‘The paparazzi were so insane’: Jennifer Garner on motherhood, the reality of Hollywood and THOSE Ben Affleck memes
As one half of a former Hollywood power couple, Jennifer Garner has seen the darker side of fame. She reveals how she keeps it real – and the new role that had a very personal meaning.
Stellar
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From Alias to Suddenly 30, Jennifer Garner has made a career of playing strong female characters. Now, as the Hollywood actor prepares to star as a stepmother at a crossroads in the new miniseries The Last Thing He Told Me, she speaks exclusively to Stellar about her own family life, from the chaos of her career zenith – “the paparazzi were so insane when my children were little … and dangerous” – to watching her ex-husband Ben Affleck become the target of internet memes.
Stellar: You became a star playing international spy Sydney Bristow on the hit noughties action series Alias. Given that so many shows from that period are now being rebooted, would you be tempted to reprise your role?
Jennifer Garner: That’s really a question for J.J. [Abrams, the show’s creator]. But I would never say no to Sydney Bristow. In the meantime, you said yes to the new miniseries The Last Thing He Told Me, about a woman whose relationship with her petulant stepdaughter blossoms under very stressful circumstances.
S: Were you familiar with Laura Dave’s 2021 novel before producing and starring in this adaptation?
JG: I read it out loud to my middle child [Seraphina], who was 12 at the time. And it was one of those things where at night, it was bedtime, and I couldn’t stop [reading]. I just kept breaking my own bedtime rules to keep going … So yes, I’d read the book and I knew that, at the time, Julia Roberts was attached, and I was just like, “Oh. Well, she’s going to be amazing.” And then I heard she had scheduling conflicts, so I went on my own little campaign to get the job.
S: Given that you read the book with Seraphina, were you excited to share the series with her and your two other children?
JG: [Garner shares daughters Violet, 17, and Seraphina, 14, and son Samuel, 10, with her ex-husband Ben Affleck.] They haven’t seen it. [But] they don’t totally love watching me work. They’re proud of me and they’re happy, [and] they will watch things, but I’m definitely not like, “Oh, come sit down and watch Mum.” I think it’s because they don’t like to see me [acting] sad. They don’t love to see me kissing a guy. And I totally understand that. They just want me to be their mum.
S: During filming, you forged a new friendship with Angourie Rice, the 22-year-old Australian actor who plays your stepdaughter, Bailey.
JG: I really love that girl. She is self-possessed. She is well read. She is incredibly thoughtful and mature and, at the same time, still a little kid. Her budding adulthood and her effervescent, childlike qualities are almost, you know, battling each other out.
S: It’s interesting to hear you reflect on that dynamic given that one of your most beloved films is Suddenly 30. Are there any childhood traits you wish you had held on to?
JG: I was a nondescript kid. I wasn’t goth or emo. I was just a kid who hung out playing my saxophone and dancing [in the marching band]. I’m sure there are things I went for [then] that maybe I’d be more scared to do now. But I went for this job [on The Last Thing He Told Me]. So, my whole life is still about really going for things you’re scared of. Hopefully
I’ve held on to a little bit of that young JG.
S: Your character is willing to do whatever it takes to protect the young girl in her care. Is that a philosophy you embrace in your life?
JG: It’s all of our jobs. And that’s how society will ultimately be judged: [on] how we treat [our most vulnerable people] … That includes kids who can’t vote for themselves, who can’t advocate for themselves and who can’t provide for themselves. It’s all our jobs to be
looking out for our neighbours, right? That [belief] included the thing I struggled with
in 2013, when I was advocating for my ownobviously privileged kids in a very privileged
life [to protect them from the paparazzi].
S: That campaign alongside fellow actor Halle Berry ultimately changed California law to better protect children of famous parents from paparazzi intrusion. What was the impetus for you to get involved?
JG: The paparazzi were insane when my children were little, and so dangerous for other people. I would go through a yellow light and 10 cars would go through the red behind me,
drive up on the sidewalks, and weave in and out of traffic – for me, a mum with her kids just trying to get to school. It was so ludicrous. And we were such a blight to our community. At our kids’ school, children were knocked to the ground by paparazzi. So, it was just
like, how can we impose ourselves on the community? How can any child have a normal life around a celebrity if this is going to be considered normal? [That campaign] really did change our lives for the better.
S: The online world is another scary space. What advice have you given your children about using social media?
JG: I don’t know if I’m doing the right thing, but I don’t allow my kids on social media. I tell them, “When you can show me articles that prove that kids are happier with access to social media, we can have that conversation. And until then, I can definitely show you articles that talk about the ways that it’s detrimental to kids’ health.” Not that they don’t have access to all kinds of things online. Just because they don’t have social media accounts doesn’t mean they’re not interacting with what’s on Instagram, TikTok and all those things. They’re just not doing it on their own account, on their own devices. So, it’s a bit of a stopgap. My eldest is 17 and she tells me she’s really grateful that I’ve set that boundary. The tricky thing is going to be holding it for the next two, because whatever you set for the oldest is hard to hold up by the time you get to the youngest.
S: Your ex-husband has become the subject of various memes. What do you make of that?
JG: I really work hard not to see either of us in the press. It doesn’t make me feel good, even if it’s something nice about one of us. I just try to forget that I’m out there in any way, and the same with anyone I love. I don’t need to see anyone in my family made into a meme. Although I’m sure he’s quite meme-worthy, yes!
The Last Thing He Told Me premieres this Friday on Apple TV+.
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Originally published as ‘The paparazzi were so insane’: Jennifer Garner on motherhood, the reality of Hollywood and THOSE Ben Affleck memes
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