Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are iconic Hollywood BFFs – whose bond was first forged in childhood.

Affleck, now 52, and Damon, 53, first crossed paths aged eight and 10 when they lived near one another in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The future Oscar winners quickly bonded over a love of acting.

In the wake of his latest marital split from Jennifer Lopez – Affleck has been leaning on his best friend – who is happily married to Luciana Barroso with whom he shares three daughters.

Affleck and Damon’s unbreakable bond was showcased in an adorable photobooth snap of the pair when they were teenagers.

The two future stars looked angelic as they mugged for the camera, with Damon cracking a wide smile while Affleck smirked as he embraced his best friend. 

Damon previously recounted in a 2019 interview that the pair became friends after Affleck defended him in a fight against an older child at school.

He said: ‘I remember that was like a big moment. He will put himself in a really bad spot for me. This is a good friend.’

Their first joint appearance on the big screen came in 1989 when they were two of some 3,000 uncredited extras in the Kevin Costner film Field of Dreams.

Damon told The Los Angeles Times in 1999: ‘Ben has always had an incredible charisma. People are just getting introduced to it through film. 

‘It’s hard to think of your best friend as a movie star, but the fact that he is [stems from] the extent to which parts of the real him come through.  ‘He is somebody that everybody wants to be around.’

The duo came to major public prominence when they won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1998, for their film Good Will Hunting, in which they both starred in and wrote.

Affleck told Boston Magazine the pair had considered going their separate ways creatively – saying: ‘For a while, we thought maybe we should chill and just do other stuff, and not be Matt and Ben, Matt and Ben. 

‘We have our company together, we’re developing together. And Matt lives down the street from me like he used to. His kids are living with him, the way we used to live with our folks. The only difference is that we have pools.

Further projects they’ve worked on together include most The Last Duel and Air. 

As well as supporting Ben through the breakup, Matt also supported his friend through his battle with alcoholism. The Daredevil star revealed in 2015 that he had turned to drinking amid his failing marriage, though he has since become sober. 

Damon told ET in 2016: ‘I’ve known him for 35 years, and we grew up together. We were both in love with the same thing — acting and filmmaking. 

‘I think we fed on each other’s obsession during really formative, important years and that bonded us for life.’ Rumors flew all summer Affleck and Lopez’s relationship was on the verge of collapse, culminating in her finally submitting papers to dissolve their union on their second wedding anniversary, August 22.

The mother-of-two filed to end her marriage from Affleck on August 20, which happened to be the anniversary of their second wedding in Georgia back in 2022. 

The day after she made her first social media post since she filed for divorce, citing ‘irreconcilable differences,’ the Let’s Get Loud hitmaker maintained a stoic expression as she made her first public appearance in weeks.

According to legal documents she filed without a lawyer, their official date of separation was back in April. They had been broken up for weeks prior to her filing for divorce, but the estranged couple were seen on various rare outings together in the time in between. 

Her latest sighting also comes after it was revealed that she no longer feels ‘comfortable’ living in the Beverly Hills mansion she and Affleck once shared with their kids. 

Earlier this month, as rumors swirled about the state of Affleck and Lopez’s marriage, Damon said he ‘could never imagine living like’ his famous friend.  Matt said that was fortunate his own personal life had been mostly ignored due to his 19-year marriage to Luciana being considered ‘boring’.

Promoting his new film The Instigators which he stars in alongside Ben’s brother Casey, 49, Matt told Radio Time Podcast: ’25 years ago, the gossip magazine culture was huge but they ignored me.

‘I wasn’t an exciting story; the guy who’s married, it’s boring! Scandal and sex, that’s what people would read magazines for. I’ve been really lucky’.

He continued: ‘Especially when I look at Casey’s brother, Ben. We’ve had parallel careers in a lot of ways, but I can’t imagine living under that scrutiny for 25 years’.

Affleck has recently been ‘hanging out’ with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s daughter, Kathleen ‘Kick,’ amid his divorce from Lopez.

The Good Will Hunting actor has been seen with Kick, 36, on various outings, a source told the outlet. The insider stated the pair have spent time at the Polo Lounge located at the iconic Beverly Hills Hotel, as well as other celebrity hotspots.

Despite the two being spotted together, the nature of Ben and Kick’s relationship is currently not known.

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Source: Los Angeles Times1