Jennifer Garner is opening up about the profound impact motherhood and her divorce from Ben Affleck have had on her career. In a candid interview with InStyle, the 54-year-old actress reflected on the years she spent prioritizing her family over Hollywood, and how the upheaval following her separation from Affleck extended that break.
Motherhood and Career Choices
Garner explained that the demands of pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting naturally pulled her away from acting. "First of all, when you're in a performance kind of role, you give up a year/year-and-a-half of performance while you are pregnant, having a baby, recovering," she told InStyle. Although she continued working on select projects like The Kingdom (2007) and Juno, acting was never her top priority. Her former agent reportedly had to push her to accept the Oscar-winning Dallas Buyers Club in 2013.
Family Always Came First
Garner emphasized that her children always came first. "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 said. That upheaval was the end of her decade-long marriage to Affleck. The pair separated in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018. Despite the split, they have remained committed co-parents to their three children: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14.
Balancing Responsibilities
Garner has largely kept her children out of the spotlight while balancing parenting with her work with Save the Children and her role as co-founder of baby food company Once Upon a Farm. She told InStyle that acting eventually became something she fit into her schedule rather than the other way around. "I feel lucky because I really come at (acting) from a place of joy," she said. "I'm not tortured. It's not filling a hole. I just really love to do it."
Return to Acting
Now that her children are older and more independent, Garner is embracing a return to acting. She stars in Peacock's upcoming drama series The Five Star Weekend, a project she describes as a rare opportunity to focus on herself. "It's a gift … to have this year-and-a-half where I just indulged (in acting), because this job is very selfish," she said. "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."
No Longer Feels Guilty
Garner shared that she no longer feels guilty about pursuing work. "When I work, I don't apologize to my kids for it," she said. "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." She also offered parenting wisdom, explaining that raising children is an exercise in accepting what you cannot control. "You have to raise yourself at the same time," Garner said. "And just be so radically kind to yourself about how imperfect it is. There's no such thing as balance. There's no such thing as doing it right."
Co-Parenting and New Relationships
Garner and Affleck, now 53, have occasionally been spotted together while co-parenting. Garner is currently dating businessman John Miller. Affleck, meanwhile, went on to marry and later divorce Jennifer Lopez. Lopez has spoken openly about their 2024 split, describing the breakup as a turning point that forced her to focus on self-love. In a 2025 interview with Howard Stern, Lopez said, "I learned that it's not that I'm not lovable, it's that they're not capable." She also described divorcing Affleck as "the best thing that ever happened to me."
Gratitude and Moving Forward
For Garner, the focus remains on family, gratitude, and a career she now approaches on her own terms. After years spent giving "everything to mothering," she told InStyle she's grateful to have another part of her life back. "I'm still their mom, I'm not going anywhere, I'm still all-in," she said. "I'm also really grateful to have this part of my life back."
