Jennifer Garner has appeared to take a subtle jab at ex-husband Ben Affleck while reflecting on an unexpected downside of their 2015 split.
The pair, who share three children — Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14 — were married in 2005 before announcing their separation a decade later in 2015.
Garner, 54, opened up to InStyle about how the breakup — and what she described as a period of “family upheaval” — reshaped her day-to-day life.
She suggested the changes meant she took on more of the hands-on parenting routine, including school runs as well as making meals.
Although they decided to separate in 2015, the divorce wasn’t finalized until 2018. Affleck later married Jennifer Lopez, while Garner began dating businessman John Miller.
In the same conversation, Garner said the demands of parenting when her children were younger limited how much she could take on professionally, but that she’s now been able to increase her workload.
“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 InStyle.
Now that her children are older, she said she’s been able to throw herself into acting again and no longer has to structure everything around constant childcare logistics.
“I’m also really grateful to have this part of my life back,” she said.
Garner also spoke about how different things feel now compared with the years when she had to plan everything around the school day and dinner at home.
‘It’s all about your schedule,” she said. “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.”
The actor added that she’s conscious of making the most of the opportunities she has now, acknowledging that time in the industry isn’t limitless.
“I’m 54, I’m not going to be able to do it forever.”
She explained that returning to set has been positive for her, describing her motivation as something that comes from genuine enjoyment rather than pressure.
She said: “I’m not tortured. It’s not filling a hole. I just really love to do it. And I love to be around people who love to do it.”
Garner also shared how she approaches working while still maintaining a stable home life — and the message she tries to model for her children.
Explaining how she is now balancing this with home life, she said: “When I work, I don’t apologize to my kids for it
“I so 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.”