Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Ben Affleck is more determined to make the most of life after his and his brother Casey Affleck’s parents died within two months of each other.
The actors lost Chris on June 2 at the age of 83, and Casey, 51, later revealed at the Venice International Film Festival in September that Timothy had passed away in April at the age of 76, while sharing that he had dedicated his film Company to them.
In an interview with GQ, Ben, 54, said: “It’s a big year of life. My brother and I, our parents died just two months apart, beginning of April and June.
“That’s a lot, man.
“And it just brings up all these – I mean, your childhood, how you were raised, you see things differently, you appreciate your parents in different ways, and you think about your own mortality and your own life and your own children and what you want to do with it.
“And the bare fact of the very fleeting nature of all of our lives kind of stares you back in the face. And you realise, yeah, we only get so much time.”
The Good Will Hunting star has a different perspective on grief, life, and appreciating the people around him, following the deaths of former public school teacher Chris and aspiring playwright Timothy, who divorced in 1984.
Ben explained: “Often the end of life isn’t full of wisdom and resolve. Stuff you haven’t fixed in life stays unfixed.
“And in the case of my mom, she was pretty extraordinary and brave. I mean, she’s an amazing woman, and her death really did cause me to even more deeply and fully appreciate her and her life.
“But yeah, you face that stuff and it makes you think, ‘OK, how do I want to spend the rest of this time? Because you realise there’s not all that much of it.'”
Also in the interview, The Rip entertainer admitted he “had a complicated relationship” with Timothy, noting it was “not a very close one for the last few years of his life”.
Ben understands that while losing a parent is heartbreaking, it is ultimately a part of life.
The Animals director-and-cast member said: “It is horrible, but it’s not tragic. You think it’d be really sad and not a tragedy. That was an interesting thing. This is normal. I certainly don’t want to outlive my children. That would be the worst thing I could imagine.
“So this is the way it’s supposed to go, but it’s still really sad for me.”
