Ben Affleck made it clear that his kids are going to have to get a “minimum wage” job and earn money if they want to splurge on lavish items.
The “Gone Girl” actor, who has a reported net worth of $150 million, reflected on a now-viral moment with his 13-year-old son, Samuel, in which he turned down his son’s request for a pair of $6,000 sneakers.
“He wanted these sneakers, and I was like, ‘These sneakers are $6,000, what are you talking about? What are you gonna do, mow lawns? You got $6,000?’” Ben joked on Tuesday’s episode of “Today with Jenna & Friends.”
“He was like, ‘We have the money.’ I was like, ‘I have the money! You’re broke.’”
“You love your kids. You want to give them everything and do everything for them,” Ben, 52, continued, adding that he believes “you do [kids] a disservice” by not teaching them “you have to work” for what they want.
The actor’s teenage son is now “reckoning with that reality” since his dad turned down his pricey request.
“He’s looking at no shoes in his closet. Well, he’s got shoes, just no crazy expensive fancy shoes,” Ben shared with hosts Jenna Bush Hager and Andy Cohen.
“And I’m like, ‘Well, if you want that, you can work 1,000 hours.’ You know what I mean? Minimum wage. And once you work 1,000 hours, you may not want to spend that on a pair of sneakers.”
The sneakers in question were a pair of Dior Air Jordan 1 shoes, which originally retailed for $2,000. However, the sneakers quickly became a collector’s item thus causing the shoes’ resale value to skyrocket.
The “Good Will Hunting”. star is also dad to daughter Violet, 19, and Seraphina, 16. He shares all three children with ex-wife Jennifer Garner, whom he recently spent the Easter holiday with.
When questioned by Cohen about whether his kids work, Ben revealed that his eldest kids have already started to learn the valuable money lesson and have picked up their own jobs.
“In fact, one just got a job, the kind of classic teenager working a shop job — I won’t say what it is,” he said on Tuesday’s episode.
“My older one in college is working and trying to get an internship for the summer.”
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