This week, Jennifer Garner decided to open up about the joys and pains of co-parenting. Garner and Abbott Elementary actress Sheryl Lee Ralph sat down for Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” series.
The two actresses bonded over the fact that they are divorcées and they have to raise their children with the help and love of their former spouses.
Ralph shares two children — Etienne Maurice and Ivy-Victoria Maurice — with ex-husband Eric Maurice.
As for Garner and ex-husband Ben Affleck — they have three children — Violet Anne, Seraphina Rose, and Samuel.
Recently, Ben Affleck married Jennifer Lopez, and they have since moved their blended family into a Los Angeles mansion.
Garner has been dating CaliBurger CEO John Miller since 2018. Garner confessed that she sees motherhood as “a gift.”
She also revealed that she and Affleck had encountered complications and other surprises while co-parenting in the Hollywood spotlight with Affleck.
Garner and Ralph said they were proud and happy to have been able to provide their children a “normal life” while being in the public eye.
Ralph stated: “We have so many things in common. With all the celebrity and all of that, I feel like I have a very normal life, and I think you have that similar sort of vibe. And we love our kids.”
Garner responded by: “And all the mess of parenting. It’s a gift.”
Garner further agreed with Ralph when she revealed that it was not simple to maintain a “healthy relationship with my ex-husband as it was difficult with the spotlight on me all the time.”
In a recent interview with Allure, Garner opened up about the common mistake she made with her first child — she was overprotective.
She explained: “I was such a first-time mom my daughter didn’t have a shot. She couldn’t have a free thought — I was all over her. It was a nightmare for everyone around me.”
She also made this beautiful declaration about being a mother: “Being a mother was one thing I knew I was going to be. 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. And I had a babysitting company with my friend Carrie — C & J’s Babysitting — from, like, seventh or eighth grade.”
The power players are making it work.
