Jennifer Garner Reflects on Divorce From Ben Affleck: ‘The Breaking Up of a Family Is What Was Hard’

Jennifer Garner is reflecting on her painful divorce from Ben Affleck, the father of her three children.

In a new interview ahead of the second season of Apple TV+’s The Last Thing He Told Me, the actress opened up about navigating one of the most difficult periods of her life. Garner and Affleck split in 2015 amid reports he had an affair with their then-nanny, claims he later denied.

Garner described the end of their nearly 10-year marriage as “hard.”

“The fact of it is what was hard. The actual breaking up of a family is what was hard. Losing a true partnership and friendship is what was hard,” the Alias alum told Marie Claire UK.

Garner said she had to be “smart” about knowing what she could and could not emotionally handle at the time. One thing she avoided was reading media coverage about the split.

The experience also brought her clarity. “I make a big, concerted effort to see my people as much as I can, because that’s what matters,” she continued. “That’s where your resilience is: it’s in your relationships and in the people who carry you through.”

Today, Garner and Affleck appear to be on good terms. The two share a co-parenting relationship, and Garner supported Affleck in the years following their divorce, including helping him seek treatment during his struggles with alcohol.

The former couple share three children — Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13 — whom Garner said remain her greatest source of pride.

Garner also reflected on stepping back from her acting career while raising them, saying it “never felt like a sacrifice.”

“It was really hard to go to work and it definitely shaped the jobs I chose, in a big way,” she explained.

Now that her children are older, she said “parenting now has shifted.”

“It’s more about parenting with a button on my mouth…. You have to let them grow up and make their choices. You don’t get to control it,” she said, adding that she’s “so proud of how they walk through the world, and proud of them for trying hard.”