Back in December 2015, it was reported that Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice actor Ben Affleck had gotten a huge tattoo inked across his back. The ink, an image of a giant, colorful phoenix rising from the ashes, was of course considered by many to be the emotional byproduct of Affleck's separation from his wife of ten years, actress Jennifer Garner.

Well, looks like the joke was on us.

Speaking with Extra TV's Mario Lopez on March 18, the 43-year-old actor revealed to the TV host that the much-talked about big ol' back tat was actually just a big ol' fake.

While discussing the ink, Affleck set the record straight, sharing that the enormous tattoo was simply painted on "for a movie," referring to his upcoming film Live By Night. He added, "I actually do have a number of tattoos, but I try to have them in places where you don’t have to do a lot of cover up. They get sort of addictive, tattoos, after awhile."

The revelation comes only weeks after a March 2016 Vanity Fair cover story with Garner revealed the actress's thoughts on the tattoo.

"You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart,'" she told the magazine, adding, "A phoenix rising from the ashes? Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes."

Another Affleck ex by the name of Jen—Jennifer Lopez—also got candid about the ink back in February. While appearing on Watch What Happens Live on February 29, the pop star called the tattoo "awful," telling host Andy Cohen, "And I would tell him that. I would tell him, what are you doing? It has too many colors! His tattoos have too many colors. They shouldn’t be so colorful, you know what I mean? They should be, like, cooler."

And while the actor's ex's critiques will remain etched onto the Internet for eternity, at least that atrocious phoenix tattoo wont last forever.

The 20 Saddest Breakups of 2015

More From 92.9 NiN