Jennifer Garner “did very little work for a long time” while dealing with the “tumultuous” divorce from Ben Affleck.
In a new interview with InStyle published Wednesday, the actress opened up about balancing her career and family.
“When the kids were little, I didn’t work much, and then there was a lot of turmoil in our family, and I didn’t work much for a long time,” she told the outlet, possibly referring to her separation from Affleck and his struggles with addiction.
The two married in 2005 but separated in 2015. They have three children: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 14.
Garner told the magazine how grateful she was to be able to return to acting now that her children are grown and her family life seems to be settling down a bit.
As previously reported, Affleck went to rehab for alcoholism in 2018 and is now sober.
“For the past year and a half, I’ve just indulged[in acting]because this job is so selfish. It all depends on your schedule. It doesn’t matter what the kids do at school. It’s not about dropping them off or going home for dinner,” she explained.
“When I’m working, I don’t apologize to my kids for it. I appreciate them being nice to me, but that’s part of life. Working hard is part of life, making mistakes is part of life. There’s room for all the stumbles and falls.”
Back in February, the “13 Going on 30” actress opened up about the many sacrifices she made while co-parenting with the “Gone Girl” star.
“When our kids grow up in separate households, I become mom and dad and he becomes mom and dad,” Garner said on Bustle’s One Night Stand podcast.
“That can’t be helped, right? Because if you have yin and yang in the same house, you don’t get the benefits of both. So when raising children, you have to have a little bit of both.”
“You can lose a little bit, but you can also gain something,” she added. “You just learn. It’s allowed me to let go and focus less on parenting.”
Since their divorce was finalized, the former couple have had a very amicable co-parenting relationship.
Their breakup was widely reported, but Affleck insists the tabloids got it wrong and that the couple ended their marriage amicably.
“Everything you read[in the news about the divorce]was bullish. The truth was that we took our time and we made a decision…we were moving apart,” he said on “The Howard Stern Show” in 2021.
“Our marriage didn’t work out. Things like this happen all the time. She’s someone I love and respect, but she’s someone I shouldn’t be married to anymore.”
Garner, 54, and Affleck, 53, often reunite, with and without their children. Just recently, they were seen taking their eldest son to the emergency room.
Earlier this month, the two went out for a walk alone while having dinner in Los Angeles.
