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inadvertently flashed a bit of infamous ink while out in on Thursday.
after he debuted a massive, midlife crisis back tattoo of a colorful phoenix that he initially insisted was fake before admitting it was indeed real.
He also has a tattoo of a dolphin on his lower back that Page Six dubbed his 'dolphin tramp stamp' in November of 2011.
It's not often the world gets to see the tattoos, but Affleck, 53, accidentally displayed a glimpse of them while out in Santa Monica on Monday.
A hint of the rarely-seen designs were visible as Affleck bent over by a car door, his shirt riding up and jeans hanging low.
Affleck's phoenix tattoo was first glimpsed in the summer of 2015, and was unveiled in full in December.
Ben Affleck displayed his rarely-seen midlife crisis back tattoo while out in Santa Monica on Monday
The actor was clad in an off-white shirt and jeans, clothing which still managed to inadvertently show off the inking
However, Ben insisted the inking wasn't real at the time, telling Extra's Mario Lopez: '[It's] fake for a movie.
'I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to have them in places where you don't have to do a lot of cover up they get sort of addictive, tattoos, after awhile.'
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It came about that the tattoo was in fact real when he was spotted shirtless on the beach in March 2018 whilst filming new flick, Triple Frontier.
'I’m doing just fine. Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos,' he posted to X, then Twitter.
Affleck told The New York Times in February of 2020 that he lied about the tattoo because was resentful the image circulated, as 'it felt invasive.'
'I could have said "That’s none of your business,"' he said. 'I guess I got a kick out of messing with Extra. "Is your tattoo real or not real?" Of course, it’s real! No, I put a fake tattoo on my back and then hid it.'
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