Jennifer Garner got candid about her public split from Ben Affleck following 10 years of marriage, and shared insight into how their relationship shifted while co-parenting their three kids.
The Alias actress shared with Marie Claire that the pain of her separation from Ben was compounded by the public's voracious interest in her private life. "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.
"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 added that it was her friends and family who were by her side during this time in her life, which taught her to rely on her loved ones. "I make a big, concerted effort to see my people as much as I can, because that's what matters…That's where your resilience is: it's in your relationships and in the people who carry you through."
Learn more about their family dynamic below...
Despite their split in 2015, Jennifer and Ben continue to amicably co-parent their kids, Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 13, and the exes appear friendly when seen out in public together.
"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," she explained.
"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."
Ben was equally supportive of Jennifer in a GQ interview, sharing that he was "really lucky [to] have a really good co-parent and partner in Jennifer Garner, the kids' mom, who's wonderful and great and we work together well."
Elsewhere in the interview, Jennifer shared that her parenting style had changed since her kids entered their teenage years.
"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," the Golden Globe winner said, adding that she was "so proud of how they walk through the world, and proud of them for trying hard…they're just so cool."
The Affleck kids have been the topic of public interest for several years, which Jennifer admitted was "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."
"It doesn't serve me to take in gossip about myself or anyone else, much less my kids, so I don't do it." While Violet is studying at Yale University and published an acclaimed paper in the school's Global Health Review, Fin is approaching the end of their high school years, and Samuel is an avid sports fan and basketball lover.