial inkover 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 hisAccountant 2costar 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 toward 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 laJeremy Allen White, so it’s easy to forget about his numerous tattoos. However, back in 2023,Jennifer Lopezshared a rareshirtless pictureof 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.
On the topic of backtracking, it’s not known if Ben’s rising phoenix tattoo was aNick Cannon/Mariah Careytattoo cover-up type situation. He did unveil it around the time he andJennifer Garner separated, and he did also initiallydeny that it was real. However, the Oscar-winner eventually came clean.
“It represents something important to me… It’s meaningful to me,” he said during an appearance onThe Ellen DeGeneres Showin 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.”
No regrets (except for the barbed wire). You can watch Ben and Jon’s fullComplex “GOAT Talk” video here.
Complex/youtube.com
