You might remember recently seeing a series of very telling images of Matt Damon and Jennifer Lopez at the premiere of their upcoming film Unstoppable.
J.Lo is starring in the movie, which was produced by Damon and Ben Affleck's production company Artists Equity.
However, Matt Damon's bestie Ben, was nowhere to be seen. Why? Well it's safe to assume it's because he and J.Lo have publicly confirmed their impending divorce.
The world has now seen photos of both Damon and J.Lo sitting very closely together, hand-in-hand. Every woman knows exactly what is happening in those images because every woman who has gone through a breakup has experienced this situation at least once in their life.
Matt Damon was clearly apologising to J.Lo on behalf of his friend Ben Affleck because the minute Matt Damon became friends with Ben, he took on another very important role. A role that he will be playing for the rest of his life, a role that is probably the most deserving of an Academy Award that he will unfortunately never get for it.
In these photos, Matt Damon is playing the role of 'The apologetic best friend.' And by looking at them, I can tell that he's playing it well.
He has the face of a man who has had a certain speech prepared, rehearsed and has performed it multiple times. The speech is for every person who has gone through a breakup with his best friend. I can bet you that this has at least been the third time he's said this speech. The first being Jennifer (after round one), the second being Jennifer (the other one, Garner) and the third being Jennifer (again).
The role of the apologetic best friend is to console and acknowledge the feelings of the exes of best friend's past. For example, Matt's speech would've gone something like this…
"I'm sorry that he always does this, I've tried to tell him, you know I've tried to tell him. Even after the first time and the other Jen, he just doesn't listen. And you know what? I know exactly where it all went wrong— 2015 when he got that back tattoo, there was no coming back from that.
Jen, you know me," he would have continued. "You know how much I love you but Ben's my guy, I can't just leave him outside in the cold, he needs me and I promise you I will tell him he's wrong, I'll tell him that he needs to get his act together the way he got his act together when he filmed Argo, NOT the way he got his act together when he filmed Batman Vs Superman.
No one wants Batman. I can tell him these things Jen, but whether he listens or not is out of my hands… You know what I mean, we've both watched Gone Girl.
I'm sorry this happened, and although sad divorce Ben might be around for a while, I can tell you right now that you coming here to talk to me has made me happy- married Matt."
And then J.Lo would have replied… "Thanks so much Matt, Ben is lucky to have a friend like you."
Listen to the author talk about the apologetic best friend on The Spill podcast. Post continues below.
The apologetic best friend is a person who finds their best friend early on. Maybe as children, maybe in their 20s or even 30s. They've spent so much time in each other's lives that their best friend is basically their person. And regardless of what happens, they can never leave their person.
Because of this, even if they are on completely different life trajectories, especially when it comes to their approach to relationships, they will always remain besties. This is how the apologetic best friend gets created.
They're there to tell not just the exes but everyone who knows about their friendship "Hey, sorry about my friend, I'm in their life to sort them out and look how great of a person I am. So, no need to stress, I've got this under control."
Matt Damon isn't the only Hollywood apologetic best friend currently on duty. Other apologetic best friends include George Clooney to Brad Pitt, Kate Winslet to Leonardo DiCaprio and Jimmy Fallon to Justin Timberlake.
Some commonalities amongst the apologetic best friends are that they're usually apologising for these men and these men are also seen as slightly problematic or have made some problematic choices. Their best friend acts as a "shield" to protect them and convince the world that there's nothing wrong with their best friend, that's just who they (unfortunately) are and always have been.
Are you an apologetic best friend? Tell us in the comments.
If you want more pop culture opinions from Emily Vernem, follow her on Instagram @emilyvernem or listen to her every weekday on The Spill Podcast.
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