Ben Affleck‘s mom, Chris Anne Affleck, has passed away after she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in December.
The Daily Mail has reported that Chris was 82, while The Hollywood Reporter (THR) stated that she was 83.
“Chris Anne’s family revealed the sad news Thursday following her passing on June 2, according to a Legacy obituary,” the Mail reported on Friday, July 24.
“The matriarch of the family is survived by sons Ben and Casey; and five grandkids Indiana, Violet, Atticus, Fin and Sam,” per the Mail.
“According to her obit, she had been told by doctors she had six months to live last December, and her final wish was to see her grandson’s high school graduation,” the Mail noted. “She attended the ceremony this past May 31, and died while sleeping days later.”
Chris Always Supported Her Sons’ Acting Careers
“Christine Anne Boldt was born in New York City in December 1942,” according to The Hollywood Reporter, although her obituary noted that her name was Christopher. “She was a graduate of Harvard University and spent 35 years as a public school teacher. She retired in 2008 and was a fierce civil rights advocate throughout her life, having served as one of the original Freedom Riders who went into the Deep South during the 1960s.”
THR also notes that “Chris and her ex-husband Timothy Affleck welcomed their first child, Ben, in 1972. Ben’s brother, Casey, was born in 1975, around the time their family relocated to Massachusetts, where she continued her teaching career.”
Ben’s parents had divorced by the time he was 12, and THR explains that “[a]s his passion for entertainment grew during his adolescence, Chris played a hand in his early industry beginnings, connecting her son with her former Harvard roommate, casting director Patty Collins, who helped him audition for commercials and TV movies.”
Of course, that’s not the only way that Chris supported Ben’s career in Hollywood. In fact, she stood by him (literally) during one of the most epic moments of his life as a successful show business star.
Chris Was with Ben When He Won His ‘Good Will Hunting’ Oscar
GettyWhen Ben was still making a name for himself in the entertainment industry, Chris was behind him the entire way.
That’s why, as “an avid supporter of her sons’ acting careers,” Chris “attended the 1998 Oscars alongside Ben and Matt Damon, who also brought his mother as his date, after the pair were nominated for best original screenplay for Good Will Hunting — a film the duo also starred in alongside Casey,” The Hollywood Reporter explained. “Ben and Damon would go on to win the Oscar, and the film has become a classic.”
“We were sitting next to our moms and we won, and we kind of hugged our moms,” Ben told Vanity Fair while looking back at the experience and resulting reaction from the public. “I remember how everyone had made such a big thing out of it as if this was such a novelty. I remember thinking, being insecure, like, ‘Why? Why is it weird that we’re bringing our moms?’ Who else do you think we would bring?”
