It's A Vibe

Ben Affleck is really out here representing tired moms everywhere.
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A New Ben Affleck Meme Just Dropped & It’s Giving “Exhausted Parent”

The picture is old, but the vibe is eternal.

by Jen McGuire
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

Ben Affleck is a man of many faces. Just kidding, he’s a man of one face: exhausted, over it, just trying to get a cup of coffee in him so he can get on with his day. And a recently resurfaced photo of Boston’s own Affleck helping himself to a cup of Starbucks, not Dunkin’ coffee (gasp!), has reminded us that this deeply New England man has become the poster child for exhausted moms everywhere.

The photo is the latest to go viral, though it’s not new (it’s from 2018). A lot has happened in Affleck’s life since then. Still, the image prompted “concerns” from some on social media. Of course, some were positively scandalized to see Affleck with a Starbucks cup. Whither the Dunkin’ cup? Has Matt Damon’s bestie forgotten his Massachusetts roots? (His MassaROOTSus? Is this something?) He’s so consistently linked to his hometown’s favorite donut chain Dunkin’ for so long, even starring in several truly delightful commercials for the brand, people had questions when they saw him drinking Starbucks.

“Ben Affleck seen for the first time without Dunkin cup, trouble in paradise?” jokes twitter user @MediumSizeMeech. “Could the long term relationship be on the rocks? Maybe Dunkin isn’t ‘getting him up’ like it used to. More on this at 10.”

Others questioned if it was really Ben Affleck. He certainly has all of the recognizable traits of being Ben Affleck. The sculpted jaw, the mussed hair, and the cozy fleece and plaid shirt of a real New England boy. But most importantly, the hand rubbing his tired eyes as he grips his cup of coffee like a lifeline.

It’s not AI, friends: This is Ben Affleck, the eternal muse for exhausted moms everywhere.

By all accounts, the Argo actor is living his absolute best life as Jennifer Lopez’s beloved husband and dad to 17-year-old daughter Violet, 13-year-old daughter Seraphina, and 11-year-old son Samuel. Like so many of us exhausted parents, a snapshot from our day does not define the way we feel about our lives. And yet, this snapshot of Ben Affleck’s day — the latest to go viral if not the latest chronologically, as it’s from 2018 — does, indeed, feel incredibly familiar to us. Not simply because we’ve seen him here before, carrying coffee and looking as though he would like nothing better than to crawl back into bed. But because *generally gestures in the direction of Affleck*, it’s like a Mom Mirror.

The great thing about all of Affleck’s many, many exhausted memes is that people are really just delighted by them. No judgment coming from us for our tired king. Without trying to, the Oscar winner has managed to become a vibe we all embrace and accept as true and real and, OK, yes, even lovable.

At this point, we sort of don’t care what brand of coffee Ben Affleck is drinking. We just want him to curl up for a lovely little nap and take care of himself. And lay that cardigan flat to dry otherwise it will lose its shape.

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