It’s Real! Ben Affleck Goes Shirtless and Shows Off Massive Back Tattoo After Claiming It Was Fake
March 17, 2018Almost two years after claiming his massive back tattoo was fake and something he only got “for a movie,” Ben Affleck was spotted showing off the ink while shirtless in Hawaii.
Affleck, 45, was photographed during a training session alongside Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund as the costars prepared for their upcoming film Triple Frontier.
The back piece, which is a full color picture of a phoenix taking flight, completely takes up Affleck’s back.
Ben Affleck
BACKGRID
Ben Affleck
BACKGRID
RELATED: Ben Affleck Says His Massive Back Tattoo is ‘Fake For a Movie’
Although the public got its first glimpse of Affleck’s tattoo in the summer of 2015, shortly after the actor and Jennifer Garner announced their split, it wasn’t seen in full until December of that year while the actor was filming Live by Night.
Garrett Hedlund and Charlie Hunnam
TID/BACKGRID
While at the time PEOPLE reported the inking was the real deal, in March 2016 Affleck claimed it was just a temporary thing.
“[It’s] fake for a movie,” Affleck told Extra’s Mario Lopez. “I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to have them in places where you don’t have to do a lot of cover up they get sort of addictive, tattoos, after awhile.”
RELATED VIDEO: Jennifer Garner Breaks Silence About Ben Affleck Split and Alleged Nanny Affair
But while Affleck may have gone on the record about how the tattoo wasn’t real, that didn’t stop his exes from speaking out about the inking.
In a 2016 interview with Vanity Fair, Garner hinted she wasn’t the biggest fan of her ex’s back tattoo.
“You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart,’ ” she told the publication.
David Fisher/Rex USA
“A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage,” she said. “I refuse to be the ashes.”
Putting the matter even more bluntly, Jennifer Lopez — who was previously engaged to the actor — actually said the tattoo was “awful.”
RELATED: Jennifer Lopez on Ex Ben Affleck’s Massive Phoenix Back Tattoo: ‘It’s Awful!’
“It’s awful! What are you doing?” Lopez told Andy Cohen during the “Plead the Fifth” segment on Watch What Happens Live.
“His tattoos always have too many colors, they shouldn’t be so colorful. They should be cooler,” she added.
Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
The Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star also has a dolphin on his right hip covering up the name of his high school sweetheart, and has been seen with barbed wire across his right bicep, a large design featuring a fish and a skull and crossbones on his right arm and some initials inscribed on his shoulder blade.