Ben Affleck stands with Britney Spears over paparazzi harassment

• Ben Affleck expressed empathy for Britney Spears during a podcast interview.
• Spears was placed under an involunt conservatorship in 2008 due to a mental health issue.
• Affleck is set to star as Christian Wolff in “The Accountant 2,” alongside Jon Bernthal.

Recently, Ben promoting his new movie “The Accountant 2”, Ben Affleck sympathized with Britney Spears. Speaking on Theo Von’s podcast, the actor recalled witnessing paparazzi relentlessly harassing Spears early in her career. The “Good Will Hunting” star revealed that the constant media pressure and invasive camera presence contributed to her highly publicized 2007 meltdown.

In 2008, reports revealed that Spears was battling a mental health issue, which led authorities to place her under an involunt conservatorship—an arrangement that finally ended in 2021.

While sitting down for an interview with the podcast host, Affleck revealed, “A long time ago, years and years ago, I had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears.” He added, “Because I remember it seemed like… these people are following her around in a time where she may or may not have been having difficulty.”

The movie star admitted he doesn’t know Britney Spears personally, but said he could easily imagine the toll it took on her, being relentlessly yelled at by paparazzi, whether she was thriving or simply trying to hold it together.

The AIR star continued to say, “I don’t know because I don’t know her.” He added, “But I do know that the cycle of having people harangue you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you. It seemed like that itself was kind of whipping up the whole thing into a tizzy.”

The actor went on to state, “That’s the first time I thought this is kind of a weird, unintentional – I think culturally – but kind of collective cruelty where what’s taken out of the image that you see are the people around waving the stick at the tiger or poking at it.”

Affleck further explained that celebrities often appear annoyed because cameramen constantly provoke and pressure them.

On the work front, Ben Affleck is set to star as Christian Wolff in The Accountant 2, joining Jon Bernthal in the second installment of the franchise.