Ben Affleck says he'll 'Live Below the Line' on $1.50 a day

Ben Affleck says he’ll ‘Live Below the Line’ on $1.50 a day

By Nardine Saad

April 23, 2013 12 AM PT

The idea of Ben Affleck living on $1.50 a day sounds ridiculous, right? Maybe just as ridiculous as Hugh Jackman doing the same thing.

The “Argo” director-producer-star is the latest celebrity showing his support for the Global Poverty Project’s Live Below the Line campaign, a position Jackman initiated for the organization in 2011.

The Oscar winner took on the organization’s challenge to spend five days feeding himself on only $1.50 a day, which is the the U.S. equivalent of the extreme poverty line. He showed his support for the initiative on Twitter.

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“1.4 billion people live on less than $1.50/day. I’m joining Live #BelowTheLine on behalf of @easterncongo. Will you?,” Affleck tweeted.

The challenge is meant 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,” according to the organization’s website.

Jonah Hill, Sophia Bush, Katie Couric and Scooter Braun also tweeted their support for the cause. And Debi Mazar and Hunter Biden are among other celebrities who have loaned their names to the project.

“In today’s world, extreme poverty and inequality are unjustifiable and unfair. Live Below the Line demonstrates the problem in a concrete way, while raising money to address the problem,” said musician Josh Groban, who has raised $4,700 for the cause so far.

“The Avengers” actor Tom Hiddleston posted a video of himself on his fifth day on the challenge that he shot in his kitchen. His lunch was a simple baked potato. He also tweeted his meals while completing the challenge, which included boiled rice with veggies or an omelet and kidney beans.

“Profoundly aware that to live truly #belowtheline I would have to forego many & various privileges....,” he noted in early April, adding, “To live truly #belowtheline I would have to surrender the roof over my head, gas, electricity, and clean, running water.”

Does the challenge seem like something you could do?

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