Ben Affleck’s history of tattoo disasters: How his ‘mid life crisis’ phoenix ink offended his ex Jennifer Garner and left Jennifer Lopez cringing

Ben Affleck added yet another tattoo to his vast collection on Tuesday after getting his and hers ink with his new wife Jennifer Lopez.

Page Six on X: "Jennifer Lopez honors 'Daddy' Ben Affleck's abs with Father's Day thirst trap https://t.co/i7UsSkKctO https://t.co/Afaer161TI" / X

 

Affleck, 50, and Lopez, 53, were seen on Instagram celebrating their first Valentine’s Day since their wedding last summer with similar designs.

The Air star and director had a pair of overlapping arrows under his armpit area with the letters J and B between them, while Lopez was inked on her left side with an infinity sign with an arrow on it that read the words ‘Jennifer’ and ‘Ben.’

While the design is clearly sentimental, the actor has a history of making rather questionable choices when it comes to body art.

His most controversial tattoo is the enormous phoenix that spans his whole back. After he was first pictured with the ink in 2015, he claimed it was ‘fake’ for a movie role.

 

The latest: Ben Affleck, 50, added the latest tattoo to his person Tuesday as he and his wife Jennifer Lopez got tattoos that coordinate with one another. Pictured 2018 in Honolulu

 

 The latest: Ben Affleck, 50, added the latest tattoo to his person Tuesday as he and his wife Jennifer Lopez got tattoos that coordinate with one another. Pictured 2018 in Honolulu

 

The tattoo of the phoenix appeared to rankle his ex-wife Jennifer Garner, who told Vanity Fair in February 2016 of the ink, ‘You know what we would say in my hometown about that? “Bless his heart.”‘

Garner added, ‘A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.’

Lopez was also critical of the ink in a February 2016 appearance on Watch What Happens Live, as she declared it to be ‘awful.’

She added at the time, ‘I would tell him that! Like, what are you doing? It has too many colors. His tattoos always had too many colors.

‘They shouldn’t be so colorful, you know what I mean? They should be cooler.’

Affleck initially claimed the back ink was fake for a film role to Extra in March of 2016, saying at the time, ‘I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to have them in places where you don’t have to do a lot of cover up – they get sort of addictive, tattoos, after a while.’

After Affleck’s tattoo was lambasted in a March 2018 piece from The New Yorker titled ‘The Great Sadness of Ben Affleck,’ the actor took to Twitter to respond, writing, ‘I’m doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos.’

Affleck has an enormous tattoo of a phoenix on his back, which was initially seen in 2015 prior to photographers getting full snaps of it in 2018

 Affleck has an enormous tattoo of a phoenix on his back, which was initially seen in 2015 prior to photographers getting full snaps of it in 2018

The ink was slammed by both his present and ex-wife in 2016, as Jennifer Lopez called it 'awful' while Jennifer Garner didn't like the idea that she was the ashes his phoenix was rising from

 

The ink was slammed by both his present and ex-wife in 2016, as Jennifer Lopez called it ‘awful’ while Jennifer Garner didn’t like the idea that she was the ashes his phoenix was rising from

The celebrity pair was seen holding hands as they made their way to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California Tuesday evening to celebrate the romantic holiday

The celebrity pair was seen holding hands as they made their way to Giorgio Baldi in Santa Monica, California Tuesday evening to celebrate the romantic holiday

Affleck and Lopez, 53, were seen on Instagram celebrating their first Valentine¿s Day since their wedding last summer with matching ink.

 

Affleck and Lopez, 53, were seen on Instagram celebrating their first Valentine’s Day since their wedding last summer with matching ink.

The Air star and director had a pair of overlapping arrows under his armpit area with the letters J and B between them

The Air star and director had a pair of overlapping arrows under his armpit area with the letters J and B between them

Making it permanent! Their date night came just hours after Jennifer revealed that she and Ben had gotten matching tattoos, as she posted a snap of her ink on her torso

+17
View gallery

Lopez was inked on her left side with an infinity sign with an arrow on it that read the words ‘Jennifer’ and ‘Ben’

Affleck told the The New York Times in February of 2020 that he lied about the tattoo because was resentful the image circulated, as ‘it felt invasive.’

‘I could have said “That’s none of your business,”‘ he said. ‘I guess I got a kick out of messing with Extra. “Is your tattoo real or not real?” Of course, it’s real! No, I put a fake tattoo on my back and then hid it.’

Affleck in 2019 said on Ellen that the tattoo had a ‘meaningful’ message behind it.

‘It represents something really important to me … I like it,’ Affleck said. ‘It’s not something that I sort of kept private.’

Affleck also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his ‘dolphin tramp stamp’ in November of 2011.

Photographers caught a glimpse of the dolphin when Affleck was helping his daughter get out of a vehicle, the outlet reported, adding that it was put there to cover up a previous tattoo of a high school girlfriend’s name.

Prior to that, Affleck was seen sporting a complicated pattern on his right arm of roses, a sword and playing cards while wearing a tank top in his 2003 flop with Lopez, Gigli.

In October of 2002, Affleck sported a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder as he was seen on the video set for Lopez’s Jenny From The Block video.

The dolphin was put there to cover up a previous tattoo of a high school girlfriend's name

The dolphin was put there to cover up a previous tattoo of a high school girlfriend’s name

Affleck also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his 'dolphin tramp stamp' in November of 2011

Affleck also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his ‘dolphin tramp stamp’ in November of 2011

Affleck was spotted with current wife Lopez during their first go-round, as he sported a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder while they were seen on the video set for her Jenny From The Block video in October of 2002

Affleck was spotted with current wife Lopez during their first go-round, as he sported a tattoo of a cross on his left shoulder while they were seen on the video set for her Jenny From The Block video in October of 2002

The actor sported a complicated pattern on his right arm of roses, a sword and playing cards while wearing a tank top in his 2003 flop with Lopez, Gigli
+17
View gallery

The actor sported a complicated pattern on his right arm of roses, a sword and playing cards while wearing a tank top in his 2003 flop with Lopez, Gigli

Affleck was seen sporting the new ink just days after appearing in a Dunkin’ commercial for the Super Bowl with Lopez.

In new outtakes from the ad released on Tuesday, Affleck was seen engaging in a variety of comedy bits while working at a Dunkin location in his native Massachusetts.

‘I’m not your typical Dunkin’ technician, usually they’re much smarter than me,’ he said.

The clip featured the reactions of the customers when they had unexpected run-ins with the Hollywood leading man at the donut shop.

One customer said, ‘I know you,’ while another recognized him and gave him a fist bump.

Affleck told one customer that the chain was out of coffee and donuts, to which the customer said, ‘You’re s***ing me?’.

As he spilled coffee, Affleck said, ‘I’m struggling, I cannot make it function –  malfunction! It’s not easy as it looks operating this apparatus up here.’

He told People of the ad: ‘I think people already sort of think that I work for Dunkin’. In Boston, it was such a big deal. I think I became kind of associated with it, and this sounded like a fun opportunity to kind of play with that association and a chance to come back here to shoot it at home in Boston.