Ben Affleck warns against handouts, joining Marie Osmond and Gordon Ramsay with tough love parenting
Ben Affleck is teaching his children that they shouldn't expect any handouts from their famous father.
Last month, the 52-year-old actor made headlines after he and his son, Samuel, were featured in a viral video during which he shut down the 13-year-old's request for a $6,000 pair of Dior Air Force 1s.
During a Tuesday appearance on "Today with Jenna & Friends," "The Accountant" star spoke out about his exchange with Samuel and opened up about his approach to parenting.
"He wanted these sneakers, and I was like, 'These sneakers are $6,000, what are you talking about? What are you going to do: mow lawns? You got $6,000?'" Affleck quipped. "He was like, 'We have the money.' I was like, 'I have the money! You're broke.'"
Affleck said it's important for his children to understand the value of hard work.
BEN AFFLECK SHUTS DOWN TEENAGE SON'S REQUEST FOR $6K SHOES: 'I HAVE THE MONEY, YOU’RE BROKE'
"You love your kids. You want to give them everything and do everything for them, but I think you definitely do them a disservice by not connecting [if] you want something that you want, you have to work for that," he said.
The Oscar-winner shares Samuel with his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, along with two older kids.
Affleck revealed that Violet, who is a freshman at Yale University, and high school student, Fin, are both already gainfully employed.
"My oldest two have jobs. In fact, one just got a job, the kind of classic teenager working a shop job; I won't say what it is," he said. "My older one in college is working and trying to get an internship for the summer."
"And yeah, my son, who's 13, he's reckoning with that reality right now. He's looking at no shoes in his closet. Well, he's got shoes, just no crazy-expensive, fancy shoes," Affleck continued.
"And I'm like, ‘Well, if you want that, you can work 1,000 hours,’" he added. "You know what I mean? Minimum wage. And once you work 1,000 hours, you may not want to spend that on a pair of shoes."
In the original video that was shared on March 3, Affleck and Samuel could be seen browsing various pairs of shoes at a sneaker convention, where Samuel spotted the Dior shoes. Upon seeing the hefty price tag, Affleck told his son, "That's a lot of lawns you got to mow there."
Affleck previously addressed the clip during an interview with Access Hollywood at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.
"That's what happens when you tell a mother------ they have to mow a lawn," he told the outlet at the premiere of his movie "The Accountant 2." "All of a sudden, they don't want those shoes, and he was like, 'But I always said they were tough.' I'm like, 'Man, you do not need $1,000 shoes.'"
Affleck was raised in a middle-class family in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The actor's mother, Christopher "Chris" Anne Boldt, is a former elementary schoolteacher who received her master's degree from Harvard.
Affleck's father, Timothy Affleck, who struggled with alcoholism for years, did not attend college and held a variety of jobs, including working as an auto mechanic, bartender and janitor at Harvard.
Timothy and Chris Anne, who also share son Casey Affleck, 49, divorced when Affleck was 12. After moving to California, Timothy eventually embraced sobriety and worked as an addiction counselor.
During a 2018 interview with Grazia Daily, Timothy told the outlet that he was proud of Ben and Casey for staying humble after rising to fame.
"Both of my sons are hard workers. They have a tremendous amount of empathy, they don’t forget where they came from, they’re very kind and generous. Those are the qualities that I value," he said.
Affleck is among several stars who have spoken out about their tough-love parenting style. Here's a look at other celebrities who are teaching their children to become financially independent.
Marie Osmond made headlines in February 2020 when she revealed on an episode of "The Talk" that she doesn't plan to leave her eight children an inheritance.
The 65-year-old entertainer echoed Affleck's words, saying it would be "a great disservice" to her children if she were to "hand them a fortune."
"You take away the one most important gift you can give your children, and that’s the ability to work," she explained.
Osmond continued, "You see it a lot in rich families where the kids, they don’t know what to do, and so they get in trouble. Let them be proud of what they make. I’m going to give mine to my charity."
The "Paper Roses" singer doubled down on her stance in a January 2023 interview with Us Weekly.
"Honestly, why would you enable your child to not try to be something? I don’t know anybody who becomes anything if they’re just handed money," Osmond said. "To me, the greatest gift you can give your child is a passion to search out who they are inside and to work. I mean, I’ve done so many things, from designing dolls [and much more]. I love trying [and] I want to try everything. I’m a finisher."
Osmond shared her view that leaving her children an inheritance will just "breed laziness and entitlement."
"I worked hard, and I’m going to spend it all and have fun with my husband," she said.
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Osmond clarified that she would lend her children a helping hand if they needed it, but she emphasized that it was important to her that they learn to be self-reliant.
"I don’t not help my children," she told Us Weekly. "I mean, [if] they need help [buying] a car or something, [I will pitch in]."
"I love them to learn. You don’t love something if you don’t earn it. And so, even when they get their first car, you pay for half of it, get a job and learn that self-worth that [it] gives you," Osmond added.
Osmond shares son Stephen Jr. with her husband, Stephen Craig Sr. The singer and her ex-husband, Brian Blosil, are parents to seven children: Rachael, Jessica, Michael, Brandon, Brianna, Matthew and Abigail.
Gordon Ramsay previously expressed his disinterest in giving his kids a free ride.
During a 2024 appearance on the show "Last Meals," the 58-year-old celebrity chef shared that his children received "a couple hundred dollars" allowance every month.
"If they save that up across the 12-month period, I would match that at Christmas for them," he explained.
"They got to stay true to their form by saving every dollar. And so when you start that practice – at sort of 10, 11, 12, 13, they got their part-time jobs – all of a sudden their minds are focused about their career paths," Ramsay said. "And so, yeah, that was the opposite way that I grew up. They are super-disciplined, and they are on it, man."
Ramsay shares six children with wife Tana Ramsay.
In a 2017 interview with the Telegraph, Ramsay revealed that he does not plan to leave his fortune to his children.
"It’s definitely not going to them, and that’s not in a mean way; it’s to not spoil them," he said. "The only thing I’ve agreed with Tana is that they get a 25% deposit on a flat, but not the whole flat."
Ramsay continued, "I’ve never been really turned on about the money. That’s not my No. 1 objective, and that’s reflected in the way the kids are brought up."
In addition, the "Hell's Kitchen" star shared that his children don't sit in first class with himself and Tana on family holidays since they "haven’t worked hard enough" to afford it yet.
He said, "I turn left with Tana, and they turn right, and I say to the chief stewardess, ‘Make sure those little f------ don’t come anywhere near us; I want to sleep on this plane.’ I worked my f--king a-- off to sit that close to the pilot, and you appreciate it more when you’ve grafted for it."
Guy Fieri has made it clear his children will not be handed anything, unless they have worked for it.
The 57-year-old TV host shares sons Hunter and Ryder with his wife, Lori Fieri.
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"I've told them the same thing my dad told me. My dad says, 'When I die, you can expect that I'm going to die broke, and you're going to be paying for the funeral,'" the "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" star said during a December 2023 interview with Fox News Digital.
"And I told my boys, none of this that we've been – that I've been building are you going to get unless you come and take it from me," he added.
Fieri explained that he does not plan to leave his children an inheritance unless they graduate from college and get a postgraduate degree, a stipulation that he said Ryder thinks is "unfair."
The restaurateur added that Ryder also initially found his dad's choice for his first car to be unfair.
"Held the key up, and I go, ‘Here you go, son.’ Smiling ear to ear, pushes the button, and the alarm goes off on my parents' 1994 champagne Chrysler minivan," Fieri recalled. "Because I bought my mom a new car that day, and they took their van from them. And he's like, "No way, no way, I'm not driving the minivan. … Took him about a week, he softened up and then, then he loved the minivan. He was the coolest guy cruising that."
His older son, Hunter, is pursuing a master's degree at the University of Miami. He also has his own contract with Food Network and is one of the top sales representatives at Fieri's wine brand, Hunt & Ryde.
When speaking about Hunter, Fieri told Fox News Digital, "I think the kid's going to explode."
Fox News Digital's Lori Bashian contributed to this report.