Violet Affleck dons mask as she enjoys NYC trip with dad Ben three months after bravely advocating for mask mandates at UN

Violet Affleck donned a mask as she stepped out in New York City on Monday.

The 20-year-old daughter of Hollywood A-listers Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, both 53, was pictured departing The Whitby Hotel with her famous father. 

Violet – whose younger siblings are Fin, 16, (formerly known as Seraphina), 16, and  Samuel, 13 – kept warm in a black coat over a pink top with multicolored blue jeans and a backpack with a pink bag charm clipped to it. 

The Ivy Leaguer, who is wrapping up her first year as a student at Yale’s Davenport College, wore black-and-white sneakers with clear framed glasses with her hair parted on the outing.

Her father Ben donned a blue coat over a button-up navy blue shirt with denim blue jeans and brown boots. 

Ben who reunites with longtime friend and collaborator Matt Damon, 55, in the Netflix’s The Rip, made a joint appearance on The Howard Stern show on SiriusXM to promote the upcoming cop drama.  

In the appearance Monday – which marked Stern’s 72nd birthday – Damon said that he’s been a steady presence at Affleck’s side amid personal struggles including multiple divorces and stints in rehab to deal with alcohol-related issues

‘I was there for all of it,’ said Damon. ‘Our relationship isn’t affected by what people are saying.’

Affleck replied, ‘That means a lot to me – that’s sort of what a real friend is.’

Violet was seen in the Big Apple less than four months after she made headlines appearing before the United Nations in New York City to speak about the importance of masks and other preventative devices in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Violet appeared as part of a September 23, 2025 event titled Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action.

Violet said that it was essential to remain wearing masks to curb the spread of Covid.

‘It is neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, “We knew how to protect you, and we didn’t do it,”‘ Violet said.

Violet said that the current generation was showing an alarming lack of responsibility in going back to business as usual, five years after the virus forced everyone indoors for months.

‘For adults, the relentless beat of “back to normal,” ignoring, downplaying, and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of long Covid manifested in a series of choices,’ Violet told attendees. 

The teenager made headlines last year when she demanded the imposition of ‘mask mandates’ in medical facilities, citing her experience of contracting ‘a post-viral condition’ in 2019. 

In paparazzi photos, the eldest daughter of the Tinseltown staples has often been pictured wearing a mask at events with her family – even if she has been the only one to do so. 

The young activist uses fashion to express her political beliefs. Last year, she was photographed wearing a mask and a black sweater adorned with a watermelon – sending a message of solidarity with Palestine. 

The viral snap sparked a surge in demand for the shirt, made by a Chicago clothing company Wear the Peace, causing the company to have to hire extra staff.

A few months later, she was caught wearing a pink summer dress with a mask on, carrying a copy of The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide by Steven W. Thrasher. 

The book examines global health inequality, in particular looking at ‘the racialisation, policing, and criminalisation of HIV.’

In 2022, Violet and her mother made a glamorous appearance at the White House for a state dinner – hosted by Joe and Jill Biden – for the visiting President Emmanuel Macron. 

Violet has also used fashion to take a stand against her father’s divorce from his then-wife Jennifer Lopez. 

In summer last year, she was spotted wearing a Dolce and Gabbana dress that her famous stepmother, 56, wore on a Valentine’s Day date with Ben just months before their short-lived marriage crumbled.

The teen reportedly got extremely close to the On the Floor singer, holidaying with her in the Hamptons even after her father’s estrangement from the star. 

Delivering her impassioned speech at the UN, Violet added that ‘our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.’

She said that young people have ‘lacked both real choice in the matter and information about what was being chosen for us.’

The Yale student wrapped up her address to the audience saying, ‘We can recognize filtered air as a human right as intuitively as we do filtered water.

‘We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it.’

This past May, Violet authored an article published in Yale Global Health Review that was focused on Los Angeles’ organized response to COVID-19, as well as climate change.

Violet said eliminating the virus fully involves wearing masks; employers providing paid sick leave and universal healthcare to people; and taking environmental measures to keep air clean.

She also urged people to stay organized and distribute masks free of charge to people who are in need of them.

‘In the same way that COVID-conscious and disabled people celebrate each chain of transmission broken,’ Violet wrote in the piece, ‘climate scientists recognize that each degree of warming we avoid will be a victory.

‘It’s time for everyone who cares about the latter to engage with the people, the methods, and the political commitments that make the former possible.’

Violet last year spoke in front of the LA County Board of Supervisors in an effort ‘to confront the long COVID crisis’ with demands on how to restructure things moving forward.

‘I demand mask availability, air filtration and Far-UVC light in government facilitates, including jails and detention centers, and mask mandates in county medical faculties,’ Violet told the board.

In the July 2024 meeting, Violet said that laws to suppress mandatory mask wearing causes ‘vulnerable members of our community’ to be ‘less safe’ and makes ‘everyone less able to participate in Los Angeles together.’ 

She added: ‘It stands to exacerbate our homelessness crisis, as well as the suffering of many people in our city. It hits communities of color, disabled people, elderly people, trans people, women and anyone in a public facing essential job the hardest.’ 

Violet also called on public officials to invest resources in Personal Protective Equipment ahead of a potential future pandemic.

‘You must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment, and most importantly the county must oppose mask bans for any reason,’ Violet said. ‘They do not keep us safer.’