Ben Affleck reveals he was robbed at knifepoint at 14 by a future killer

Ben Affleck shared a striking story from his childhood in Cambridge, Massachusetts, revealing he was robbed at knifepoint as a teenager by an attacker who would go on to commit a far more serious crime years later.

Speaking on Kerry Washington's Street You Grew Up On podcast on September 30, Affleck recalled growing up on Cottage Street in what he described as a "working class" neighbourhood, where "poor people sort of like, feeling like they were fighting it out" was a common dynamic.

Affleck described watching two kids approach him and initially considering running, but instead trying to appear unbothered. 

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"They pass me, grab me, take a knife out, [and say] 'Give me your money,'" he recalled. 

"I was scared," he admitted, "but then out of the corner of my eye, I realized who they were." 

Reflecting on what happened to his attacker afterward, Affleck said, "And actually, that kid who robbed me ended up, I don't know three or four years later, killing somebody with a knife and going to prison for 20 years. So there was that, you know what I mean? And you were kind of aware of it."

Affleck, who shares three teenage children, Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14, with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, has spoken in other recent interviews about the experience of parenting teens, including how his own kids have playfully teased him about his dating history.

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