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CLAIM: Ben Affleck’s “Badboy Past” Was Reason He Did Not Make U.S. Senate Run

Truth rating: 1

5:38 pm, January 10th, 2013

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“Ben Affleck feared dirty politics would expose his own dirty laundry — and that’s the real reason he’s decided not to run for the U.S. Senate,” insiders tell the National Enquirer.

What?

According to the magazine, the politically active, Massachusetts-bred actor was “highly touted” to run to take John Kerry’s seat, but “Ben’s worried his badboy past and wild lifestyle will be dredged up — alcohol abuse that forced him into rehab, illegal underground poker games, and a highly publicized drug, booze and sex orgy with strippers!”

Meaning the wild past Affleck openly discusses in interviews?

The Enquirer claims the Argo star-director has “carefully crafted a new straight-arrow image and will shelve his deep passion for politics to shield his children from seeing Daddy dragged through the mud bath.”

Um, that’s one bizarre interpretation.

Still, the Enquirer got to use the words it wanted to, like “orgy” and “strippers.”

But the more accurate story is that Affleck was briefly rumored to be open to a Senate run, but quickly put those reports to rest, ending the speculation himself by saying he’d continue to spend time working on issues that matter to him as a private citizen and making movies to “foster discussion.”

Affleck has a thriving Hollywood career, a stable family life, and has never expressed as much interest in running for office as the press has expressed on his behalf.

It’s very easy for the Enquirer to claim, retroactively, that Affleck’s “badboy past” led him away from a Senate run, but it’s simply not the case.

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