Matt Damon has never shied away from standing by Ben Affleck, even during the actor’s most difficult years. The lifelong friends reflected on their bond during a recent appearance on The Howard Stern Show, where Damon revealed he supported Affleck through his struggles with addiction and high-profile divorces.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon Talk Their Lifelong Friendship
Affleck, 53, and Damon, 55, sat down with Howard Stern to discuss their latest project, “The Rip.” During their lengthy interview, Damon opened up about supporting Affleck through his divorces and battles with alcoholism.
“When Ben was going through all his problems,” Stern began in the Monday, January 12, episode, referring to the actor’s divorces from Jennifer Garner and Jennifer Lopez, as well as his “problem with alcohol.” “Could you go to Ben and say, ‘I’m here to help you?'”
Damon, who has been friends with the “Argo” star since childhood, responded, “Oh, yeah, our relationship isn’t affected by what people are saying. I was there for all of it.”
Affleck thanked Damon for his support, saying, “That means a lot to me.”
“That’s sort of what a real friend is,” he added.
Affleck’s past struggles have been well documented, from calling off his engagement to Lopez in the early 2000s, to his marriage and divorce from Garner. His battle with alcoholism led to multiple stints in rehab before he rekindled his relationship with the “Love Don’t Cost a Thing” singer.
The pair finally made it down the aisle in July 2022, but the marriage did not survive to their second anniversary.
One constant in Affleck’s life, however, has been his relationship with Damon.
“For a while, we thought maybe we should chill and just do other stuff, and not be Matt and Ben, Matt and Ben,” Affleck recalled to Boston Magazine in 2013. “We have our company together, we’re developing together. And Matt lives down the street from me like he used to. His kids are living with him, the way we used to live with our folks. The only difference is that we have pools.”
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Lifelong Bond
In addition to starring in multiple films together throughout their careers, Affleck and Damon also run their production company, Artists Equity, together.
“We were both obsessed with [making movies and acting] from an early age which definitely kind of linked us up,” the “Bourne Identity” star noted in a clip shared by Netflix ahead of their film’s release. “But it’s kind of a weird thing in retrospect, because we came from a city where that wasn’t a thing.”
Affleck added, “The shared interest, like finding the job you like to do and then you do that with your friends, it’s really a nice thing, because you spend so much time at work.”
“The Rip” premieres on Netflix January 16.
