Ben Affleck Reveals Why He 'Really Had A Lot Of Empathy For Britney Spears'

Ben Affleck felt empathy for Britney Spears "years and years ago" because of the relentless media attention that repeatedly violated her privacy.

During the April 24 episode of This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von, the Argo actor revealed that, having had his own experiences with paparazzi, he felt compassion for the "Toxic" hitmaker.

"A long time ago, years and years ago, I really had a lot of empathy for Britney Spears because I remember it seemed like — I mean [she’s] not someone I knew or hung out with — but just like everybody else, you see all this s*** that comes through. But having had my own experiences myself, I knew these are people who are following her around at a time where she may or may not have been having difficulty."

Affleck sympathized with Spears because he's familiar with "the cycle of having people harangue you and yell at you and hassle you and follow you." He told Von that some paparazzi try to evoke negative reactions from celebrities to make headlines and compared the exchange to "waving the stick at the tiger or poking on it or whatever and all you see is the growling animal."

"But like a part of that is because somebody’s coming around and hitting on it... to make it get active, and that’s when you think, 'Okay, this is not really news. It’s not even real.' It’s not what would be happening if this effect wasn’t taking place."

Listen to This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von on iHeartRadio for the full interview.

For more from Affleck, read Ben Affleck Credits One Friendship For Helping Him 'Stay Sane' In Hollywood.