Ben Affleck is aware that he looks furious in paparazzi photos—but there’s, according to him, a good reason. “I’m also a little bit shy,” Affleck told Kevin Hart on the season four premiere of his talk show, Hart to Heart, per Entertainment Weekly. “I also don’t like a lot of attention. That’s why people see me and they’re like ‘Why’s this dude always mad?’ Because somebody has their camera and sticks it in my face and I’m like, ‘Okay, here we go.’”
Affleck “has spawned dozens of sad, confused, and angry memes with his expressive face over the years,” Entertainment Weekly reports. And, the outlet adds, the frustration around having his photograph taken “is taken to another level when Affleck is photographed with his children present” (Affleck shares three kids, Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, and two stepkids, Max and Emme, with wife Jennifer Lopez).
“Actually, what I’d like to do is much more definitive than just look at you like this,” Affleck said. “I don’t mind, you can take my picture as a club or a premiere, with my wife, I don’t give a fuck. Knock yourself out. I don’t notice you. But with my children, that’s a different thing.”
And, Affleck admitted, even if he wasn’t a famous actor on his own or one-half of one of the most famous couples in the world, his often-angry expression is just kind of how his face looks sometimes, he said. “By the way, I also might be somebody who I do find myself—I’ll be sitting at home, and they’re like, ‘What’s wrong?’” he said. “‘Nothing. Nothing’s wrong.’ I’m like, ‘Nothing. I’m listening to this thing.’ I start thinking, is something wrong?”
Whether at home or being photographed by paparazzi, Affleck said his face doesn’t always match how he’s feeling at the time: “People are projecting something onto me that I don’t feel about myself at all,” he said.
After Hart suggested that Affleck may have what is colloquially known as “resting bitch face,” Affleck shot that down quickly: “Bitch?!” he said with mock outrage. “Now, now. I have resting hard face.”
Well, folks, there you have it. It’s RHF now.