Jennifer Garner is living her best life. She dropped 200 pounds of dead weight last year and is still reminded occasionally of what it felt like to drag that around all day. She’s sunnier, she’s more authentic and she’s been active on Instagram, giving the world a glimpse of her home life and interests. Garner celebrated her 46th birthday on Tuesday and shared the photo above in which she looked both glamorous and silly, which is her brand now. She’s owning that and it’s fun to watch. E! had a whole analysis of Garner’s “reinvention” which Lainey alerted me to. They note how deftly she’s been flitting between her career, homelife and being a mom, which she discussed during her sit down with Vanity Fair promoting her new business, Once Upon a Farm, offering organic baby food. Most of us multitask like that but she’s putting her own gloss on it.
Over the last few years especially, Garner has had the chance to put some of her Sydney Bristow skills to work, namely the one where she effortlessly shifts from one identity to another: actress, entrepreneur, pitchwoman, domestic warrior and resilient divorcée who could care less about salacious headlines—or who at least could teach a masterclass in battling through with a smile.
Then, of course, there’s the one hat she never takes off, which is mother of three.
After 10 years of marriage, Garner is still holding down the fort at her longtime home in Los Angeles’ celeb-filled Pacific Palisades neighborhood, where she’s frequently spotted taking her daughters and son to school, grabbing coffee and going to church on Sundays. Thanks to Instagram, fans are even treated to the occasional backyard sighting, such as when she donned full marching-band regalia to wail “Happy Birthday” on the saxophone for her friend Reese Witherspoon last month. (The answer is: Jen played sax in her own high school marching band.)
Obviously she’s a woman of many talents, which lately also include gardening, beekeeping, raising chickens (all activities she can do with the kids) and being adorable on social media, whether she’s enjoying story time with her dog Birdie, sharing long lost footage of herself in ballet class as a kid, or admitting to a homemade bagel fail on her “Pretend Cooking Show.” And now there’s Once Upon a Farm, the line of organic baby food and eco-friendly spoons, cups, onesies, etc. for tots that she co-founded.
All of which begs the question: Does Jennifer Garner ever sleep?…
Moreover, it’s been a year since Garner filed for divorce and they still haven’t made it official. A source tells E! News that Garner wants to make sure Affleck is where he needs to be with his sobriety before they finalize a custody arrangement.
“She is very supportive and wants her kids to have the best dad that he can be,” the insider said.
I think a lot of women feel this way in their 40s after leaving a difficult long term relationship. All of a sudden they’re calling the shots and they’re not beholden to their partner’s rules and moods. It can be particularly freeing when the other person is unpredictable, which is the impression I get of Affleck. He’s so controlling of his image that I imagine he’s not the easiest person to live with. Garner said as much in her Vanity Fair interview, if you read between the lines. Read those last two paragraphs in the excerpt from E! above. There are some subtle hints there that she’s keeping Affleck on notice that he better stay sober if he wants to share custody.
Oh and about the giant scarf – Garner stepped out on Wednesday (the day after her birthday) in an oversized striped knitted scarf. E! compared it to Lenny Kravitz’s famous scarf circa 2012. Our agencies don’t have those photos but you can see them on E! or on Getty. She looks so happy in that crazy scarf. Update: Buzzfeed has a lot of great photos too.
photos credit: Backgrid and Instagram/Jennifer Garner
I’m not a fan of her sugary sweet image (I don’t see her as authentic) but I definitely get the joy in your forties after shedding a deadbeat partner.
I think there’s a certain authenticity to the sugary stuff but it also seems like a shield to try and have the public forget the fact that she spent 10 years married to (and had three children with) a selfish alcoholic who cheated on her repeatedly and basically from the start. That’s troubled…no matter how good a cookie recipe you know. Hopefully she is getting help with her own issues but we will never know: That would go against the sunny image.
Agreed. Also, I’ve never seen someone look so different from her day-to-day look to when she glams up for events. Girl cleans up amazing!!
The caption photo threw me off.. she looks more like Angelina in it than Jennifer Garner. Glad she enjoyed her birthday.
I saw JLo. It really doesn’t look like Garner.
I can see JLo too. I agree she looks so different in that photo.
Full-on Angelina in this pic!
I thought it was Angelina too. She looks gorgeous, it’s a great photo of her.
I thought it was a drunken Eva Longoria
Lol Neely.. thank you for that laugh! 🙂
I thought Angelina, too.
She looks sooooo good! It’s incredible how every woman that got rid of Ben Affleck looks their best after! Keep going, Jen!
Hahaha yeah that seems to be the trend huh? Best revenge 🙂
Soooo…we are going with Batfleck only being 200 pounds. I mean…it seems…off.
Lol that caught my eye too. Isn’t he like 6’3? 200 is way under.
He’s 200 pounds on Trump’s scale.
LOL
Annabelle you made my day with that!
Exactly what I was thinking.
Yeah, he’d be very thin if he was 200. My guess is 230-240. #girthermovement.
LOL!!
I was 49 when I shed my heavy-emotional-weight of a husband. Such a relief!
I was being generous!
You are a kind soul @CB.
Hahaha Her without him looks so good.
SNORT!!!
She looks amazing!
She’s beautiful!
She looks great. I thought she was early 40s.
I know this is off topic but I went to the Buzzfeed link and they have the old pix of Lenny in his giant scarf too and I had forgotten how hot he is … yum
Check out his photo posted yesterday on social!!
She looks very relaxed….like she doesnt have a care in the world!!! She looks great!!! I imagine that when living with Ben , it could wonderful at times but when it was bad, it must have been really bad! You can tell that Jen’s focus is on her children & herself.
The pics of them with their family at Sam’s baseball game looked like such a nice family and their children look like they are doing great, too!
I hope her sweet image is real!
What does it say about me that I think it seems too good to be true?!
Once in a while there are random tweets or Facebook posts from people who met her in an airport or food store – who attest to how nice and helpful a person she is. Those are situations when no one is looking and she has nothing to gain. So I believe she is nice.
That’s great to hear!
Getting that piano off her back has done wonders for her. I like her quirkiness. It’s nice to read a positive post about Garner.
Molly Sims had an Instagram story up yesterday showing pics and videos from Jen’s birthday party on Sunday. Turns out was a pizza making / food packing event for what looked like more than 100 people (families) for Rise for Hunger.
That’s a really generous way to have a birthday party! How wonderful.
Garner is a class A clinger.
Likely. Her acting skills are moderate but she is pretty. So she has to hustle. I kind of think that she and Ben Affleck deserved each other to some degree. She the hustler and clinger. He the needy one with issues.
She deserves some happiness. Can you imagine the heartache she was perpetually in while married to him? Married to a man who had a long term girlriend. Bad for everyone.
It takes years to get over a relationship like that. I tend to be hard on her but i really hope she picks up the pieces and finds happiness after that hell of a marriage.
I really think she is – in the form of career, friends, being in great shape, business and of course her children. She appears to be living her best life.
I just don’t know how she does it having Ben constantly around (it’s a constant reminder of his betrayals). They seemed to have spent the entire weekend together with their children – kids games, church etc. and in all the pics – especially the one’s from Sera’s soccer game – they pretty close to each other – that she is actually able to treat him like a friend ( even for her kids) really is unbelievable.
I think that you are right about Jen living her best life and what that entails. It is lovely to see to me.
As far as Ben, I don’t know how Jen does it. I think it is great for all involved but it is beyond the call of duty. Ben should be thanking his lucky stars that Garner is such a great ex especially considering his extra curricular marital behavior.
If and when the time is right, I hope Garner finds someone that appreciates her and her strengths. I think Ben used her and her strengths with less and less appreciation as the years went by. I think he even resented her for them at times. Ironically, his appreciation is probably on a high now and he is probably kinder as well. Garner had a lot to offer and while she may be too “sweet” for some, that is balanced with an incredible resilience.
I like and enjoy her more and more.
Her face looks really good in the header pic.
Everyone keeps saying Jennifer reinvented her personality or whatever but I’ve been following her since Alias and I can tell you she has always been a huge, sweet, cheesy dork who can be quite extra. It’s not a put on, she is at heart just a simple country girl from West Virginia. She’s just showing more of it since she divorced Ben Affleck because she has more free time to spend on social media now that she doesn’t have to constantly baby sit her husband. Her character in 13 Going on 30 is basically her but just amplified.
If you watch the Alias blooper reel (yes because I own the DVDs and used to be a massive Alias fan girl) she is super silly. She is not reinventing anything.
Also because I used to be such a massive fan girl I totally knew without looking it up April 17th was Jennifer Garner’s birthday.
I was a big Alias fan and the way you describe her is how I’ve always thought of her as well–I never thought it was an act.
I think I’ve always liked her because her goofy side/former dancer thing reminds me of myself and my sister. I agree, this isn’t a “new” side of her. It’s pretty consistent.
Her lips keep getting bigger.
https://www.popsugar.com.au/celebrity/Pictures-Jennifer-Garner-Through-Years-37290351
I think she messed around with injections in the early aughts and got something permanent like an implant in her upper lip in 2006 or 2007. They haven’t really fluctuated since then like they did before. I think it looks good though. It took her from pretty girl next door face to movie star face.
I have always thought Jennifer is just so pretty. Beautiful even. And I think she looks her best with a natural face or minimal make up.
It’s “couldn’t care less” Vanity Fair writer person. Ugh.
She looks fantastic and I’m glad that she’s happy. I didn’t know that she had a birthday so close to mine. (Mine was the 13th.)