Ben Affleck Is Reflecting on His Childhood in a ‘Different’ Way After Losing Both Parents This Year

Ben Affleck has opened up about the loss of both of his parents earlier this year.

“I don’t ever talk about anything about my childhood and I’m not all that comfortable, you know? It’s a little bit — not that it’s bad or horrible — but you know. And my parents just died, both of them,” the Good Will Hunting star, 54, said during a Wednesday, September 30, appearance on the Street You Grew Up On podcast.

“In April and in June,” he added. “So, I’ve been just like, you know, not just now or anything, but it’s sort of a big thing. It’s caused me to start thinking about my own childhood in ways that’s been a little bit different.”

The Oscar winner’s mom, Chris Affleck, died on June 2 after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. His father, Timothy Affleck, died two months prior — which Ben’s brother, Casey, 51, revealed during a press conference at the Venice International Film Festival earlier this month.

“I’ve certainly learned to sort of, even more deeply, appreciate my mom and really value and see like what she did and what the sacrifice and commitment that she made and how complete it was,” Ben continued.

The dad of three, who shares three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, went on to say that he never considered the fact that his mother — who died at age 83 — had a full life for 30 years before becoming a mom.

“I knew my mom loved me no matter what,” he said, revealing that after his mother’s death, he read letters she had written in her youth. “It was so interesting to me because all I knew was a person who just made me and my brother the absolute most important center of her life. It really struck me that she was, I mean, gorgeous and smart and thoughtful and passionate and I just thought like, this woman’s amazing and she could do anything, you know.”

Chris and Timothy married in the early 1970s. When Ben was 3, they moved from California to Boston, where Casey was born. However, Tim’s drinking and inability to keep a job became a strain on their marriage, Ben said on the podcast, and the pair divorced in 1984.