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Violet Affleck took the stage at the United Nations (U.N.) to demand clean air and as her father, Hollywood star Ben Affleck, wrestles with his smoking habit.
Wearing a KN95 mask, the 19-year-old Yale freshman addressed the “Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action” panel Tuesday in New York.
Over four minutes, Violet urged governments to bring back mask mandates, invest in clean-air infrastructure, and 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, so that tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it,” Violet warned delegates.
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But one expert with prior connections to Violet’s famous father suggested her clean-air push could be complicated by his smoking.
“Violet will never be happy with the air, and she’s a very sensitive girl,” Rocky Rosen, a Los Angeles stop-smoking trainer, told Fox News Digital. “She wants clean air, but also wants dad to be healthy. Violet feels powerless over her father getting off cigarettes.”
Violet is the eldest daughter of Affleck, 53, and his ex-wife, actress Jennifer Garner, 53. The couple, who divorced in 2018 after more than a decade together, also share Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12.
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Affleck has reportedly wrestled with nicotine addiction for decades, even as Violet campaigns for healthier air.
He’s been photographed smoking in public, including one instance where he pulled down his mask at the height of the pandemic just to light up.
“Smokers like Ben are afraid of two things. He’s probably afraid he can’t stop. He’s probably afraid that he will stop,” Rosen said. “Ben’s very environmentally concerned but, as far as the cigarettes, they just have control over him.”
Rosen emphasized the actor does try to be careful around others.
“Her dad doesn’t smoke near her. I’m sure, as in the pictures you’ll see of him smoking, he’s by himself. So he’s considerate about the air around him when he’s smoking and doesn’t want anybody exposed to his secondhand smoke,” he added.
Fox News Digital has reached out to the Affleck family for comment.
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