Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck haven’t said much publicly about the breakup of their marriage more than a decade ago, but she just addressed the subject.
«You have to be smart about what you can and can’t handle, and I could not handle what was out there,» Garner said of the difficulty of that period in a new Marie Claire UK interview. «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.»
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Garner and Affleck split in 2015, after 10 years of marriage, and their divorce was finalized in 2018. They share three children: 13-year-old Samuel, 17-year-old Fin, and Violet, who’s 20.
For Garner, «the hardest thing» has been dealing with all the interest in her relationship with Affleck, she said. «Not hard in the grand scheme of what is hard in the world, but tricky for me and tricky for my family.»
To get through the difficult period, Garner said she’s turned away from tabloid coverage and toward her loved ones.
«I make a big, concerted effort to see my people as much as I can, because that’s what matters,» the star of The Last Thing He Told Me said. «That’s where your resilience is: it’s in your relationships and in the people who carry you through.»
Garner also mentioned her kids, whom she called «just so cool.»
She added that she’s «so proud of how they walk through the world, and proud of them for trying hard.»
Albert L. Ortega/Getty
Jennifer Garner with her children in 2018