Jennifer Garner is sharing her post-divorce financial trauma after Ben Affleck split.
The 13 Going on 30 star, 54, revealed on the Aspire podcast that she “panicked” after stepping away from work while raising her three children with Affleck.
“I was suddenly like, ‘Wait a minute. I have to take care of myself,’” Garner recalled. “I have to take care of these kids. I didn’t get some huge payout.”
Garner and Affleck married in 2005, separated in 2015 and finalised their divorce in 2018. During their marriage, Garner said motherhood had caused her to put her career on the back burner.
“I panicked when I was first out of my marriage,” she admitted. “I realised I had taken such a step back in my work.”
The actress said money quickly became a serious concern. “It became very serious to me really quickly that she needed to become an ‘earner’.”
But returning to Hollywood came with another complication: her children. Garner said she couldn’t simply disappear for months to film elsewhere.
“I said I can work in Los Angeles. I can’t leave these kids for six months at a time. I would love to – I love going on location – but that is not this time in my career,” she said.
She also worried about Hollywood’s notoriously short memory when it comes to actresses and age.
Garner has nevertheless continued working while co-parenting with Affleck.
The former couple have maintained a relationship built around their children, with Affleck previously saying, “When you have children with somebody, you’re connected to them forever.”
Now, Garner appears to be embracing both sides of her life — without apologizing for either.
“When I work, I don’t apologize to my kids for it,” she told InStyle. “But that’s part of life.”
