Ben Affleck’s daughter and his ex-wife Jennifer Garner’s daughter has come out. The 15-year-old girl, previously known as Seraphina Rose, now goes by the name Fin and uses the pronouns «they/them,» identifying as non-binary, meaning they don’t identify as either male or female.
During a memorial service for Garner’s father earlier this month in Charleston, their daughter, now named Fin, dressed in dark suits and ties, with a notably unfeminine haircut, made the announcement. After introducing themselves («Hello, my name is Fin Affleck»), Fin read a passage from the Bible at the service, which, ironically, celebrated their grandfather, who, as Garner previously said, was so «conservative» that he didn’t even allow her and her sisters to get their ears pierced.
Within the extended Affleck clan, there’s already a step-sister to Fin, 16-year-old Emme, Jennifer Lopez’s non-binary child. Lopez first referred to Emme as «they» two years ago, inviting her on stage to sing with her at a charity baseball gala concert.
Garner, Affleck, and Lopez have joined a long list of famous parents who have had to reconsider the pronouns of their children, including Charlize Theron, Jamie Lee Curtis, Cher, Sigourney Weaver, Naomi Watts and her ex-partner Liev Schreiber, and Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon.
Official estimates of the share of the US population identifying as transgender vary. According to the Williams Institute, a research organization on sexual orientation and gender identity issues, 1.6 million Americans over the age of 13 identify as transgender, roughly one in 170 people. Other studies suggest this figure is lower. So why is this happening in Hollywood?
In Dr. Hilary Cass’s report on gender transition in Britain, published last week, she warned that many minors who question their gender identity are actually suffering from anxiety, low self-esteem, or body image issues. Given that being the child of a Hollywood star can be extremely difficult — many go off the rails, sometimes with tragic consequences — could this explain why so many people experience «gender distress»?
Or perhaps it’s simply because most of them live in uber-liberal California (and their parents work in an industry that shares similar views), where gender nonconformity is encouraged. And if a star does indeed have a transgender child, they may well want to share that with the world.
Some, like actress Kate Hudson, even raise their children as «genderless,» allowing them to decide how to identify themselves.
One thing is clear: stars openly declaring that their child is transgender — at least publicly — rarely show any other enthusiasm than wild enthusiasm.
Some admit they never expected their child to have trans issues.
Jamie Lee Curtis — among those caught off guard. In 2021, she revealed that her adopted child, originally named Tom, is now a trans woman named Ruby. Curtis said she and her husband Christopher Guest initially struggled to adapt.
Alien star Sigourney Weaver — a close friend of Curtis, is much more restrained about her only child, now known as Char. In 2022, Weaver, briefly fumbling with pronouns, said: «We have a wonderful daughter who is now 32 years old. Actually, she is non-binary.»
Some famous parents even identified their children as transgender when they were barely out of diapers. In 2019, actress Charlize Theron revealed that her eldest child, 11-year-old Jackson, whom she adopted as a child and introduced to the world as a boy, is now being raised as a girl. «Yes, I thought she was a boy too,» Theron told The Mail. «Until she looked at me when she was three and said, ‘I’m not a boy!'»
Annette Bening and Warren Beatty married in 1992, they have four children, including Stephen Ira, a transgender poet. «I would like everyone in the family to be transgender,» she said.