Jennifer Garner, even with twenty-plus years in the industry, has maintained a refreshingly non-jaded, real as it gets attitude she is known for. The star has amassed a devoted fan base from across all generations over her decades in Hollywood, of course because of her acting – in roles such as Sydney Bristow in Alias and Jenna Rink on 13 Going on 30 – but also, largely, because of simply being known as one of Hollywood's nicest.
Now, it appears her kids with Ben Affleck are garnering, no pun intended, the very same reputation, particularly her eldest, Violet, whose kind, high-school hero moment was revealed in the new interview with Allure.
As it just so happens, the actress' interviewer, Danielle Pergament, has her daughter enrolled in the same school as Jennifer's kids, and while there are four grades apart, Violet became her daughter's knight in shining armor during a moment of bullying at the school.
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The story goes that "after a particularly ugly mean girl episode," Danielle's daughter was trying her best not to cry publicly in the school cafeteria, and while standing in line, "an older girl" she later learned was Violet Affleck, "managed to replace a mean girl episode with a moment of kindness and grace," when she made sure to ask if she was okay.
"Oh, I love that," was Jennifer's reaction, who confirmed: "That's Violet," and continued to speak warmly of her kids.
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"I have a lot of faith in my kids. I don't love every behavior all the time, always. It's gnarly growing up," she says, pointing out how difficult it is to raise a Gen-Z child in the age of social media.
"We didn’t have the eyes on us that our kids have," she says, recalling: "I was such a first-time mom. [My eldest daughter] didn't have a shot. She couldn't have a free thought – I was all over her. I was a nightmare for everyone around me."
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Still, she wouldn't have it any other way, and she also noted during the interview that above all else, she knew come hell or high water, she would be a mom no matter what it took.
"Being a mother was one thing I knew I was going to be," she admits, adding: "I really could have been a mother in any way. I could have adopted, I could have fostered, but there was no doubt I was going to be a mom. I mean, I was the kid with the doll everywhere I went."
Now, mom is the only role her kids want to see her as, hence why they prefer to stick to watching their dad's movies, and not hers. "They don't mind watching their dad, but they kind of want me to be their mom. They don't want to see me upset and women cry more in what we do. And they don't really want to see me in a romantic thing."
Jennifer has three kids with her ex-husband Ben, who she married in 2005 and split from in 2018. Violet, her eldest, is 17, and she is followed by Seraphina Rose, 14, and Samuel, 11. Their step-siblings are Jennifer Lopez' kids with Marc Anthony, twins Max and Emme, 15.
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