All of Jennifer Garner’s Uncommon . About Ben Affleck Divorce
Jennifer Garner is getting candid about what really hurt during her divorce from Ben Affleck—and it wasn’t the headlines.
“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 actress told Marie Claire U.K. in a recent interview.
Garner and Affleck announced their separation in June 2015, one day after their 10th wedding anniversary, and finalized their divorce in October 2018. The former couple share three children together—Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13. And while the split played out publicly, Garner says the real pain came from somewhere much deeper.
“You have to be smart about what you can and can’t handle, and I could not handle what was out there,” Garner said. “But what was out there was not what was hard.”
She explained that the real pain came from the personal loss behind the headlines. “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.”
Garner also shared why she chooses to tune out gossip—especially when it comes to her children. “It doesn’t serve me to take in gossip about myself or anyone else, much less my kids, so I don’t do it,” she said.
Today, she and Affleck (now both 53) have found a steady rhythm as co-parents, raising their kids with what Garner described as “peace and equanimity.”
“So much about my life surprises me,” she reflected during her conversation with Marie Claire U.K. “It’s all a gift.”
Garner also hopes her experience resonates with other women navigating breakups or divorces. “I think it’s important for women to know, when they think, ‘Oh, I’ll never see that, I’ll never have that feeling, I’ll never be friends with this person again,’ [that] time is the opportunity,” she told the outlet. “Time is the opportunity to heal. Time is the opportunity to forgive, to move on and to find a new way to be friends.”
When the couple first announced their split, they released a joint statement emphasizing mutual respect and their commitment to their children.
“After much thought and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision to divorce,” they shared at the time. “We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to coparenting our children whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time. This will be our only comment on this private, family matter. Thank you for understanding.”
On an episode of CBS Sunday Morning in July 2018, Garner opened up about the pressure of living her marriage—and divorce—in the public eye.
“Looking back on that, I really feel the stress of it. I really — I could cry talking about it. What I think I’ve learned is that the scrutiny in your private life puts a pressure to make something happen. You feel a pressure to hurry up and get married, ’cause you think that’ll end the, ‘Are they engaged? Are they not?’ And that’s true in reverse, as well,” the actress said.
“If you are — if there is any inkling of trouble, or if the tabloids decide there’s trouble, it can create trouble. But to be honest, public scrutiny, everyone says, ‘Oh, you’ve had to go through this in public.’ The public isn’t what’s hard. What’s hard is going through it,” she told CBS Sunday Morning at the time.
In June 2023, Garner showed just how far they’ve come, sharing a Father’s Day tribute on Instagram that celebrated both her own father and Ben. “Shout out to BGA—no one loves their kids like you love ours, happy Father’s Day, Ben! X,” she wrote.
It’s a testament to what Garner told Marie Claire U.K.—that time really can heal, forgive, and create a new way forward. And for the Garner-Affleck family, that new way looks a lot like peace.