Ben Affleck recalls ‘scary’ teenage mugging incident

Ben Affleck has recalled the terror he felt when he was mugged at knifepoint as a teenager.

During an appearance on the Street You Grew Up On podcast on Wednesday, the actor-director told host Kerry Washington about growing up on Cottage Street in a "working class" area of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

While Ben generally had fond memories, he opened up about the time he was targeted by two older boys when he was around 14.

"Well, yeah," he began. "In fact, I remember I was walking home from high school, I was 14 maybe, and I saw these two kids in like literal hoods on the other side of the street. And, you know, it's kind of one of those things where you're like, 'All right.'"

Though the Gone Girl star tried to play it cool, the young men approached him. "They pass me, grab me, take a knife out, (and say), 'Give me your money,'" Ben added.

The 54-year-old continued, "I was scared. But then out of the corner of my eye, I realised who they were. I recognised them from playing baseball and they were like older boys that I knew and they were like, 'Oh yeah, what's up?' And so, I guess I was like, 'I guess I'm off the hook.'"

Elsewhere in the conversation, Ben revealed that one of the offenders killed a person a few years later and went to prison.

"And actually, that kid who robbed me ended up, I don't know three or four years later, killing somebody with a knife and going to prison for 20 years," he mentioned. "So, there was that, you know what I mean? And you were kind of aware of it."

Ben Affleck and Kerry Washington are currently promoting their new film, Animals. The crime thriller will be released in select theatres and begin streaming via Netflix on October 9.