Over the weekend, every paparazzi lens in L.A. was turned toward Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez amid rumors the couple is heading for divorce. Between zoomed-in shots of Ben’s ring finger, the cameras also captured Violet Affleck, the 18-year-old daughter of Ben and his ex-wife, Jennifer Garner, who has developed a bit of a fan base on COVID-conscious corners of Twitter for being one of the last face-mask-wearers in Hollywood. During a heavily papped family outing on Saturday, you did not have to look that closely to notice that, along with her usual 3M respirator, Violet was toting around some pointed reading: Steven Thrasher’s The Viral Underclass, an award-winning 2022 nonfiction book about disease and inequality.
The sighting has fueled speculation that Violet — who’s about to graduate high school — deliberately brought the book with her and angled its title outward, turning a paparazzi frenzy into an opportunity to raise awareness about public-health disparities. It’s not the first time she’s drawn attention to a cause simply by standing near one of her parents. In January, the teenager was seen shopping with Garner on Rodeo Drive while wearing Wear the Peace’s “Freedom Melon” sweatshirt, a garment printed with the global emblem of Palestinian solidarity, the sales of which go toward humanitarian aid in Gaza. In fact, her closet appears to be filled with political (or political-ish) tees, including one that recasts Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign with Succession’s Shiv Roy, replacing the word “HOPE” with “POWER.”
Wherever Violet stands on Obama’s foreign policy or who should’ve become the CEO of Waystar Royco, this latest sighting has made one thing crystal clear: She’s showing concern for public health.
