Ben Affleck on living with slob Matt Damon: ‘There were maggots’

He didn’t like them apples.  

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon seemed like a dream team early on in their careers, but according to Affleck, when they were roommates in their early 20s, Damon was a slob. 

During a recent appearance on “The Late Late Show With James Corden,” Affleck, 50, opened up about the time that he lived with Damon, 52, as well as his brother, Casey Affleck, 47. 

“Matt’s never paid a bill to this day, that I know of. We’re like, ‘Why are the lights not working?’ and that’s because the utility company needs money to continue to fund our electricity,” Affleck said. 

The former childhood friends made Hollywood history as the youngest Oscar winners to take home the trophy for screenwriting for their 1997 movie “Good Will Hunting.” At the time, Affleck was 25 and Damon was 27. 

Corden asked if Affleck would consider Damon to be a good roommate and Affleck replied: “Matt’s a beautiful guy. I love him. He’s my best friend. He’s been great to me my whole life. He’s a brilliant guy. I would not suggest living with him.” 

He went on to say that his longtime pal and collaborator is a good actor in part because he has the ability to focus and “block things out.”

Unfortunately, that also applied to blocking out, “The idea that when you finish with something, it has to be washed or thrown away,” Affleck said.

Affleck revealed that he and his brother Casey decided to stop cleaning up after Damon to see if that would force their then-roommate to get his act together and pull his weight in contributing to chores.

“We’re just gonna wait and see how long he will go before he actually gets up and goes, ‘God, I’m covered in garbage,’” Affleck said. 

However, that plan backfired. Affleck revealed that he and his brother came home one day to find, “Matt’s there in his shorts and his T-shirt playing the ’92 Sega hockey game in the middle of what was the living room, just surrounded by concentric circles of garbage,” he explained. “Pizza boxes … I look down at this sushi thing that was a week and a half old, and there’s maggots.”

Affleck and Damon recently reunited for their new Michael Jordan sneaker movie “Air.” 

Affleck recently told the Hollywood Reporter that he and Damon regret not collaborating even more than they already have. 

“We wished we’d kept working together more over the years. We fell prey to this idea that, “Well, if you don’t individuate your careers and do your own things, people will always associate you together. That will be limiting,’” he said.

“That was the advice we got. I trust him and love him, and I know that this is somebody with integrity. In this business, failure is hard, and success is confusing and can make you lose your bearings. Having that friendship as a touchstone over the years was really meaningful.” 

However, his desire to work with Damon did not extent to living with him. 

“God bless his wife, Lucy,” Affleck said on Corden’s show, referring to Damon’s wife of 17 years, former bartender Lucy Barroso Damon, 46.

“There’s a place for you in heaven.”