Jennifer Garner has a big profile in the latest Allure. The editorial is fantastic. I think Jen is pretty, but I don’t think she’s a great model. They did such a good job styling her, though. It’s a mix between ‘70s glam that she rocked beautifully and this Next Gen Blade Runner thing that plays perfectly into her stiffness and cut cheekbones. The interview is pretty good too, albeit not exactly earthshattering. Jen hit most of her common talking points: being from Appalachia, being a mom, loving being a mom, being known as ‘nice’, raising her kids, social media, and her family. So it wasn’t exactly shocking to read that Jen always knew she’d be a mother, no matter how that happened.
She knew she’d be a mom: Being a mother was one thing I knew I was going to be. I really could have been a mother in any way. I could have adopted, I could have fostered, but there was no doubt I was going to be a mom. I mean, I was the kid with the doll everywhere I went. And I had a babysitting company with my friend Carrie — C & J’s Babysitting — from, like, seventh or eighth grade.
Her kids will watch their dad on screen but not their mom: They don’t mind watching their dad, but they kind of want me to be their mom. They don’t want to see me upset and women cry more in what we do. And they don’t really want to see me in a romantic thing.
She trusts her kids (now): Your kids will really figure out who they are and what they are when they’re older, and most likely they will hew toward lovely. I have a lot of faith in my kids. I don’t love every behavior all the time, always. It’s gnarly growing up. We didn’t have the eyes on us that our kids have. I was such a first-time mom. [My eldest daughter] didn’t have a shot. She couldn’t have a free thought — I was all over her. I was a nightmare for everyone around me.
She pushes back on her ‘nice’ reputation: The problem with, ‘Oh, she’s so nice’ is that when I have any kind of boundary, people think of it as much more than it actually is. The problem is being recognized on a day where I’m not so nice or when I have blackness in my soul. I’ve definitely had days where I just can’t do it. I scowl at people before they can walk up to me. I’m not perfect, and I don’t think I’m rude, but I’m not good at being fake. I’m an open book of a person.”
She doesn’t read celebrity news: I learned a while ago that I’m way too sensitive to what is written about me, my family. The only things I have on my phone are The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal. I can’t even have CNN. I used to love the Huffington Post, but anything that has a celebrity section [she shakes her head. Sometimes, she sees other celebrities and has no idea] that they got married and had a baby.
She has an interesting take on social media: The paparazzi have calmed down so much for me that I’m back to being in the world. I’m not getting chased into the grocery store to have whatever is in my cart photographed. Maybe my life is happily boring enough that there’s nothing to see here. I think social media helped calm it down, actually. You have your own relationship with people.
I said the exact same thing as Jen when I was single, that I would have kids regardless of my relationship status. For me, it was because I was becoming increasingly aware relationships weren’t my thing, but I wanted a child. Turns out, I love being married, at least to the person I married, and motherhood was not my thing (although I absolutely adore the people I mother). So I am both happy and jealous of people like Jen who wanted children so much and it turned out to be everything they wanted, in the way they wanted it. Jen has a lot going on outside of motherhood – producing, acting, Once Upon a Farm, etc. – so it’s not like she won’t have an identity when her kids leave. She just reached for her gold ring and got it in this area. I’m genuinely happy for her.
I was snarky about all Jen’s ‘mom’ talk above, but I’m not knocking her for it. I don’t think it’s because she can’t talk about anything else, I think those are the cards she’s willing to show. In this way, I feel I know Jen. She can deflect any subject by offering up topics that sound like she is opening up. But what is she saying above that isn’t surface level or something she’s already said? She’s created this perfect cocoon to protect herself and her kids all while letting us think she’s being vulnerable. I respect that.
One sweet note: the interviewer starts the article by telling Jen a story about her kid going to the same school as Jen’s (which Jen didn’t know). One day, the interviewer’s daughter had a mean girl situation happen to her and was in line trying not to cry when an older girl asked if she was okay and comforted her, making her feel better about all of it. The older girl was Violet Affleck. See? Jen not only loves being a mom, she’s obviously doing it well.
Photo credit: Allure and Instagram
She looks like Scarlett Johansson on the cover.
Did she get work done to her face or is it just really bad photoshop because she looks like a completely different person?
They couldn’t pick something better for her to wear on the cover because that outfit is terrible.
Scrolling I saw ‘Jennifer’, ‘baby’ and the blond hair and thought it was J-Law.
I think the straight eyebrows and downward angle are doing something weird to her face – plus the wet hair is odd.
Why is she trying to look like JLO?
This ! Not a big fan of either one ,Jlo or Garner…the cover is really a try hard …
Tell me you aren’t an Alias fan without saying your not an Alias fan. This is an obvious homage to all her looks and wig fun on Alias. Fans of her know that. Please go have a seat jlo Stans! I love the blond with a little pink and red on her and I wouldn’t mind if she experimented with her hair color a little. I know she is a bit obsessive about healthy hair though and dye dries it out.
@Lens … Came here to say the same, that obviously a lot of people didn’t watch “Alias” (2001 – 2006) back in the day, in which the main character (played by Jen) constantly changed up her appearance to fit one of her ‘aliases’. I loved the show, even though I still think J.J. Abrams ripped off the slicker, sexier Canadian show “La Femme Nikita” (1997 – 2001), which starred extremely charismatic Aussie actress, Peta Wilson.
I really like Jen (perhaps it’s the Southern gal in me), though I was more than a little miffed at her briefly for ghosting Kevin Smith because he spilled some personal Tea in an interview, that he wouldn’t have even known if Ben hadn’t told him. 🙂
This! I recognised the styles before I read any of the article or content. Loved Alias.
To me, she looks like Jennifer Garner from Alias times.
Wow, she is just gorgeous, which is easy to forget because the media has been intent on publishing photos of her as a dressed-down mom.
“Intent” Really ? You mean the daily photos of her .
Jennifer Garner is a pretty woman however this Allure spread is terrible. The outfits, the make up, the wigs are just not flattering on her at all. I guess it’s a nod to Alias but it still looks awful. They accentuated her square jaw and square frame. I watched 3 episodes of her Apple TV show and it’s SO boring which is a shame cause the book is great. Her acting is SO flat. She ruined the party down reboot for me too. Really bad acting on her part.
Yes, “intent.” Did I say something unclear?
@ SeemaLikely
They didn’t perpetually take photos of her in her “mom” look to make look a certain way that’s how she dresses for her everyday style.
She dresses down for herself, not to make up some perfect mom image. Give it a break.
When she’s promoting something she dresses up (and it’s covered) but mostly she just dresses like everyone else. I think there are tons of pics of her dressing down because that’s what she looks like almost every day. She seems firmly in charge of and ok with that image, I don’t think the media had to skew anything.
The red hair photo is giving me Alias flashbacks.
I was the same way as a kid, always had dolls, babysat a lot, I even worked in child care for a while, and ended up not wanting kids myself, LOL.
BRING BACK ALIAS!
WE NEED AN ALIAS REBOOT!!!
I started rewatching recently. I don’t recommend it. I remember this sexy fun show with cool outfits and bad ass fight scenes… Let’s just say it didn’t age as well as she has.
I’m getting Alias vibes from this and I’m loving it!
I am liking Garner more now that she is no longer with Affleck. It felt like nothing but eggshells when she did do promotions while they where married.
I always kept her at arms length when I read a interview years about and the interviewer was to meet her at a cafe and they missed each other because they were both early so she went to order something and he was at a table. He went up and said her name and she just was very icy to him and then said he was the writer doing the interview and then she relaxed. Given what she had to go through with the paps and her space being invaded because of her marriage, I see it now and gave her too much guff.
Real talk, that man is a energy vacuum, especially when it comes to partners.
She’s just solid. I’m watching her in that Apple TV show and really enjoy her. She’s good at her job and she doesn’t treat others like garbage.
I Like her in the appleTV series as well. Although I think it was a mistake to stretch it out over seven episodes and to release them week to week. It would have been better to release them all at once since they are only 30-40 minutes each. And I loved her in the party down episodes because she really does romantic comedy well and had great chemistry with Adam Scott.
She looks gorgeous. Garner and Robin Wright look alike.
“ blackness in my soul”
Oof, that’s not going to go over well. I like Jen and I don’t think she meant this in a way it could be perceived and I hope she corrects it to something that doesn’t have racist connotations. Maybe something like “hardness in my soul”.
« Blue nails Betty »,thank you for this remark… as a black person,it hurts me to see ppl still associate black to something wrong or bad… ppl like her so she won’t be chastised but white ppl are so privileged that they don’t even realize the langage used,SMH
Thanks for this perspective. When I say that I’m thinking of a shriveled up, dead, rotting thing that is black.
I never thought of it any other way or how it could be taken.
Thanks for shifting my view!
Please stop. Black heart or black soul are used in fantasy to this day and have NO racial undertones. Look at her insta she is always posting and lifting up others of all walks of life. Just look at who commented on her own post about this Allure cover – all walks of life luv her and they should she is a good egg & has been for decades.
No I think you need to stop and go have a seat . Black/poc are saying that phrase has a racial undertones and your telling them what/how they should feel about that phrase because your a Jen fan.
I fully admit to stanning Jen Garner. I just know after having been married to Ben and having to deal with his general mess, and the graceful way she handled it, that she has a lot of stuff–she is filled with the good stuff. I like and appreciate the solid person she clearly is. The icing on the cake is that she makes really cute cooking videos and posts them on Instagram. Her Christmas video when she made Boeuf Bourguignon and almost set her kitchen on fire was gold.
I’m currently watching her “The Last Thing He Told Me” on AppleTV every Friday night and enjoying the heck out of it.
I just looked at the Allure pics from the shoot – they are great. Totally Alias flashbacks. Not that I love all the reboots but now I’m thinking, do we need to check back in with Sydney Bristow?
I know I am in a microscopic minority , but every time I read one of her interviews the only thing I can think is : the secret to success is sincerity once you can fake that you’ve got it made.
To all of those saying these pics are giving them Alias vibes, ITA! She looks great. I’ve always been a fan, so it’s good to see her happy and free of the weight of that marriage to Affleck.
Wonderful story about Violet. I know it made Jen proud.
I like her. I don’t have any big opinions about her acting abilities since I haven’t seen her in much. Just in general, she seems like a pretty nice, grounded person. She could be a total nightmare in real life, I wouldn’t know lol, but I like the public persona vibe she gives off.
I like her lightened hair A LOT. Looks great.
I honestly, honestly would not have recognized her were it not for the headline. That said, she’s pretty.
The red hair is HOT.
I have always thought she photographs like a normal size woman. Here she looks trim and super fit. Do you think she is actually really petite but photographs like a “normal “ person because she is usually snapped wearing mom outfits?
Not sure what is meant by “normal sized” but she’s 5’8” so that height has never been described as “petite”. I think average for a woman is 5’4”-5’6”.
Her skin is amazing and I’m super jealous. She also looks like Charlize on the cover, I was confused when I read her name.
I think Garner looks great! Reading some of these comments has me thinking a bunch of ya didn’t watch Alias! She can be a chameleon especially w/ wigs and makeup, so stop w/ wanting to JLo slander… thanks! Also Jenn is always w/o makeup and you can tell she is aging gracefully beautifully – thank y’all ver much!
JG is definitely paying homage to her Alias days where she wore multiple wigs & really rocked them! ( and rocks them now!). This was supposed to be a fun shoot!
She looks phenomenal…remember she is in her 50’s. If you follow her on IG, she shows alot of her workouts, which are challenging at best! And she
Both JG & JL are MUSCULAR & strong physically! ( if you think JG has a boxy figure, i would take her boxy figure, anyday!) Yes, they have trainers, but they have to put in the work! And they do!
I love the story she was told about Violet…she should be so proud!!!