Ben Affleck Opens Up About Losing Both of His Parents Within Months of Each Other

Ben Affleck lost his mother in April and his father just two months later in June, and for the first time, he's opening up about navigating the loss and what it has taught him.

Ben Affleck lost both his parents in a span of two months and for the first time, he’s speaking up about navigating the loss.

Affleck sat down with Kerry Washington for an interview on her podcast, “Street You Grew Up On,” where he revealed his mother, Chris Affleck had died in April and his father, Timothy Affleck, in June this year.

The actor admitted this made him reflect on his younger years, especially after reading some of his mother’s old letters. "It's caused me to start thinking about my own childhood in ways that's been a little bit different," he said.

Ben Affleck attending the screening of "Company" during the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on September 8, 2026 | Source: Getty Images

Affleck shared that he came across a collection of old letters his mother had written to her own parents while in college in California and this made him see her in a different light. He realized she had a whole life before him, as a young, ambitious woman who had considered working as a social worker before she became an elementary school teacher. "This woman had her own whole life for 30 years that had zero to do with me," Affleck said.

Ben Affleck and his mother, Chris Affleck, during the premiere of "Jersey Girl" in March 2004 | Source: Getty Images

He explained that as a child, he only thought of his mother as someone who loved him unconditionally, and not someone with her own life. He described his mother as someone who “worked hard” as a public school teacher, spending long hours in school, then coming home and still doing everything for the family. "All I knew was a person who just made me and my brother the absolute most important center of her life," he said.

Having learned more about his mother through those letters, Affleck couldn’t help but feel a sense of sadness. "This is an incredible woman. She should have happiness and love. And she didn't," he said.

Ben Affleck kisses his mother Chris Affleck in October 2010 | Source: Getty Images

Affleck has previously opened up about his father's own unfulfilled ambitions, which he's said contributed to tension at home.

“My father had ambitions to be an actor and to be a director and to be a writer,” he told GQ in 2025. “And my experience in my childhood was of knowing and seeing a father, when he was around, that I believe at the time was plagued by a sense of not having accomplished what he wanted. He was an auto mechanic and bartender and a janitor and a head of the custodial team at a college and stuff.”

By the time he was 11, his parents’ marriage had fallen apart. They sat him and his brother, Casey Affleck, down to tell them they were getting a divorce, he told Washington.

Ben Affleck and his mother, Chris Affleck, heading to the Geffen Playhouse on January 30, 2014 in Los Angeles, California | Source: Getty Images

He recalled his father had been in a “bad shape,” struggling with alcohol, jobless, angry, and resentful. So instead of feeling sad about the divorce, Affleck admitted, “I was so happy.” But he also remembered thinking to himself, “I should try to look sad,” which should have been his natural reaction, but it wasn’t what he felt. “It was clear to me that, like, I want this to be over with,” he said.

Looking back, Affleck confessed he couldn’t even force himself to cry.