Ben
Affleck Opens Up About Quitting Smoking
1/23/08
Ben Affleck is helping TV titan Oprah Winfrey prompt Americans to stop
smoking by talking about the reasons behind his decision to quit after 20
years.
The movie star/director appeared on Winfrey's show on Tuesday
(22Jan08), which was aimed at those struggling to give up nicotine.
He revealed he once smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and that became
"part of who I was".
Affleck said, "I finally decided to quit smoking when I was gonna
have a child. That was the thing that sort of put it over the top for
me."
The Pearl Harbor star used hypnosis to kick his habit after best pal
Matt Damon urged him to try the method that helped him quit.
Affleck recalls, "You sit in, like, a Barker lounger (chair) and
he
(hypnotist) sips water and just talks to you for an hour, and explains
how nicotine is poison.
"All of a sudden, you thought' 'This is asinine that I've been
doing this to myself for all these years.'
"My last cigarette was on November 10th, 2005... I feel a huge
difference in my health now that I don't smoke. I feel like I'm in better
shape than I was five years ago."