Talk about roughin’ it. Actor and director Ben Affleck will live off of only $1.50 a day from now on — well, for five days.
The multimillionaire made the pledge for the poverty awareness campaign Live Below the Line and will join other celebrities such as actress Sophia Bush and singer Josh Groban who are also taking part in the challenge.
Starting April 29, the stars are only allowed to spend $7.50 each for the entire five-day period, but they are allowed to “work as a team.”
The rules are no “digging around in your pantry,” but they can “use food sourced from your garden as long as you account for the price of production.” The participants can’t accept “donated” food from friends and family, but they are allowed to drink as much tap water as they want.
The ‘Argo’ director will live tweet all of the tumultuous sacrifices he will have to make throughout the challenge, since $1.50 won’t even pay for a bus ride, let alone a limo ride.
The campaign hopes to not only raise poverty awareness but also raise money for various charities. Each celebrity selects a charity and Affleck chose his own, the Eastern Congo Initiative.
According to the Live Below the Line website, the point of the challenge is “to give a glimpse into the lives of 1.4 billion people who have no choice but to live below the line every day — and who have to make $1.50 cover a lot more than food.” The difference is that these 1.4 billion people will continue to live off of $1.50 long after Affleck’s five days of roughing it are up.
As soon as the challenge ends on May 3, Affleck can drive away in his Lexus hybrid sedan to his oceanfront property in Los Angeles and bask in his net worth of $65 million.
But hey, at least he drives a hybrid!
