Jennifer Garner has a new interview on Yahoo! beauty with famed makeup artist Bobbi Brown. It’s a good read with a conversational tone. Garner gives a lot of details about her beauty routine, which of course relies heavily on various Neutrogena products, for which she’s a spokesperson. She also talks about the anti-paparazzi law that passed in California in late 2013, making it a crime to “seriously alarm, annoy, torment or terrorize” children when photographing or recording them. The law passed after Garner and Halle Berry testified in front of the California State Assembly Judiciary Committee.
BB: I know you were a big part of the bill that passed to protect kids from paparazzi. Could you tell me about that?
JG: Halle Berry passed the bill and she let me be a small part of it. And then, Kristen Bell went out and convinced all of the tabloid magazines to agree not to print photos of kids, and it’s changed my kids’ lives! It’s been over a year, and there isn’t a day, that we don’t talk about how different it is. If they’re right outside your house, then when your kids wants to learn to ride a bike, it’s very uncomfortable. They don’t want to go biking in the middle of a photoshoot. But now my kids can go out and just go for a walk or go to the mailbox—things that we just didn’t do. Sometimes I still have paparazzi, myself, and sometimes they will shoot my kids, and I keep track of it. I will definitely take them to court if I have enough to make a case.
I have to say, I really didn’t think that was possible. I tip my hat to Halle and Kristen. I thought they were both shooting at something that couldn’t be caught, and they did it.
BB: Don’t you think healthy skin also has a lot with what you eat?
JG: Yes, I eat a lot, a lot of salads. That’s the way that I get my veggies. I eat lots of leafy greens, dark greens, with rice too because I want it to be a meal. I just have a big bag of greens that I get from the farmer’s market on Sunday. I keep it in a Ziploc bag and I just pull out handfuls of it for lunch everyday and add whatever I have to it.
BB: Does your husband eat the way you do? Are you both on the same page in terms of health and eating?
JG: He will eat the way I do unless he’s in the middle of really, really training for something. And then, it’s such a different thing. Every calorie and every gram of protein—everything’s counted in a way that… I don’t know how he does it.
BB: What happens when you come home from an awards ceremony and you’re like, OK, I haven’t eaten in two days to get into this dress. What is your go-to splurge? Pizza?
JG: Oh, I never do that. I don’t wear crazy dresses. With food I’m probably good 80% of the time. I’ve found out that I cannot pass up pizza without having some. I just can’t! My kids have a lot of pizza. I can’t go to a kids birthday party without having a slice.
I mean, believe me, there’s always a point in the fitting where I feel like, ‘Why I didn’t I just try to lose four pounds and then I could wear any dress?’ I just can’t though. I dieted for so long in the middle of doing Alias and being a superhero, that there’s something in me that can’t do anything that extreme.
I like Garner’s approach to eating, which seems sensible and is pretty close to how I eat. I eat a huge salad for lunch every day and I try to eat well most of the time, with the occasional treat. Also, Garner works out with a trainer every morning at her house, she didn’t mention that in this interview.
As far as the paparazzi issue, we don’t publish many photos of kids so I didn’t realize how much it’s changed for some celebrities since the law passed. Plus we still see a lot of photos of her children. I’m glad things are better for her family now, particularly for her children, who never asked for the attention.
There’s more on Yahoo! if you’re interested, including Garner’s explanation of why she rarely wears makeup when she’s not at work and how she balances her career with motherhood. I think she’s scaling back her acting and doing more endorsement gigs, like Neutrogena and Capital One, but she obviously doesn’t talk about that.
Garner is shown out this month and in December. She’s shown with Victor Garber on 1-15-15. Credit: FameFlynet and Pacific Coast News
It’s heartening to hear that law is actually working. I can’t imagine being a child of celebrities and dealing with that sort of craziness.
This woman is perfect. I want to be her )).
And she gets even more respect for standing up to paparazzi, and doing something about it.
I find it so nice that she and victor are so close IRL.
She isn’t the full Pataky, but I think she played up the pap interest, at least at the start. And at awards times. I really like her, though.
BWAHAHHAAHAH DEAD at Full Pataky
She isn’t full Pataky cause she teaches at College Level Courses of whatever Pataky does
Why is it legal at all to photograph them? They’re kids. A strange person with a camera taking pictures of kids would have the cops called on them in any other situation. Outlaw it outright.
That being said, hasn’t she been calling the paps in some cases? Was that just gossip?
It’s almost impossible to get a law passed that would prohibit it. Most notably because it would almost immediately be thrown out as unconstitutional if challenged in state or federal court. The 1st Amendment is great, but protecting it means that unfortunately some not so awesome actions have to be protected as well.
Berry and whatever non-profit or lobbying firm she partnered with really did an excellent job of finding a way to crack down on paparazzi photographs of children without infringing on 1st Amendment rights. The fact that they got the word “annoy” included in the language of the bill was amazing. Leaves it open to wide interpretation that favors the child.
What about the photos of Violet at the game the other day and I also saw her in her school uniform walking with her mother?
Jennifer has the worst fashion sense of any celebrity that I can think of. Her clothes are dull colors, unattractive and frumpy. Those grey sweat tops she favors are beyond hideous. Her pants are an ill fitting disaster. Her tops look like rejects from The Goodwill store. She doesn’t make any effort to look nicer day to day. It wouldn’t take that much effort surely to throw something a little more flattering on. When she’s done up, she is stunning, but you don’t see that very often. Oh well, it’s her deal.
Lainey had kind of a good take on this when they were working on passing the law, which was more or less – Matt Damon’s kids live on the same street, and we don’t know what they look like, do we? IOW, Garner sort of encouraged the paps. I still see her kids in photos more than other, bigger celebs.
Don’t get me wrong, I like Jennifer Garner a lot, but the kids we see more pap photos of have parents who take kids where the paps go. Look at the difference between how much Suri Cruise got papped pre- and post-divorce.
I totally agree, but even if the mother called the paps, that doesn’t give them the right to yell at them or shout obscenities or endanger them in traffic or whatever. Obviously, I wasn’t there, but I’ve seen some pap videos and it was nasty.
I don’t believe she’s ever called the paps, they’ve always camped outside her home and followed the family, they knew her daily routine.
Comparing the Damon family to the Affleck/Garner family makes little sense but then it conveniently fits with Lainey’s dislike of the Afflecks and love of Damon. Ben and Jen are both celebrities and Jen is very hands on, the paps are almost guaranteed a daily pic. I imagine catching Matt with his kids is more random. It’s all about the money.
@ Ally.J: I don’t believe for a second that she never encouraged the paps or used her kids. Remember Affleck’s Oscar campaign? It was crazy. There is a way to protect your kids, she went the opposite way and it got out of hand, she couldn’t control it anymore and then turned into the Mommy Avenger.
I have a lot of sympathy for people who genuinely try and frankly, I don’t need to see celebrities’ kids at all. Make it illegal to photograph a minor without consent, that would be ideal.
Until then, people like Kristen Bell should side-eye their peers before they attack everyone and their mother for buying a magazine or reading a blog. Garner makes it sound like they were persecuted and had to flee a war zone. Give me a break.
I think one of the things that was pointed out at that time is that Ben and Jen use the paparazzi when it’s convenient for them. When Ben was going for an Oscar a few years back for Argo, there were all of the happy family photos and would drag the kids out for photos, and then immediately after the Oscars were upset when photos would be taken of their kids. Still, all of these were public places, not paparazzi camped out at their home I think.
I do think it’s partly true – if you want to be papped, most celebrities know where to go. And if you don’t want to, you don’t.
Absolutely. Even if the parents are well-known for pimping their kids, we’re talking about 2 totally different situations. I may side-eye a parent for doing this magazine photoshoot with their kids, but they are in a situation they can control. Out in the streets with this stranger man yelling awful, awful things (they say anything to get “that” reaction) pointing a camera at you? That’s a whole ‘nother story.
I’m happy the law passed. If I was at an airport or playground with my kids, and a creepy man was stalking them or yelling things while video taping my kids….my husband would go ape shit on them!! Seriously, they would be lucky to walk away from it. You do not mess with people’s babies/kids. That’s just ASKING for it.
I don’t know, I found Lainey’s take on the issue seemed a bit self-serving. It doesn’t matter to me if the parents take part in victimizing their kids. The kids are still being victimized. So if this law is working, I’m happy for the kids. Parents who are actually calling the paps will maybe not be able to pass the blame so much. Her takedown of Kristin Bell also bothered me. Just because some celebrity parents do this doesn’t mean it’s hypocritical of others to stand against it. I know Lainey just hates Kristin Bell too.
Lainey can be a bit abrasive but she wasn’t wrong. I personally think kids should be entirely off limits, it would get rid of the problem altogether.
What she was essentially saying though, is that celebrities act as if the paps and gossip blog readers etc. are the ONLY problem. They never acknowledge that many of their peers might actively participate and encourage this behavior and ultimately use it to further their careers. That’s what bothers me in this whole debate. We’re the boogieman and the celebs who make money off of this bs get to act all indignant. Please. I say make it illegal to print a picture of a minor without consent. It won’t be my Oscar campaign that’ll be changing.
Yeah. I mean, the law should outlaw all use of children by the paps, but what’s that pumpkin patch in LA all the parents take their kids to? The one with a pen for paparazzi? When there are apparently numerous others off the pap radar in the area?
The issue is also that famous people shouldn’t be allowed to exploit their kids for career success or PR purposes, because the exploitation is not only on the pap side of the fence IMO.
“But now my kids can go out and just go for a walk or go to the mailbox—things that we just didn’t do.” God. And I’m sorry, but I believe she (and Hally Berry, for that matter) actively brought most of it on herself. Still, I guess there is always a line and that the paps don’t have a right to “seriously alarm, annoy, torment or terrorize” kids (or anyone) – I’m not arguing.
It doesn’t matter if THEY the parents asked for it or not. The law is to protect the children regardless if their parents are good, bad or indifferent. The children did not ask for it.
Good for her and her kids.
Pizza and salad..YUM…
I love her, very down to earth and good looking woman. Not skinny but fit, I like that too. Ben better recognize!!
I’m very happy to hear the law is working. I recall reading an interview with Halle a few months ago and she said the same thing, there’s been a drastic difference. I know there’s a lot of differing opinions on the celebrities involved with the law and push for no kid photos, but if the end result is kids don’t feel threatened or harassed, and get to enjoy some privacy, it’s all good.
I think the law is a good thing, but I also think a lot of celebrity moms (Jennifer Garner included) encourage the paparazzi. They all pretend that the paparazzi thing is something they can’t control, when the truth is, a LOT of celebs use them and tip them off for publicity/image enhancement. It’s so disingenuous.
I really like Jennifer, she seems so down to earth, and I like that she’s very hands on with her children. I can’t imagine being followed by paparazzi everyday, good to hear her kids can have a more normal life now.
I don’t know much about the new laws but I’m curious why we see certain kids more than others, seems like LeAnn Rimes always has those boys on display, we see them 10 times more than the Jolie-Pitt children, do they have to give permission to use the pictures? Or is the law just about not harassing them? I used to visit celebrity baby sites a lot but I saw a video of Katie Holmes with Suri and it suddenly felt wrong to be a part of that!
Good for them. I’ve always hated the media’s obession with celebrity kids. It’s sick, it must have a horrible effect on them and why is that even a thing? They are kids! What’s so interesting about them to follow them like that? No kid should be exposed to that, no matter the famewh*res their parents could be.
The law is a good thing but she is completely full of it. They trotted out those kids for the paps almost daily during Ben’s oscar campaign.
It’s funny seeing this right now. Just a couple of weeks ago, I saw a bunch of paparazzi shots of their kids and thought it was strange, because it had been so long since I’d seen any of her or Ben with the kids. Jen was actually smiling, while it was obvious she knew the pap was there. Then I remembered it’s award season again. Coincidentally, that’s when pics of their kids always start showing up. I don’t think she really objects to pap pictures of her kids. I think she objects to not being in control of when, how, and why they’re taken.
I both cringe at and admire her unapologetic frumpy appearance.