The paparazzi caught a genuinely scary moment for the Affleck-Garner family this week. Violet Affleck left a Los Angeles emergency room on crutches and wearing an orthopedic boot. The 20-year-old Yale student was rushed to the hospital on Wednesday, May 27, leaning heavily on both of her parents, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, because she physically could not walk on her own.
Her parents stayed by her side the entire time. They guided her into the medical center, and hours later, helped her out of the facility with her foot completely immobilized.
This sudden trip to the ER ties directly to a much longer health battle. Violet has suffered from a debilitating post-viral condition since she was 14 years old in 2019. The illness, usually classified as long COVID, triggers unpredictable physical symptoms. It causes chronic pain, joint inflammation, and extreme post-exertional malaise.
She normally wears a face mask in public to protect herself from secondary infections. She actually took that fight directly to the local government in July 2024. Violet testified before the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to oppose municipal mask bans. She used her time at the microphone to demand far-UVC lighting and better air filtration inside county facilities to shield vulnerable residents.
She pushed that advocacy even further after starting college. As a student at Yale University, Violet published an academic paper on COVID organizing in the Yale Global Health Review in May 2025. She continues to deal with the physical fallout of the 2019 infection.
Her parents put any lingering public distance aside to manage the emergency. Affleck and Garner, who split in 2018, guided her through the ER doors and back to the car.