Ben Affleck has spoken publicly for the first time about the deaths of both of his parents.
The 54-year-old filmmaker lost his father, Timothy Affleck, in April. His mother, Chris Affleck, died two months later in June.
During an appearance this week on Streets We Grow Up On, the podcast hosted by his Animal co-star Kerry Washington, Affleck reflected on how the successive losses have changed the way he views his childhood.
“It’s sort of a big thing, and it’s caused me to start thinking about my own childhood in ways that [have] been a little bit different,” the Oscar-winning screenwriter told Washington.
He said the experience had deepened his appreciation for his mother and helped him better understand “what she did and what the sacrifice and commitment that she made and how complete it was.”
Chris’s death was announced in July. She died on June 2 after battling pancreatic cancer. In early September, Ben’s brother, Casey Affleck, 51, revealed that their father had also died earlier this year.
Ben Affleck has spoken publicly about the deaths of his parents
His mother, Chris Anne Affleck, died on June 2 after a battle with pancreatic cancer. The mother and son are pictured together in 2004
While promoting his film Company at the Venice Film Festival, Casey dedicated the project to his parents, saying: “It’s dedicated to my parents because I lost both my mom and my dad this year, and they were very important to me.”
Casey, who co-wrote, directed and stars in the movie, added: “I really wanted to show this movie to them, and I didn’t get to. I think they would have liked it.”
During Tuesday’s podcast episode, Ben recalled finding letters his mother had written before he was born after her death.
“It was so interesting to me because all I knew was a person who just made me and my brother the absolute most important center of her life,” he said.
The grieving actor said he was particularly “struck” by how his mother managed to work while remaining a fully present parent.
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Affleck also remembered how she built a close bond with her grandchildren and played an important role in their lives.
In addition to their famous sons, Timothy and his former wife Chris are survived by five grandchildren: Indiana, 22, Violet, 20, Atticus, 18, Fin, 17, and Sam, 14.
Ben Affleck pictured with his father in Los Angeles in 2013
Affleck has one brother, 51-year-old actor Casey Affleck
While promoting Company at the Venice Film Festival, Casey said: “It’s dedicated to my parents because I lost both my mom and my dad this year, and they were very important to me”
Chris’s grandchildren were described in her Legacy obituary as “the animating force of her last two decades.”
According to the publication, she was told by doctors that she had six months to live last December, and her final wish was to see her grandson’s high school graduation.
She attended the ceremony this past May, and died in her sleep days later.
Timothy mostly stayed out of the limelight, but made an appearance in Casey’s 2010 I’m Still Here mockumentary starring Joaquin Phoenix.
Chris graduated from Harvard University and was a public school teacher for 35 years until her retirement in 2008.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about his mom in 2012, Ben said: ‘My mother taught public school, went to Harvard and then got her master’s there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school.’
Chris became socially conscious early in life, and ‘made the most of an elite education while remaining skeptical of the tightly cloistered world it represented,’ according to her obituary.
