Ben Affleck revealed that he was once held at knifepoint by two older teenagers while walking home from high school in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at age 14. The actor recounted how recognizing the attackers from playing baseball abruptly stopped the robbery, though one of the muggers later committed a fatal stabbing years afterward.
On Wednesday, September 30, 2026, Ben Affleck appeared on the premiere of Season 5 of the Street You Grew Up On podcast hosted by Kerry Washington. During the interview on Cottage Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, he detailed a frightening afternoon on his walk home from high school.
The incident began when he noticed two teenagers wearing hoods across the street.
I was scared. But then out of the corner of my eye, I realised who they were. I recognised them from playing baseball and they were like older boys that I knew and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, what’s up?
Ben Affleck, via Yahoo
Affleck admitted that he never told his mother about the mugging because he wanted to spare her the worry.
Teenage Mugging Ends in Prison
While the teenage confrontation ended safely for Affleck, the situation took a far darker turn for others in the community years later.
The actor noted that the same individual who held him at knifepoint took another person’s life with a knife just a few years afterward, leading to a prison sentence of 20 years.
“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.”
Ben Affleck, via Wealthofgeeks
Collaborating on Good Will Hunting
The conversation about his upbringing also touched on the roots of his decades-long creative collaboration with Matt Damon. That foundation eventually led to Good Will Hunting, the screenplay Damon began writing in a college class before the two developed it together.
The film debuted in 1997, earning the pair an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay in 1998.
Releasing Animals on Netflix
The podcast appearance coincided with press for Animals, a crime thriller directed by Affleck in which he stars alongside podcast host Kerry Washington. The ensemble cast also features Gillian Anderson, Steven Yeun, Adriana Paz, and Luis Gerardo Méndez.
The project brings Affleck and Washington together onscreen as the film prepares for a release in select theaters and a streaming debut on Netflix on October 9.