Ben Affleck Defends Massive Phoenix Back Tattoo That ‘Represents Something Really Important’ to Him

Unbothered! Ben Affleck hasn’t been so concerned with what people are saying about him lately, but when Ellen DeGeneres brought up his massive phoenix back tattoo, the Batman star quickly came to his own defense.

“There was a photo of your back tattoo that got a lot of attention,” Ellen, 61, said to Ben, 46, during an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, March 14. “It did, not so much positive,” the Gone Girl star replied with a laugh as Ellen called it “a commitment.”

When Ben began to explain the multi-colored ink of a phoenix rising from the ashes, Ellen stepped in and said his tattoo was “rising from your a–.” Acknowledging the host’s quip, Ben added, “It’s a phoenix, rising from my a–. I was about to say it represents something really important to me, but maybe, just, we’ll skip that.”

All jokes aside, Ben gushed to Ellen about the tattoo that has received so much criticism. “It’s meaningful to me, I like it. It’s something that I sort of kept private. It wasn’t like I was sort of doing photo shoots or whatever,” he continued. “We didn’t know the paparazzi was there so they got a picture of my tattoo and yeah the sentiment ran against.” The Argo star added, “I love my tattoo. I’m very happy with it.”

Ben first began receiving criticism for the large tattoo after he told Extra TV in March 2016 that the phoenix was “fake for a movie.” However, two years later, the ink was still there. Click on the link below to see Ben defend his giant back tattoo!

.@BenAffleck’s back! I mean, he’s back on my show. He also told me about his back tattoo. https://t.co/QOb53SQOdk

— The Ellen Show (@TheEllenShow) March 14, 2019

Prior to claiming it was fake, Ben’s ex-fiancée Jennifer Lopez opened up at the time about her opinion of the daring ink. “It’s awful!” the recently engaged star, who ended things with Ben in January 2004 after calling off their September 2003 wedding, admitted to Watch What Happens: Live! host Andy Cohen in March 2016.

“And I would tell him that. What are you doing?” she continued. “It has too many colors! His tattoos always have too many colors. They shouldn’t be so colorful, you know what I mean? They should be, like, cooler.” Either way, Ben’s opinion is the only one that matters!\