Ben Affleck and his mother Chris Affleck at the premiere of ‘Jersey Girl’ on March 9, 2004. (Sylvain Gaboury/FilmMagic via Getty Images)
Chris Anne Affleck, the mother of actors Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck, has died, according to an obituary posted online. The former school teacher was 83.
According to the obituary published this week, Chris Affleck was born in New York City in 1942 and died in early June 2026.
She was given “six months to live” in December 2025, and attended her grandson’s high school graduation prior to her death, according to the remembrance. The obituary does not state her diagnosis or the cause of her death.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Ben Affleck and Casey Affleck for comment.
The mother of the two Hollywood actors attended Nightingale-Bamford School in New York and “made the most of an elite education while remaining skeptical of the tightly cloistered world it represented,” according to the obituary.
Chris Affleck graduated from Harvard, pursued a career as a public school teacher and taught literacy classes in Mississippi, the obituary said.
Along with her two sons Ben and Casey, she is survived by five grandchildren: Indiana, Violet, Atticus, Fin and Sam.
According to the obituary, Chris Affleck pursued a life of political and social activism, volunteering on the Obama campaign, organizing with Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine and helping found the Sustainable Cape project in Massachusetts.
Ben Affleck famously brought his mother to the Oscars with him in 1998 alongside Matt Damon and his mother.
Blake Lively attends the 2026 Met Gala celebrating “Costume Art” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, May 4, 2026, in New York. Justin Baldoni speaks onstage at the Vital Voices 12th Annual Voices of Solidarity Award, Dec. 9, 2024, in New York. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images | Bryan Bedder/Getty Images)
A New York federal judge has ruled that Justin Baldoni and his production company, Wayfarer Studios, must pay his former It Ends With Us co-star Blake Lively’s attorneys’ fees, after the parties reached a settlement last month in Lively’s lawsuit against the actor and production studio.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman denied Lively’s claim for punitive damages but wrote that the actress was entitled to attorneys’ fees under California Civil Code Section 47.1.
Section 47.1 states in part that a “prevailing defendant” in a defamation case is “entitled to their reasonable attorney’s fees and costs for successfully defending themselves in the litigation,” as well as any additional damages permitted by a judge.
In a statement to ABC News following the ruling, Lively’s attorneys Esra Hudson and Michael Gottlieb said the judge’s decision “makes it clear that Ms. Lively brought her claims in good faith, that there was no evidence she acted with malice, and that she is the prevailing defendant under Section 47.1.”
“Ms. Lively is gratified that her lawsuit shows how Section 47.1 and laws like it create a path for survivors to hold accountable those who weaponize online attacks and retaliatory lawsuits to intimidate and silence survivors,” they added.
ABC News has reached out to representatives for Baldoni for comment.
Friday’s decision comes after the parties reached a settlement in early May in Lively’s lawsuit against Baldoni, ending their nearly year-and-a-half legal dispute.
According to settlement documents filed May 7 in the Southern District of New York, Baldoni, via his Wayfarer production company, and Lively agreed to settle their ongoing dispute on terms that Lively could still seek to recover attorney’s fees and additional damages.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
Lively and Baldoni’s legal battle kicked off in December 2024, when Lively filed a complaint with the California Civil Rights Department alleging “severe emotional distress” after she said Baldoni and key stakeholders in the film — which Baldoni also directed — sexually harassed her and attempted, along with Baldoni’s production company, to orchestrate a smear campaign against her.
Baldoni followed up the action by filing a lawsuit against the New York Times for libel and false light invasion of privacy on Dec. 31 after it published the article about Lively’s California complaint.
Lively subsequently formalized her complaint into a lawsuit against Baldoni in New York, also on Dec. 31.
Baldoni responded by filing a civil lawsuit against Lively, her husband, Ryan Reynolds, and others for, among other things, extortion and defamation.
The suits were consolidated into one lawsuit in January 2025.
In June last year, Baldoni’s $400 million lawsuit against Lively, Reynolds and the couple’s publicist Leslie Sloane, as well as Baldoni’s defamation suit against the Times, was dismissed by Liman.
A federal judge in New York gutted much of Lively’s case against Baldoni in April of this year, including claims she was subjected to sexual harassment on set.
The judge determined in a ruling at the time that Lively would be allowed to pursue certain claims of retaliation against Baldoni’s public relations team over alleged harm to her reputation.
In May, after reaching a settlement in their protracted legal dispute, the two actors issued a joint statement via their respective legal teams, saying, “We remain firmly committed to workplaces free of improprieties and unproductive environments. It is our sincere hope that this brings closure and allows all involved to move forward constructively and in peace, including a respectful environment online.”
The key art for season 42 of ‘The Challenge.’ (Jonne Roriz/Paramount+)
The Challenge has officially moved to Paramount+ for season 42.
The popular reality competition show will feature a mixture of veterans and newcomers on its cast as they compete against each other on The Challenge: Cutthroat. The 42nd season, which will take place in Thailand, premieres on Aug. 5. The trailer for the new season is available to watch now.
Season 42 marks a major change with its brand-new, exclusive streaming home. The Challenge previously aired on MTV. However, spinoffs such as The Challenge: All Stars premiered on the streaming service and one version of the show aired on CBS.
There will be 24 contestants competing “past their breaking points in a ruthless battle for a share of the $500,000 grand prize,” according to an official description of the season. “In this bold new era, the Challengers will be divided into three teams and the only way to take home a share of the cash prize, is to cross the finish line together as a unit. To win, nominated captains must balance their hunger for dominance with the need for loyalty, or risk losing their power while solo players must prove they can be team players or lose their chance at the winnings.”
Competing this season are veteran contestants Brad Fiorenza, Chris “CT” Tamburello, Chris Underwood, Cory Wharton, John “Johnny Bananas” DeVenanzio, Justin Hinsley, Leonardo “Leo” Dionicio, Nelson Thomas, Will Gagnon, Adrienne Naylor, Cara Maria Sorbello, Cassidy Clark, Isabella “Izzy” Fairthorne, Michele Fitzgerald, Nurys Mateo, Sydney Segal and Victoria “Tori” Deal.
Newcomers this time around are Big Brother alums Cedric Hodges, Keanu Soto and Reilly Smedley; Love Island USA alums Josh Goldstein and Deb Chubb; former WWE NXT performer Alexis “Lete” Lete; and The Amazing Race contestant Anna Leigh Wilson.
Selena Gomez and Jennifer Stone on the ‘Wizards Beyond Waverly Place’ set. (Disney/Eric McCandless)
Harper Finkle and Alex Russo are reuniting.
Jennifer Stone is set to reprise her Wizards of Waverly Place role of Harper Finkle in the final season of its spinoff series Wizards Beyond Waverly Place.
Harper is the eccentric human best friend of Selena Gomez’s beloved wizard Alex Russo.
Disney announced earlier in April that Wizards Beyond Waverly Place will return for its final chapter this summer. Production on the new episodes started this month.
Gomez is set to make her directorial debut as she helms the premiere episode of this final chapter in the Russo family’s story. In addition to directing, Gomez will reprise her role of Alex over multiple episodes and continue executive producing.
Stone made a return to acting after she took a hiatus to earn her Bachelor of Science in Nursing. She graduated in 2019 with plans to resume acting full-time, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she stepped into the emergency room and served on the front lines. Now, Stone balances ER shifts with her love of acting, according to a press release.
Wizards Beyond Waverly Place stars David Henrie as Justin Russo and Janice LeAnn Brown as the young wizard Billie. Alkaio Thiele, Max Matenko, Taylor Cora and Mimi Gianopulos also make up the main cast.
This final chapter of Wizards Beyond Waverly Place is being billed as a special four-part event.
“Billie, still reeling from losing Alex at the end of season 2, discovers that the only way to rescue her mother is to reunite with her long-lost father,” according to an official description from Disney. “As her family bands together to find Alex, Billie realizes that their combined power is the only way the Russos can defeat the evil plaguing them.”
