Ben Affleck sympathises with Britney Spears over 'collective cruelty' of fame

Ben Affleck sympathises with Britney Spears over the way paparazzi targeted her amid difficult times in her personal life.

During a recent episode of the This Past Weekend with Theo Von podcast, the Oscar winner recalled how he "really had a lot of empathy" for the popstar at the height of her fame in the 2000s.

"A long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears," he said. "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."

Ben went on to clarify that he could only speculate as to what Britney experienced when paparazzi followed her constantly.

Yet, he did indicate that he believes constant attention from photographers contributed to the meltdown she had in 2007 during which she shaved her head.

"I don't know because I don't know her," the 52-year-old continued. "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. 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 on it."

Britney suffered mental health issues in 2008 and was involuntarily placed in a conservatorship until the agreement was terminated in 2021.

Elsewhere in the conversation, Ben insisted any snaps of celebrities in which they appear annoyed are due to photographers "poking" at them.

"All you see is the growling animal," he added. "But like a part of that is because somebody is coming around hitting on it to make it get active."

Ben is currently promoting his new movie, The Accountant 2.