What is the appeal of Benana?
Affleck and de Armas are the pandemic’s only tabloid celebrities, Emily Yahr writes.
Even during a global pandemic, Ben Affleck manages to make news. This time, Affleck’s ubiquity is because of his relationship with Ana de Armas, 32, who just had her breakout year as the star of the hit movie Knives Out.
The couple has drawn a curious amount of attention since they started dating earlier this year. Their relationship went public around the time the world started to shut down, and they decided to quarantine together in Los
Angeles. Ever since, practically everything they do becomes a tabloid story.
They walk adorable dogs. Wear sweatpants. Drink excessive amounts of Dunkin’ coffee. Lock themselves out of the house. Hang out with Affleck’s kids. Kiss while wearing masks. They don’t do anything that interesting. Yet they’re oddly riveting.
“I think there a lot of people during this global health crisis looking for structure in an uncontrolled situation where there are so many question marks and so much uncertainty,” said Elaine Lui, the etalk personality who runs Laineygossip.com.
There’s also the never-ending complicated narrative of Affleck. De Armas, the next Bond girl, only recently cemented her status as a burgeoning star. But Affleck has been a Hollywood movie staple for more than 20 years, and his roller-coaster career has run parallel to his much-documented personal life. After his dreamlike Hollywood origin story, winning an Oscar for writing Good Will Hunting with his best friend Matt Damon, it’s no surprise audiences became deeply invested in his journey. The charmed Gwyneth Paltrow years. The Jennifer Lopez/bennifer era. The 10-year marriage to Jennifer Garner. The Garner divorce — all featuring flops and successes along the way.
Perhaps the failures are what makes Affleck more relatable than most stars — a wealthy celebrity brought down to earth by his many mistakes.
Lui is convinced Benana is truly in love. “I hope they have the sense of humour to be like, ‘Well, you know, if we were a source of comfort to people, great,’” Lui said. “I hope it doesn’t become a bummer, like, ‘It was so horrible that people were paying so much attention to us.’”