Weird Things About Ben Affleck And Matt Damon's Friendship We Just Can't Ignore

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's bromance has outlasted most Hollywood marriages — including Affleck's own. These two have been each other's ride-or-dies for as long as anyone — including them — can remember, and at this rate, they'll probably be BFFs well into their retirement years. But for all the friendship goals moments they've given us, there are some undeniably weird things about their relationship that we just can't ignore.

Affleck and Damon's friendship dates back to their childhood in Massachusetts, where their moms basically set up the ultimate playdate. From that moment on, they were inseparable. Lucky for them, they also shared a passion for acting, with Affleck crediting Damon for pushing him to take it seriously. "Before Matt, I was by myself. ... And no one understood it," he told Parade. "All of a sudden I had this friend, Matt, and he gets it and wants to do it and thinks it's interesting and wants to talk about it. Soon both of us are doing it." And as we all know, they didn't just do it — they won an Oscar for writing "Good Will Hunting," cementing themselves as one of Hollywood's most iconic film duos. Even now, they remain as tight as ever, though Damon admits he wishes their friendship wasn't so public. "It's way too important a friendship for that, and it goes so beyond this career or anything," he shared with GQ. "You know, it's a significant part of my life and not for public consumption in that way."

At this point, their bond is unshakable — they even run a production company together. But while their friendship is admirable, it's also quite unconventional. From sharing a bank account to defending that tattoo, Affleck and Damon's bond is built different.

It's totally normal for couples to share a bank account to manage expenses. But friends? That's a little unhinged. In a world where Venmo and Cash App exist (granted, they weren't available in the 1980s), Ben Affleck and Matt Damon decided to go full joint finances back when they were just struggling actors, pooling every penny into one account like a couple trying to keep the lights on.

Speaking on "The Bill Simmons Podcast," the duo acknowledged that their setup was "a weird thing in retrospect," but at the time, it was a survival tactic. "It was unusual, but we needed the money for auditions," Damon recalled. "As long as one of us had money, we knew that the power wasn't going to get shut off." Every paycheck from small gigs went into their communal fund — a system that, shockingly, worked. "I remember after doing 'Geronimo,' I was like, f***, I probably had like 35 grand or something in the bank. ... I was like [to Affleck], 'We're good! We're good for a year!'"

Of course, even best friends need ground rules. They agreed each could withdraw $10 and some change for arcade games — later, for beer — though Damon admitted that plan "never f***ing worked." And somehow, the shared account didn't lead to disaster. In fact, Affleck credits it with strengthening their bond. "I think that attitude really helped us in ways we couldn't anticipate," he said. "Matt and I always felt like, we're in it together. Like, 'Hey, I want to get the part, but I want you to get the part [too]." And now? They're Oscar-winning, A-list actors who once had a joint checking account to split quarters for "Street Fighter." Life comes at you fast.

Not only did Ben Affleck and Matt Damon share a bank account, but they also shared a roof — because of course they did. And while that might sound like the ultimate bestie dream, Ben would like to make one thing very clear: Damon was a nightmare roommate, as he was a total slob.

"Matt's a beautiful guy. I love him. He's my best friend. He's been great to me my whole life. He's a brilliant guy. I would not suggest living with him," Ben said in a "Late Night With James Corden" appearance. As it turns out, Damon treated their home like a landfill, and when it came to paying bills, Affleck claims the responsibility fell entirely on him. "Matt's never paid a bill to this day, that I know of. We're like, 'Why are — the lights aren't working.' I would guess because the utility company needs money to continue to fund our electricity."

Ben and his brother Casey Affleck, who was also living with the two friends, even tried an experiment: after years of cleaning up after Damon, they stopped. No tidying, no chores, just to see if Ben's bestie would take the hint — but the result didn't turn out the way he expected. "Came home one day, me and [Casey], [and] Matt's there in his shorts and his T-shirt playing the '92 Sega hockey game in the middle of what was the living room, just surrounded by concentric circles of garbage," he recalled. "Pizza boxes ... I look down at this sushi thing that was a week and a half old, and there's maggots. And we were like, 'We submit. We submit. You are too good. We cannot beat you.' He just was like, 'Hey what's going on fellas?' [We said,] 'That's a rat on you!'" Yikes!

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's friendship is the kind Hollywood just doesn't see — especially between two male actors. And so naturally, that meant years of gay rumors. Never mind that Affleck has been married multiple times or that Damon has been married to Luciana Barroso since 2005. The speculation persisted, and according to Damon, it got under their skin more than they expected.

"When Ben and I first came on the scene there were rumors that we were gay because it was two guys who wrote a script together," he shared with The Guardian. "I know. It's just like any piece of gossip ... and it put us in a weird position of having to answer, you know what I mean? Which was then really deeply offensive." He was caught between denying the rumors and not wanting to imply that being gay was some sort of insult. "I remember thinking and saying, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy — more handsome than anybody, a classically trained actor — it's tough to make the argument that he didn't take a hit for being out."

Affleck, on the other hand, thought the whole thing was totally bonkers — especially after an acquaintance of his ex Gwyneth Paltrow confidently claimed to have "proof" he'd slept with men. "If you know me, that is the one thing that is outside the parameters of what's believable, and so I was kind of off the hook,'" he told Talk Magazine in 2000. "I'm sure this guy really did hear it from somebody who heard it from someone who made it up. They said that about Brad Pitt, they said that about Leonardo DiCaprio — they said it about me and Matt! [laughs] I felt like we were in good company."

Matt Damon isn't just Ben Affleck's best friend — he's practically an unpaid relationship consultant. From Affleck's marriages to his high-profile romances, Damon has always had opinions — and not all of them have been flattering. In fact, he's reportedly not a fan of either Jennifer, at least not historically.

When it came to Jennifer Garner, Damon apparently saw trouble brewing way before the whole nanny scandal with Christine Ouzounian. "Matt believes Ben's marriage was in shambles way before the nanny, there was too much anger there," an insider told OK! "[If Garner had] just loosened up a bit, things would have been different." Damon, though, purportedly knew better than to urge his friend to divorce Garner, but he was convinced that "Ben [would] be happier with another woman."

Then there's Jennifer Lopez, who Damon was reportedly never on board with — not the first time, and not during Bennifer 2.0. Rumor has it their past disagreements over J.Lo even led to a fallout between the two, and when Affleck reunited with Lopez years later, Damon supposedly still wasn't thrilled. "Matt's had serious reservations about Bennifer 2.0 since the beginning. He's tried to be publicly supportive for Ben's sake, but the fact is he hates the way J.Lo treats his buddy and can no longer hold his tongue!" a source dished to OK!, noting that Damon wasn't hesitant to let Affleck have it. "Matt can't keep quiet, even if it means alienating Ben. Seeing his pal out there posing on one red carpet after another, totally playing up this role as J.Lo's arm candy, makes Matt nauseous. He can't stand to see her emasculate Ben."

Of all the bizarre things about Ben Affleck and Matt Damon's friendship, perhaps the strangest is their collective tolerance for the god-awful phoenix tattoo sprawled across Affleck's back. Sure, it's Affleck's mistake for getting it in the first place — but it's Damon's for defending it.

For the uninitiated, Affleck sports a massive, full-back tattoo of a phoenix rising from the ashes — a design so heinous it's been meme'd to oblivion and become one of Affleck's most controversial moments. When the internet first caught wind of it, Affleck denied its existence, insisting it was just for a film. But Damon? He fully backed his bestie's artistic, err, choices. "It's not one man's job to tell another man what he can do to his back. I support him in all of his artistic expression," he said on "The Daily Show with Trevor Noah" (via E! News). Bold words for something even Jennifer Lopez couldn't pretend to like.

Affleck, for his part, insists there's deep meaning behind the ink, so maybe everyone should just chill. "I like it. It's not something that I sort of kept private. It wasn't like I was doing photo shoots or whatever," he said in a "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" appearance. "We were two hours north of the city, on some island in Hawaii, and we didn't know the paparazzi was there.  So, they got a picture of my tattoo, and, yeah, the sentiment ran against [it]. ... I love my tattoo. I'm very happy with it. Luckily, I'm the one who has it." Well, as long as he's happy. Because the rest of us are just relieved it's on his back and not ours.