Jennifer Garner Finally Breaks Her Silence on the “Hardest Chapter” of Her Life — Inside Her Painful Divorce from Ben Affleck

“Losing a true partnership and friendship is what was hard,” said Garner of her ex-husband

Jennifer Garner; Ben Affleck.

Jennifer Garner is giving rare insight into her separation from ex-husband Ben Affleck.

Speaking to Marie Claire UK about life now and the upcoming second season of her Apple TV+ drama The Last Thing He Told Me, the actress, 53, recalled how “hard” it was breaking up with Affleck in 2015.

“You have to be smart about what you can and can’t handle, and I could not handle what was out there. But what was out there,” Garner said, gesturing into the distance, “was not what was hard. The fact of it is what was hard. The actual breaking up of a family is what was hard. Losing a true partnership and friendship is what was hard.”

Jennifer Garner for Marie Claire UK.
Nino Muñoz
After Garner’s highly publicized breakup with Affleck, 53, with whom she shares kids Violet Anne, Seraphina Rose and Samuel, she sought community. “I make a big, concerted effort to see my people as much as I can, because that’s what matters,” the Alias alum told Marie Claire. “That’s where your resilience is: it’s in your relationships and in the people who carry you through.”

The former couple split in 2015 after 10 years of marriage, officially divorcing three years later.

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In addition to teasing the second outing of The Last Thing He Told Me (which costars Angourie Rice, Aisha Tyler and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau), Garner shared her other current priorities: advocacy work with Save the Children US and Once Upon a Farm, and of course, her kids.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner in July 2025.
Brian Fluharty/Getty
“They’re just so cool!” she said of Violet Anne, 20, Seraphina Rose, 17, and Samuel, 13. “Parenting now has shifted. It’s more about parenting with a button on my mouth…. You have to let them grow up and make their choices. You don’t get to control it.”

Garner, who is dating businessman John Miller, also said co-parenting with Affleck as their public lives continue to be in the spotlight has been “the hardest thing. Not hard in the grand scheme of what is hard in the world, but tricky for me and tricky for my family.”

An exclusive source told PEOPLE that the star of the upcoming The Rip (on Netflix Jan. 16) celebrated the Christmas holiday last month with Garner and their kids. “Just like they celebrated Thanksgiving together, Ben is invited to celebrate Christmas with Jen and the kids too,” the insider said. “They just have this nice routine now that works for everyone.”

Season 2 of The Last Thing He Told Me will premiere on Apple TV+ on Feb. 20. Among Garner’s other upcoming projects is Peacock drama The Five-Star Weekend.