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Before Hollywood fame, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon had each other’s backs—literally. They shared a bank account as teenagers. It wasn’t for a crazy shopping spree or a wild trip to Vegas, though. It was all about survival. The duo opened a joint checking account in the late 1980s, and it was their lifeline.
“As long as one of us had money, we knew the power wasn’t going to get shut off. After doing [1993’s] ‘Geronimo’, I probably had 35 grand in the bank. I was like ‘we’re good for a year.’” Damon laughed, reflecting on their early days on The Bill Simmons Podcast (per CNBC News).
The two had been inseparable since high school, both chasing the same dream—making it big in Hollywood. The acting world can be tough, and the gigs aren’t always steady. That’s where their bank account came in handy. The idea was simple: pool resources to fund auditions and living expenses. “[It was] a weird thing in retrospect,” Matt Damon said. They had no idea back then that their hustle would lead to an Oscar-winning screenplay.
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So, what happened when one of them landed a role? The account got a little boost. The rules were pretty clear, though. You could use the money for auditions or anything related to their big dream. For example, when Damon booked a role in Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), he had $35,000 in the bank.
But don’t think they were splurging. They were young, but they still had boundaries. They didn’t go wild with the cash. There were some hard and fast rules about how the money could be spent. “You were allowed to take out $10 and get quarters and go to [the arcade] and play video games,” Damon recalled. They even tried buying beer once, but that was a no-go.
Even with a shared bank account, they were rooting for each other. Ben Affleck summed it up perfectly: “We were going to help each other and be there for each other. It was like, ‘You’re not going to be alone. I’m not going to be alone. Let’s go out there and do this together.’”
It wasn’t always easy. Sometimes they were scraping by. But as long as one of them had a paycheck coming in, the other wasn’t left in the cold. Fast forward a few decades, and that friendship is still going strong. The bank where they had that account is long gone, but the bond they forged remains.
In a world where friendship and success often don’t mix, Ben and Matt proved that when you have someone by your side who’s got your back, whether it’s a shared bank account or a shared dream, it’s worth every penny.
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