Chris Anne Affleck, the mother of Ben and Casey Affleck, has died at the age of 82 from pancreatic cancer.
Chris Anne’s family revealed the sad news Thursday following her passing on June 2, according to a Legacy obituary.
The matriarch of the family is survived by sons Ben, 53, and Casey, 50; and five grandkids: Indiana, 22, Violet, 20, Atticus, 18, Fin, 17, and Sam, 14.
According to her obit, she had been told by doctors she had six months to live last December, and her final wish was to see her grandson’s high school graduation.
She attended the ceremony this past May 31, and died while sleeping just two days later.
The Daily Mail has reached out to representatives for Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck for further comment on the story.
Chris Anne Affleck, the mother of Ben and Casey Affleck, has died at the age of 82 from pancreatic cancer. Pictured 2014 in LA with Ben
The actor and his mother were pictured at an Academy Awards party in 1998
Chris Anne had been born in December of 1942 in New York City. She graduated from Harvard University and taught public school for 35 years prior to her retirement in 2008.
Ben, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 about his mother, said, ‘My mother taught public school, went to Harvard and then got her master’s there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school.’
She was a staunch advocate for civil rights, and had traveled to the South in the 1960s during a time of social change, according to her obituary.
Chris Anne ‘taught literacy classes in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, marched against the Vietnam War, and reveled in 1960s counterculture,’ her obituary stated.
She carried these values into the classroom, the obit stated, as ‘every student, whether just arrived from Haiti or Cambridge upper crust, was a cherished citizen of her classroom republic, equal to each other and to herself.
Chris Anne and ex-husband Timothy Affleck welcomed Ben in 1972 and Casey in 1975.
In the mid-1970s, they moved to Massachusetts, as Chris Anne taught there.
Chris Anne and Timothy got divorced when Ben was 12-years-old, and he would move to California afterwards.
Chris Anne was seen with her son Ben and grandson Samuel in April of 2025
Chris Anne, Ben and Samuel seen in Brentwood, California in June of 2015
She encouraged her son Ben’s show business aspirations early on, introducing him to casting director Patty Collins, who had been her roommate at Harvard when she attended college, according to THR. Collins assisted a young Ben with auditions for TV films and commercials.
Chris Anne was behind Ben throughout his show business career, and went to the Academy Awards with him and Matt Damon in 1998, when they won the Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
Ben recalled to Vanity Fair in April of 2023: ‘We were sitting next to our moms and we won, and we kind of hugged our moms. I remember how everyone had made such a big thing out of it as if this was such a novelty.
‘I remember thinking, being insecure, like, “Why? Why is it weird that we’re bringing our moms?” Who else do you think we would bring?’
Chris Anne was very close with Ben’s ex-wife Jennifer Garner, and they remained friends following her son’s split from the actress. They had been spotted numerous times on outings in the years after the couple’s split.
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