Even years after her split from , maintained a loving bond with her former mother-in-law, Chris Anne, who has
Showbiz
Jennifer Garners Close Bond with Afflecks Mother
Even years after her split from Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner maintained a loving bond with her former mother-in-law, Chris Anne, who has died at the age of 83. ...
On Thursday, it was revealed Chris Anne passed away from pancreatic on June 2. The matriarch of the family is survived by sons Ben, 53, and Casey, 50, and five grandkids.
Despite her son's split from Garner, 54, the two women remained fiercely close over the years, frequently celebrating holidays together and stepping out on casual strolls in .
Chris Anne even stayed with the actress and her kids while Affleck was getting treatment at a rehab facility in Malibu in 2018.
Highlighting their ongoing bond, Affleck and his late mother also joined the actress at her home for dinner just last year.
Affleck and Garner - who announced their separation in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018 - have continued to co-parent their three children, Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14.
And in 2024, Chris Anne was pictured, despite arriving at the event with Affleck and his then wife .
Even years after her split from Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, 54, maintained a loving bond with her former mother-in-law, Chris Anne, who has died at the age of 83; The two seen in 2017
Garner and Affleck - who announced their separation in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018 - have continued to co-parent their three children, Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14; Seen 2014
In 2024, Chris Anne and Affleck were pictured having a chat with Garner, with the doting mother affectionately patting Garner's arm and beaming at her.
Advertisement
Chris Anne's family revealed the sad news of her death on Thursday, following her passing on June 2; She is seen with Affleck in 2004
The matriarch of the family is survived by Ben and her other actor son Casey Affleck, 50, as well as five grandkids; Casey and Chris Anne pictured in 2000
Chris Anne was born in December of 1942 in New York City. She graduated from Harvard University and was a public school teacher for 35 years prior to her retirement in 2008.
Affleck, speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 about his mother, said, 'My mother taught public school, went to Harvard and then got her master’s there and taught fifth and sixth grade in a public school.'
She was a staunch advocate for civil rights, and had traveled to the South in the 1960s during a time of social change, according to her obituary.
Chris Anne 'taught literacy classes in Mississippi during Freedom Summer, marched against the Vietnam War, and reveled in 1960s counterculture,' her obituary stated.
She carried these values into the classroom, according to the obit, as 'every student, whether just arrived from Haiti or Cambridge upper crust, was a cherished citizen of her classroom republic, equal to each other and to herself.'
Chris Anne and ex-husband Timothy Affleck welcomed Ben in 1972 and Casey in 1975. In the mid-1970s, they moved to Massachusetts, as Chris Anne taught there. They got divorced when Ben was 12-years-old, and Timothy would move to California afterwards.
Advertisement
Casey, speaking to Boston Magazine in 2006, credited his mother for keeping the household steady during the turbulent time.
'She always made us go on family vacations,' Casey said. 'When you’re a kid, you just want to stay home and hang out with your friends. You don’t want to go to your grandparents’ house.'
The actor and his mother were pictured at an Academy Awards party in 1998
Chris Anne, Ben and Samuel seen in Brentwood, California in June of 2015
'But tradition meant a lot to her. She just insisted. We had a lot of fights about that. But now I love it and those are some of my favorite memories.'
She encouraged her son Ben's show business aspirations early on, introducing him to casting director Patty Collins, who had been her roommate at Harvard when she attended college, according to THR.
Collins assisted a young Ben with auditions for TV films and commercials.
Affleck, in a 2007 interview with Parade, opened up about his early days in front of the camera with his mother's support.
Advertisement
'I got into acting as a young child on account of a sort of arbitrary thing,' he said at the time. 'A friend of my mom’s was a casting director so, really as kind of a lark.'
'I had a couple of acting jobs that had just enough exposure to give me the option to continue if I wanted to. I followed through with it.'
Chris Anne was behind Affleck throughout his show business career, and went to the Academy Awards with him and Matt Damon in 1998, when they won the Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen.
Affleck recalled to Vanity Fair in April of 2023: 'We were sitting next to our moms and we won, and we kind of hugged our moms. I remember how everyone had made such a big thing out of it as if this was such a novelty.'
Chris Anne seen with Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in November of 2002
'I remember thinking, being insecure, like, "Why? Why is it weird that we’re bringing our moms?" Who else do you think we would bring?'
Chris Anne had also been to her son's 2022 nuptials to Lopez, braving a health scare the day before with a leg injury before returning to see them exchange vows. He and Lopez divorced two years later in 2024.
His mother retired from teaching in 2008 but stayed active tending to social causes she held dear.
They included campaigning for former President Barack Obama, putting together the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, and being a board member for the Sustainable Cape project in Truro, Massachusetts, her obit stated.
After she was presented with the health diagnosis late last year, Chris Anne contacted her pal Josh Laub to record 'oral histories of his time as a principal in the South Bronx,' according to her obit.
