Violet Affleck has always been an advocate for change. The eldest daughter of now exes Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner initially fought for her own privacy as a child of high-profile celebrities. After becoming aware of the paparazzi interest in her family at a very young age, Violet, born in 2005, played a part in getting a bill passed in 2013 that outlawed photos of children taken without permission. Violet, who was in kindergarten at the time, offered to share her perspective with authorities and other celebrity parents. As Garner told The Hollywood Reporter in a 2021 interview, "Violet's hyper-articulate - she is Ben Affleck's daughter, and she stood up on a chair in a little velvet dress, with her hair a bit back and her glasses on and she didn't say her R's right, and she said: 'We didn't ask for this. We don't want these cameras, they're scary. The men are scary, they knock each other over and it's hard to feel like a kid when you're being chased.'" Violet was keenly aware of the effects of fame at a young age, having been chased in and out of schools alongside her siblings Seraphina and Samuel, and kicked off a soccer team because of the circus their parents would create. But now, she's using whatever notoriety she has to try and better the planet as a public health and climate change activist. The Yale University student has attended White House state dinners and United Nations assemblies to advocate for clean air and the prevention of long COVID after she herself suffered from a post-viral condition. Read more about Violet's activism below: Violet Affleck and Jennifer Garner at the Diplomacy, Development, And National Security Hearing on March 26, 2015 in Washington, DC. Getty Images Violet Attended a State Dinner with Her Mom In December 2022, on Violet's 17th birthday, she attended the state dinner, hosted by former President Joe Biden and former first lady Dr. Jill Biden. The White House event honored French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, and the United States' alliance with France amid Russia's war in Ukraine and tensions with China. "The White House State Dinner last night felt like a dream," Garner shared via Instagram at the time. "Thank you to @potus and @flotus for including me in the magical and elegant evening celebrating the friendship between US/ France with gracious President @emmanuelmacron and First Lady Macron. My lovely date and I will remember it always. ✨." Violet Fought for Mask Mandates Following the Pandemic In July 2024, Violet appeared at an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting to discuss COVID-19 precautionary measures and proposed mask bans. During the public discourse, Violet took the opportunity to speak about the importance of preventative care and spread mitigation after facing health issues due to a post-viral condition. "I contracted a post-viral condition in 2019," Violet said. "I'm OK now, but I saw first-hand that medicine does not always have answers to the consequences of even minor viruses. The COVID-19 pandemic has thrown that into sharper relief." Although she did not go into the details of her own condition, Violet went on to say that the effects of long COVID are "devastating" and could be improved with more testing, medication and mask availability. She asked that the county not impose a mask ban "for any reason" in order to protect the public. Violet Affleck and Jennifer Garner are seen on May 18, 2024 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Bellocqimages/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images) Violet Penned a Research Essay for Yale's Paper During her freshman year at Yale University, Violet published a research paper in the school's Global Health Review in May 2025. In the piece titled "A Chronically Ill Earth: COVID Organizing as a Model Climate Response in Los Angeles," Violet wrote about her experience with the devastating L.A. wildfires in January 2025 and how the tragedy related to the COVID-19 pandemic. "I spent the January fires in Los Angeles arguing with my mother in a hotel room," Violet began the paper. "She was shell-shocked, astonished at the scale of destruction in the neighborhood where she raised myself and my siblings. I was surprised at her surprise: as a lifelong Angelena and climate-literate member of generation Z, my question had not been whether the Palisades would burn but when." Violet went on to say that instead of focusing on "comprehensive clean-air infrastructure and accessible healthcare," our country abandoned "disabled and chronically ill people" despite the continued presence of infections and the risk of long COVID. "Our bewildered response to crises like the L.A. fires tell us we may still be accustomed to addressing the climate crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic: as a question of how fast we can get back around to pretending like the problem is gone," she wrote. Violet Affleck, Ben Affleck and Ben's now ex-wife Jennifer Lopez on July 23, 2022 in Paris, France. (Photo by Pierre Suu/GC Images) Violet Addres