Welcome.
Do you remember what you were doing when those photos of Ben Affleck and his new back tattoo first dropped? I do, of course. I was out for drinks with friends, which was thrilling because it was the perfect time to discuss a broken-hearted man having a conniption.
If you don't remember, freshly single Ben Affleck went viral all the way back in 2015 as his new 'phoenix rising from the ashes' tattoo was debuted on the interwebs. Fresh off his divorce from Jennifer Garner, the actor was on set filming Live By Night when he was seen sporting the new ink.
The images made the rounds online and the dot com lost its mind over the sad, single Ben Affleck snaps. Was this part of his new role? Was it real? At first, he insisted it was a fake tattoo for the film. But actually, no, he just 'resonated' with the message in his divorce era.
"It's a phoenix. I was about to say it represents something really important to me! It's meaningful to me. I love my tattoo, I'm happy with it," he later told Ellen DeGeneres in 2019, admitting it was real.
"A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario?" Garner later asked, in an interview with Vanity Fair. "I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes."
It's real: https://t.co/3MmH0tenUt pic.twitter.com/HJMq2Z6lAc
— E! News (@enews) March 18, 2018