Jennifer Garner talks reality of raising three kids with ex Ben Affleck: ‘You can’t help it’

Jennifer Garner shared an insight into the challenges of co-parenting her three children with her ex-husband, Ben Affleck. During an appearance on Bustle’s One Nightstand YouTube series, the actress opened up about raising Violet, Fin, and Samuel in separate households.

The mother-of-three admitted that she provides “a bit of both” when it comes to raising her kids with a “conscientious upbringing” and “appreciation”.

“And I think my kids’ dad does too. Especially when your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad and he becomes dad and mom,” she shared. “You kind of can’t help it, right? Because you don’t have the benefit of both sides of the yin and yang being in the same house.”

Jennifer continued: “There’s a little bit of loss in that, but there’s also something gained in that. You also just learn. It’s made me let go and not focus so much on bringing up.”

Jennifer and Ben’s relationship

The former couple were married from 2005 to 2015 and share three children, Violet, Fin, and Samuel. 

This isn’t the first time Jennifer has openly discussed her co-parenting relationship with Ben. During an interview with Marie Claire, the actress discussed going through a public divorce. “You have to be smart about what you can and can’t handle, and I could not handle what was out there [in the press],” she said.

© GC Images

“But what was out there 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.”

She continued: “So much about my life surprises me…that I’m able to co-parent at this point in time with peace and equanimity and a partnership that I didn’t know I would ever get back to.”

“I think it’s important for women to know, when they think, ‘Oh, I’ll never see that, I’ll never have that feeling, I’ll never be friends with this person again’, [that] time is the opportunity. Time is the opportunity to heal. Time is the opportunity to forgive, to move on and to find a new way to be friends.”

Children’s future

© Getty

When asked whether he expected to see his children enter the world of Hollywood, Ben told E! News: “You put something on your children when you have a public life and that’s complicated. We really want to give them room to figure out what they want to do.”

“I wouldn’t push them into that,” Ben continued. “They’re brilliant and lovely and wonderful and we love them and we’re proud of them,” also joking: “And hope that they don’t waste their life acting.”