BEN AFFLECK - AFFLECK OPENS UP ABOUT QUITTING SMOKING

BEN AFFLECK is helping TV titan OPRAH WINFREY prompt Americans to stop smoking by talking about the reasons behind his decision to quit after 20 years. The movie star/director appeared on Winfrey's show on Tuesday (22Jan08), which was aimed at those struggling to give up nicotine. He revealed he once smoked a pack of cigarettes a day and that became "part of who I was". Affleck said, "I finally decided to quit smoking when I was gonna have a child. That was the thing that sort of put it over the top for me." The Pearl Harbor star used hypnosis to kick his habit after best pal Matt Damon urged him to try the method that helped him quit. Affleck recalls, "You sit in, like, a Barker lounger (chair) and he (hypnotist) sips water and just talks to you for an hour, and explains how nicotine is poison. "All of a sudden, you thought' 'This is asinine that I've been doing this to myself for all these years.' "My last cigarette was on November 10th, 2005... I feel a huge difference in my health now that I don't smoke. I feel like I'm in better shape than I was five years ago."