Jennifer Garner “hardly worked for a long time” while dealing with the “upheaval” of her divorce from Ben Affleck.
The actress opened up about balancing an acting career and family matters in a new interview with InStyle, published Wednesday.
“When my kids were little, I worked so little, and then we had such an upheaval in our family, that I really hardly worked for a long time,” she told the outlet, likely referencing her split from Affleck as well as his battle with addiction.
The exes wed in 2005, but called it quits in 2015. They share three children: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14.
Garner told the outlet how thankful she is for being able to get back into acting as her children have gotten older and her family life has seemingly calmed down a bit.
As previously reported, Affleck went to rehab for alcoholism in 2018 and has gotten sober.
“To have this year and a half where I just indulged [in acting], because this job is very selfish. It’s all about your schedule. It’s not about what the kids have going on at school. It’s not about pickups and drop-offs and making it home for dinner,” she explained.
“When I work, I don’t apologize to my kids for it. I do thank them for being so sweet about it. But that’s part of life. Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. Tripping and falling — there’s room for all of it.”
Back in February, the “13 Going on 30” actress shared the many sacrifices she made while co-parenting with the “Gone Girl” star.
“When your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad, and he becomes dad and mom,” Garner said on Bustle’s “One Nightstand” podcast.
“You kind of can’t help it, right? Because you don’t have the benefit of both sides, the yin and yang being in the same house, so you have to have a bit of both in the way you parent.”
“There’s a little bit of loss in that, but there’s also something gained in that,” she added. “You also just learn, it’s made me let go and not focus so much on the bringing up.”
Since finalizing their divorce, the former couple has formed a very amicable co-parenting relationship.
Though their break up was highly publicized, Affleck maintains that the tabloids got it wrong and they ended their marriage on good terms.
“Everything you read [in the news about the divorce] was bulls–t. The truth was we took our time, we made our decision … we grew apart,” he said on the “Howard Stern Show” in 2021.
“We had a marriage that didn’t work. This happens. She’s somebody I love and respect, but to whom I shouldn’t be married any longer.”
Garner, 54, and Affleck, 53, often reunite with and without their children. Most recently they were spotted taking their eldest child to urgent care.
Earlier this month, they went for a stroll just the two of them as they grab food in Los Angeles.
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