Jennifer Garner Opens Up About Ben Affleck Divorce Struggles

has made rare comments about the situation she was placed in when she split from husband  in 2015.

The 54-year-old actress told the new issue of InStyle magazine that the breakup was a 'family upheaval' that forced her to hunker down at home.

Garner - who posed for the magazine in daring swimsuits - had to .

Meanwhile, Affleck starred in hit films like Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice and The Accountant around the time the family broke up.

Garner and Affleck finalized their divorce in 2018 as he went on to marry and divorce while she has been in a relationship with businessman John Miller for the past eight years. 

Now that the kids are older, she is able to really 'indulge' in acting, which she says she gets great joy from. Her next project is The Five Star Weekend for Peacock.

The Five Star Weekend is an eight-episode television miniseries premiering on July 9, 2026. Garner's costars are , Gemma Chan and Judy Greer.

'When my kids were little, I worked so little, and then we had such an upheaval in our family, that I really hardly worked for a long time,' shared the West Virginia native.

But now she has time to do more projects, which she says she is very happy about: 'I'm also really grateful to have this part of my life back.

'[It's a gift] to have this year and a half where I just indulged [in acting], because this job is very selfish,' she noted.

'It's all about your schedule. It's not about what the kids have going on at school. It's not about pickups and drop-offs and making it home for dinner.'

And she wants to work now because she is not getting any younger, she said: 'I'm 54, I'm not going to be able to do it forever.' 

The red carpet fixture also stressed she really does enjoy being on set: 'I feel lucky because I really come at [acting] from a place of joy. I'm not tortured. It's not filling a hole. I just really love to do it. And I love to be around people who love to do it.' 

When she does work, she does not say she is sorry to her children as she feels she doesn't need to, but she does check in with them, the star told the publication. 

'When I work, I don't apologize to my kids for it,' said the Los Angeles resident who has recently starred in two seasons of The Last Thing He Told Me.

'I so thank them for being so sweet about it. But that's part of life. Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. 

'Tripping and falling—there's room for all of it,' she said.

And she feels she gave so much to her three children, which she will continue to do: 'I relate to that feeling of like, Okay, I gave everything to mothering. I'm still their mom, I'm not going anywhere, I'm still all-in.'

And Garner stressed that women need to be kind to themselves as they balance work and family.

'You have to raise yourself at the same time,' noted the best friend of Reese Witherspoon. 'And just be so radically kind to yourself about how imperfect it is,' she added.

Garner also shared that sometimes women have to accept that life is just going to be 'imperfect.' 

'There's no such thing as balance. There's no such thing as doing it right. And when the big moments happen, you are okay, and that's on you to know and understand so your child feels your okayness,' she shared.