Jennifer Garner is covering The Hollywood Reporter, which seems like a bizarre choice during awards season, but this awards season is anything but normal. The title on the cover is “The Queen of Nice.” The way the article is worded, it sounds like they were hoping she would spill a little about her ex husband. They referenced her Vanity Fair interview, when she was willing to dish on the record in exchange for a cover. Remember that one, where she refused to be the ashes on her husband’s giant phoenix back tattoo (that he was still denying was real at the time)? It’s been almost five years since that interview and it’s about time Garner dished a little more. Nothing in this article is that juicy, but you can tell she’s saying that she’s sacrificed her career for Ben’s and that she’s ready to get back to it. Garner has an Apple project coming with J.J. Abrams (not an Alias reboot), Yes Day is now on Netflix and she has a couple more films in the works. Here’s some of what she said. The piece quotes her coworkers and directors praising her too.
On how people treat Ben in public vs. her
“People are in awe of him. He’s done incredible things, he’s six-four, he’s … him, and they treat him with a kind of reverence… They say that people treat me like we were just in the middle of a conversation and they want to get back to it. They’ll see me and be like, ‘Oh, I’ve been meaning to tell you…”“I see people and I think, ‘Oh, what am I going to learn from them… Like I assume you and I are going to have a great conversation. I assume we’re going to like each other. And part of it could be my temperament, but I also think it’s where I’m from.”
On the paparazzi hounding her family when her kids were young
“You’d go through a yellow light and 15, 20 cars would go through the red light behind you, driving up on the side of roads, and this is just for a mom and a kid. We lived down a street that was chock-a-block full of actors, much more successful and famous and decorated than me, including Ben, and they’d all go by one by one, no problem, and then I’d go do a school run and it’d be 15 cars going with me. I never had a day without them, and if I did, if I made it to a park by hiding in the bottom of the pool man’s truck or something, then a nanny would see me there and call a number and they’d swarm.”On her divorce
“Going through it in public is not what’s hard, going through it is what’s hard, A, [and] B, my children’s eyes are on me.” Then I ask her about something she’d told Vanity Fair in 2016, when the wound was considerably fresher, about how she’d “lost the dream of dancing with [her] husband at [her] daughter’s wedding.”Garner’s face relaxes into a smile. “When our kids get married, we’ll dance, I know that now… “We’ll boogaloo and have a great time. I don’t worry about that anymore.”
She wants to produce more
“Don’t think that people are out there writing for women in their mid- to late 40s… It’s a very hungry, greedy career and a very unforgiving one, and for someone who has chosen family way more often than I probably should have, I can’t believe I’m still here.”On bringing her kids to her Walk of Fame ceremony in 2018
“I don’t have two Oscars on my mantle, I’ve raised them, and I think every little kid has a dream that their mom will have a moment where people applaud her so that they can say, ‘That’s right, I knew it,’ and my kids got to have that and for that I’m grateful.”
I want to make a snarky comment about how she’s not about to win any Oscars for her acting, but Ben’s acting is somewhat wooden too. He won Oscars for screenwriting and, when he was married to Garner, for best picture. He was able to do all that work because she was home with their kids. Remember when he thanked Garner in his 2013 Oscar acceptance speech for “working on our marriage for ten Christmases, it is work but it’s the best kind of work?” What a tool.
photos credit: Avalon.red and Backgrid and THR via Instagram
The title of this story makes her sound a little smug.
And delusional.
I remembered right away that Ben has 2 Oscars so I figured she was throwing a little shade. Considering how things have shaken out since they split up, I can’t really blame her for saying that.
Yeah, come on, she doesn’t have two Oscars because she’s at best as serviceable actress.
Agreed. I am surprised Jen is throwing shade at Ben. I guess Jen’s resentment has been building up for years, and she finally blurted out the truth. However, Ben won an Oscar before he was even married to Jen. Everyone knows Ben is an addict, a womanizer, and not marriage material. Jen is very strong willed and maybe hoped she could get Ben to settle down, and they could be an enduring Hollywood power couple. They seem to have an unbreakable co-dependancy amongst the chaos, and I will be surprised if either one of them ever gets married in the future.
In full context, the quote doesn’t sound bad. Or at least the full quote sounds different from what I was expecting.
I think Ben Affleck has two Oscars so maybe it could be a slight reference to him. I didn’t think she was referring to other actresses. My mind just went to Ben….and …then she started talking about the Walk of Fame and the kids being proud and the whole thing made more sense.
You guys- she’s referencing Ben Affleck’s two Oscars and throwing shade. She’s entitled to do so, given the circumstances of their relationship.
My gripe with her paparazzi comments is – Jen, they followed you because you actively used your family for publicity for years. You actively staged pap shots to campaign for an Oscar for Ben. Pap phone numbers might not be on your phone, but they are on your publicists’.
You can’t farm your “personal life” for good press and then bitch when they follow you all the time. You offered it up on a platter for all to see. Your baby shower was covered by US and InStyle, if memory serves. Your surrogates trash your ex as needed to the tabs. So cut the shit Jen, cut the shit.
Compare her kids to Matt Damon’s: I know all the Affleck kids names and ages, and I don’t even know how many Matt D has other than they are all girls, I think.
I’m sorry, but after seeing the BenAna show, I don’t know how we can pin the publicity on Jen and not Ben.
Oh, I am not saying he is innocent at all! I am just saying her whole “the paps are mean” is ridiculous. His comments to that effect are just as stupid and eyerolly.
Agreed! It really reminds me of how Taylor Swift made a name for herself writing diary-entry songs about boys she dated and then gets mad when people reference the boys she dated. Like, c’mon.
Isn’t it amazing how you can see so many paparazzi shots of some celebs and next to nothing from others?
I’ve seen the Britany doc, so I’m definitely not a paparazzi apologist, but I refuse to believe the Affleck kids going to the farmers market/church for the 1000th time is lucrative enough to justify years of paparazzi stalking.
If you look online at the videos from church, there’s a total scrum so they must make some kind of $$$ from them.
If the paps were a problem for them I don’t understand why they didn’t choose to live somewhere more private. There are so many areas of LA and it’s outskirts that the paps just don’t bother with unless it’s a massive story because they’d be screwed and stuck in traffic if anything else came up. Moving just 15 minutes away would have solved like 90% of the issue.
It’s the same thing with Ben now. He looks so pissed every time the paps are waiting at his gate…but why on earth did he buy a house where that was possible? You don’t see anyone else with his net worth getting accosted daily at their door because they buy property that protects them from that.
Right?! She was just on Ellen the other day, talking about her daughter. If you don’t want to generate interest, don’t talk about them. My god, it’s not that hard. She has clearly used her kids to generate good press for herself. I could not pick Julia Roberts’ kids out of a lineup and she is 100x more famous and more relevant (and an actual Oscar winner) than Jen Garner.
EXACTLY. I feel the same about Kristen Bell’s whining about paps, too. You actively shove your kids into people’s faces and then bitch when people take photos. Girl, take a seat.
Is it just me or is this her attempt to return to Hollywood? Like, she’s licked her wounds, she is no longer the wounded wife, her kids are older, she’s ready to compete again? Why else would one do the HR? I don’t feel like many Netflix family movie stars do the HR for the press tour. Of course, they weren’t married to BA. Interesting.
It’s not just you. She was quite pleased to be “Mrs. Ben Affleck” but with that gone she needs a status upgrade.
Every time someone pulls the “oh I raised my kids” card I know it’s themselves they are trying to convince. Cate Blanchett has two Oscars, Kate Winslet has an Oscar and a billion nominations, Julia Louis-Dreyfus has ELEVEN Emmys. Is she saying they didn’t raise their kids?
There are many reasons she is not an award winning top actress. Her kids aren’t among them. But we tell ourselves what we need to tell ourselves.
That’s true. I like Jen well enough, but I never really agreed with the narrative that she gave up her career for family. She worked pretty consistently during her marriage, sometimes doing 2-3 films in a year. They just weren’t huge successes.
Ben Affleck has two Oscars. The reference was to him. He had his moments of glory in front of the kids.
All those women did not have a A list hubby and were not cover front news hw family. Hers deal is different than theirs.
That’s a snarky comment about the Oscars and I first I was really put off by it (it reminds me of a time my SIL said to me – “you want a career, but for me, my family will be my priority,” like for any working mother their family isnt their priority still?) ANYWAY lol I think it was just a direct shot at Ben – he was able to get his Oscars bc she was home with the kids (or at least his second oscar, he got the first one before they were together.)
I hope that’s how she meant it. Otherwise it makes it sound like women can’t do both, can’t be mothers AND be at the top of their career, which isn’t true.
But if it’s a shot at Ben, a “look at all you have because I sacrificed my career for you” kind of thing, then good for her.
Jen is good in the right role, though I feel like she’s so well known for being herself now, I don’t know how easily she could disappear into a role that’s very different from her. Hopefully she gets the chance to find out.
I thought of Ben Affleck. I don’t think she really thinks she ought to have two Oscars. Technically, he shouldn’t either, but if you play the game right you’ll get one.
To be fair, I think he’s good. Just not THAT good in the two categories he won. I’ll watch his movies though.
Mmmmm you also aren’t a great actress, Jen. But okay.
There are a lot of mothers who works and achieve great professional stuff while being good mothers, it is a choice. Others just don’t have the choice and must work. I don’t like when women say that kind of things like i am good motber i have not the time to have an Oscar bécause of that. Like other actress with oscars don’t have kids
I think she was referring to her ex-husband. Men do get benefits.
She is one of the most self conscious actresses out there and that is all I see on screen with her. How hard she works at acting.
Juno might be one of those movies where she could have been lauded for her performance, it was a prestige indie film, and yet all I could think about was how good EVERYONE else was. She sticks out like a sore thumb in movies.
I’m happy she takes such pride in her family and in many ways that’s a great accomplishment in her industry. But she didn’t lose out on awards because of them.
Jen always comes across as genuinely sweet to me, and I don’t get the beef so many people have with her. I really, really like her, and I don’t like many actors.
I know people who have worked with her and she is genuinely sweet. I’ve only ever heard good things about her.
Me too, and she i naturally pretty. She looks gorgeous!
I mean she’s not a great actress either…so that might be a reason as to why there aren’t two Oscars on her mantle as well.
She’s a very limited and basic actress, she won’t be winning any Oscars. Bless her heart!
There is a short film , Serena, where she is very good. Maybe she needs better roles.
No, I can’t say that I’m a fan of Jen, but it’s hard for me to dislike her.
I remember reading a lot of negative things on this site about Jen, many women seem to be very harsh on her.
I was kind of disturbed when I was reading here that Jen made Ben marry her when she got pregnant with her first child, like it was the 50’s and the guy had to marry the girl he knocked up, kind of SEXIST.
I’m not sure about the papparrazi, I think most stars use the media to their benefit, of course it varies from one star to the next, but they all do it and some are more hounded than others and I think Ben is mostly the reason for a lot of the attention Jen got and their kids.
My impression of her is that she is pretty down to earth, she lives in a kind of ritzy world, making movies, attending the Oscars and other big events, but she doesn’t seem impacted by it much.
I also think that her marriage was probably a lot more taxing on her than she will ever truly admit even to herself, because BEN seems to be a very selfish, messed up person to me and that doesn’t mean that Jen doesn’t have own issues that she brought into the marriage, but I still think that Ben must have been quite a nightmare to deal with.
I would say Jen had four kids, still probably does to a degree, because Ben is never going to completely go away as a father oh her three kids.
Many women achieve amazing things in their careers and sometimes they may have to source out the care of their children, because no matter how wonderful many mothers and career women are, no woman can be in both places at the same time, in Jen’s case say a movie set in Canada and at home with the kids doing homework or playing a board game after dinner.
Agree. Lately she looks carefree and happy. A new man in her life maybe?
Carefree and happy…more like lack of, lol
It sounds like jen is resentful of parenting like she did?
Hope she doesn’t take out that resentment on her kids
Im hoping this just came out wrong from her
This reminds me of that movie Hall Pass, where men would complain to their friends ‘man if i wasnt married i would be with all of these other women.’ And a character points out to their wives that these guys use their wives as scapegoats when in reality even when they were single they weren’t with ‘all these other women’ but thats to tough a pill to swallow so they blame someone else as to why they dont have what they want
I doubt she’s resentful. She probably just wanted Ben to pull his weight.
“People are in awe of him. He’s done incredible things, he’s six-four, he’s … him, and they treat him with a kind of reverence… ”
LMAO, what planet is she living on? This is why this lady will never be seen as anything other than Ben Affleck’s ex-wife. Who actually reveres Ben Affleck in 2021? Well, except JENNIFER GARNER, obviously (“he’s… him”). Dear god. Their split was announced in June 2015 (6 frigging years ago!) and she’s still gushing about him publicly. Her PR team controls these interviews and what gets asked, so she is going out of her way to gush. More proof that she will never, ever move on because what normal man would sign up for a spot in this situation? It was pointless to divorce him and I’ll bet she regrets it. The torch that she still carries for him burns brightly and she wants everyone to know it.
To be fair he has gushed about her also. But that was brushed off as nothing by all the legions of Jen haters on this site. She was in the interview talking about out how people in public react to him vs her which I understand completely because if I saw him in public I’d steer clear because he’s intimidating with his height and attitude. Also interesting is how many blamed the over the top BenAna pap walks on De Armas’ (and before her JG and JLo) when it is Ben that created the interest. It’s him.
Reading your comment made me realize his height isn’t a big a deal for me. I grew up with two brothers and a father all over 6’3″ and my partner and son were/are also over that height. To me the tall ones are basketball players, both men and women.
Beth, clearly you’ve never met a “movie star”. There are some people in the world that captivate people around them, and I think she is just recognizing that he has a power that she doesn’t have. She interacts with people on a different level of fame/celebrity than Ben does.
“ for someone who has chosen family way more often than I probably should have, I can’t believe I’m still here.”
This is the only line that really bothered me. Is she saying that she regrets always putting her kids before her career? I love what I do for work, but my kid always came first and at no time did I resent making that personal choice.
Maybe she means Ben could have helped more. Even he’s admitted she does more of the work at home.
I think she recognizes it is a privilege to be cast in movies. Over 40 years old, women make up something like 3% of people on screen, so it is very unique that she is still getting cast. This comes after her agent said that if she didn’t take Dallas Buyers Club she should retire.
Getting out of the game and then coming back doesn’t happen for the VAST majority of actresses. I think she was just saying she didn’t prioritize her career all of the time, and she is amazed that she still has the ability to get cast.
If we took the words “Ben”, “children”, and “cooking” out of her vocabulary, what would she talk about?
No Oscars because she’s a mom? Bahaha. I bet Streep had a right chuckle with that quote.
That was my comment too. Meryl Streep had four children who are all well adjusted and adore her. Snarky comment from “The Real Queen of Nice”.
The “two Oscars” comment is definitely a shot a Ben. He has two Oscar and the reason he was able to work is because she was the one staying home with the kids.
I thought Meryl has three daughters? Sorry, I just read she also has a son.
Jen’s in a tough effin’ business. She’s done well for someone who isn’t a Meryl Streep and definitely chose motherhood over trying to have a mega-career. Not all actors reach the top but that doesn’t mean their work should be diminished or poo-pooed. I think her devotion to her children and to her (failing) marriage was admirable because marital problems are hell on kids, especially when Ben failed so publicly as a husband and father. Her being papped going to church or farmer’s markets or whatever with her kids pales in comparison to his well documented drinking, womanizing and gambling problems so rag on Ben, not Jen. She was doing her best to hold the family together while he was doing his best to tear it apart.
I interpreted this as Jen feels like many mothers do: caught between developing a career and family. Like many women her career took a backseat when she had kids. She didn’t just support the family, she supported Ben and shouldered the bulk of the parenting when Ben was/is a mess.
So yeah, i can only imagine that it was nice to have her kids celebrate her achievements that were and focused on her work. It’s a nice reminder that you have a life outside of your work and that it’s possible to step back into it if/when you feel ready.
I can’t stand it when a woman makes her entire personality “mommy” like she does.
She appears to enjoy being a mommy – nothing wrong with that, in fact I wish I’d had a mommy like her instead of a vain, self-absorbed grump.
I think it is not the same deal when you have an A list actor hubby and another carrier hubby..
Seriously, I really enjoy her in action films/roles (as long as the premise isn’t racist). Not something like Atomic Blonde but something relatively more grounded like that somewhat racist vigilante film she did. Do more action films, please!
She was okay in Dallas Buyers but in dramas and comedies she gets grating as the lead, with her sickly sweet manner. Action is best for her and she is a fit woman. Why should Liam Neeson and Denzel (and now Gerard Butler and Chris Hemsworth with his Netflix franchise) be getting all those B-grade action films that get a lot of viewership and returns on budget?! Rooting for you to get your own action franchise past the age of 50, Jen!
Wow – cut her some slack. And people wonder why women feel so much pressure to do it all and wonder why they feel like failures when they don’t. Sure, there are actresses who have made it to the top of their careers while raising a family, but they either have a lot of help or a partner who carries much of the load. It’s impossible to be excellent at everything all of the time. I can relate to her. I’ve got a great career, but no question other people have surpassed me in seniority. It was a choice I made to have as many kids as I do and to be as involved as I am and while I am proud of my choices, I’d be lying if I said I never noticed the careers of others who made different choices. I don’t regret the choices I made, but there were definitely career impacts.
Like all the other superstars who promote themselves as “nice” and “normal”, Jennifer is an experienced and ambitious Hollywood player who does frequent pap walks which is fine, and often with her children, which definitely isn’t.
She’s not an interesting or good enough an actor to work on the kinds of movies that win Oscars. And heaps of other far more critically acclaimed working actors raise children so I’m not sure how I feel about the us vs them PR blitz.
I think this is an accurate summary of Jen, esp the kids pap walks point and on her talent / Oscar potential. Mediocrity is everywhere in HW however and she could have done very well as a Chris Hemsworth equivalent in action films, and here’s where “the structure” really denied her – as a woman.
She looks like she smells. Sorry.