Hollywood star Ben Affleck is reflecting on his connection to singer Britney Spears, revealing why he once “had a lot of empathy” for the pop icon. During a recent appearance on Theo Von’s podcast This Past Weekend, the 52-year-old actor shared his thoughts on Britney and the intense media scrutiny she faced over the years.
“I can remember a long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears. That’s not somebody [who] I knew or hung out with, but you see all this s**t that comes through. Having had my own experiences myself, I knew that these are people following her around in a time where she may or may not be having difficulty,” Ben said.
Though Ben and Britney might not appear to have much in common on the surface, the actor spoke candidly about how relentless paparazzi and public attention can affect celebrities’ mental well-being. He went on to explain how some of Britney’s behavior, often criticized in the media, might have been reactions to those pressures.
“That’s when you think, ‘OK, this isn’t news [and] it isn’t even real. It’s not what would be happening if this effect hadn’t taken place. That’s when I thought, ‘OK, you know, the wise thing to do is maintain one’s perspective and try to remove yourself, which is what I would like to do,’” Ben explained.
Ben continued to speak about the larger pattern of media frenzy surrounding high-profile individuals, describing it as a kind of collective cruelty.
“I don’t know her, but I do know that the cycle of having people harang you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you, it seemed like that itself was whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy,” he said. “They’re, kind of, poking a stick at it. That’s the first time I thought, ‘This is a weird, kind of, unintentional culturally, but [also] collective cruelty, where what’s taken out of the image that you see are the people around you waving the stick at the tiger and all you see is the growling animal.’”
Despite Ben stating that he never had a personal relationship with Britney, the singer has previously claimed the two had interacted. The actor didn’t elaborate on the specific challenges he’s faced, but Britney famously endured a public breakdown and was placed under a conservatorship in 2008. That arrangement—overseen by her father Jamie Spears and later co-conservator Jodi Montgomery—remained in place until its termination in 2021.
