By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-13 17:36:27 | Updated at 2025-01-14 11:50:14
18 hours ago
Six months after she made an impassioned plea for governing bodies to strengthen pandemic-era protections, Violet Affleck is hoping the devastating wildfires in LA will encourage others to understand the importance of preventing a ban on face masks.
The 19-year-old, whose parents are Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck, both 52, was pictured wearing what appeared to be a N-95 mask as she was comforted by her father outside his rental property in Brentford on Saturday.
The Oscar-winner was forced to evacuate from his $20 million mansion in Pacific Palisades when fires ravaged the popular celebrity enclave and reduced 1000s of properties to ash.
Violet, who gave a speech on the imposition of 'mask mandates' last summer, has been ‘pressuring' her famous parents and siblings Fin, 16, and Samuel, 12, to protect themselves with face coverings amid the hazardous air quality caused by the terrifying blazes.
‘Violet Affleck has been pressuring her family to put a mask on since she has been back home because right now the air quality is unhealthy,’ an insider told DailyMail.com.
‘She is clearly not going to give up on advocating for mask mandates. It has become a part of who she is and what she stands for.
Violet was pictured wearing what appeared to be a N-95 mask as she was comforted by her father Ben Affleck outside his rental property in Brentford on Saturday
‘She is so passionate about this and she feels vindicated for her work championing masks because she does, truly, believe that her opposition to the ban is warranted.
‘She is hoping the fires will serve to show people that masks can be used in times not only connected to the spread of a virus.’
In July, Violet kicked off her crusade when she called for an end to all 'mask bans' in medical facilities in a speech to the governing body for Los Angeles County.
During her speech, the teen cited her experience of contracting 'a post-viral condition' as she urged the board 'to confront the long COVID crisis' by strengthening pandemic-era protections in hospitals and government buildings.
'I demand mask availability, air filtration and Far-UVC light in government facilitates, including jails and detention centres, and mask mandates in county medical faculties,' Violet said at the time.
'You must expand the availability of high-quality free tests and treatment, and most importantly the county must oppose mask bans for any reason. They do not keep us safer.'
Violet's prolific mask wearing became a hot topic of conversation online with neither Violet or her parents publicly addressing it, prompting countless rumours that she is a ‘hypochondriac,’ while others claimed she wanted to avoid being recognised.
She was notably seen wearing a mask at Michael Rubin's White Party in 2023 and again in May 2024 when she was pictured carrying Steven Thrasher’s award-winning 2022 book, The Viral Underclass.
Violet, 19, who gave a speech on the imposition of 'mask mandates' last summer, has been ‘pressuring' her famous parents to protect themselves (pictured with Jennifer Garner)
Violet called for an end to all 'mask bans' in medical facilities and government buildings during an impassioned plea to the governing body for Los Angeles County in July 2024
In July she was spotted in a face covering as she joined her mum Garner at Taylor Swift’s Kansas City concert.
She wore the protective mask again later that month during a trip to the Hamptons with her dad’s estranged ex, Jennifer Lopez, and once more on an outing for her 19th birthday in December.
More recently she was pictured in what appeared to be a N-95 mask as she hugged her dad outside his Brentwood home.
The actor and producer has been living at the property since moving out of the $60 million mansion he shared with Lopez before they split last year.
Affleck rushed to his ex-wife and three children when the Pacific Palisades fire first broke out last Tuesday.
He has since been allowed back to his property which survived the catastrophic inferno that wiped out homes belonging to Paris Hilton, Anthony Hopkins and Leighton Meester and Adam Brody.
Garner has been spending time volunteering with chef Jose Andres and his World Food Kitchen to provide food for evacuees at various pop-up locations in affected areas.
In an interview with MSNBC, the broken-hearted star revealed a friend of hers from church had perished in the blaze.
‘She is hoping the fires will serve to show people that masks can be used in times not only connected to the spread of a virus,’ a source told DailyMail.com (pictured with Garner in May)
Violet's prolific mask wearing became a hot topic of conversation online last year (pictured with Jennifer Lopez in the Hamptons in July 2024)
'I did lose a friend, and for our church, it's really tender so I don't feel like we should talk about it yet,' the Deadpool and Wolverine actress said.
'I did lose a friend. She didn't get out in time.'
The Palisades fire, which swept through Garner's neighbourhood has continued to grow with others popping up and posing threats to Calabasas and Hidden Hills.
The wildfires have destroyed 40,000 acres across the most affluent neighbourhoods in LA with the death toll now standing at 24, as of Monday.
The Palisades fire, is just 13 percent contained with strong winds predicted on Tuesday which could cause an explosive growth.
