Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Jennifer Lopez calls out Ben Affleck’s ‘awful’ tattoo in resurfaced interview

Jennifer Lopez is not the only one with less-than-stellar reviews for Ben Affleck’s colourful tattoo

Peony Hirwani
Wednesday 28 July 2021 08:59 BST
Comments
JLo calls out Ben Affleck’s ‘awful’ tattoo in resurfaced interview

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Ben Affleck’s back tattoo was “awful,” singer Jennifer Lopez had said in an old interview that has resurfaced online, days after she officially rekindled her relationship with the Hollywood actor.

In a 2016 appearance at Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, the 52-year-old singer laughingly shared her honest opinion of Affleck’s massive back tattoo drawn in the shape of a phoenix.

“It’s awful!” she said cheerfully. “I mean, I would tell him that. I would tell him like, ‘What are you doing?’”

“It has too many colours. His tattoos always have too many colours,” the “Cambia el Paso” singer pointed out. “They (tattoos) shouldn’t be so colourful, you know what I mean? They should be, like, cooler, I don’t know.”

Affleck surprised everyone when he was first spotted with the multi-coloured tattoo that covered his entire back on the set of his film Live by Night.

The actor and filmmaker had gone through a highly publicised split from actor Jennifer Garner, his wife of 10 years, a few months earlier.

The Justice League actor initially told Extra that the tattoo was a “fake for a movie.”

In a 2019 appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, however, Affleck said the ink was actually permanent.

“It’s meaningful to me,” he told Ellen DeGeneres. “I like it.”

The phoenix tattoo “represents something really important to me,” he said.

“It’s something I sort of kept private. It wasn’t like I was sort of doing photoshoots or whatever. We were two hours north of the city on some island in Hawaii and we didn’t know paparazzi was there,” he said, referring to a 2016 trip to Hawaii. “So they got a picture of my tattoo and yeah, the sentiment ran, you know, against [it].”

Lopez wasn’t the only with less-than-stellar reviews for Affleck’s body art.

“You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart’,” ex-wife Garner said of Affleck’s tattoo at the time. “A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in