Jennifer Garner Doesn't Apologize to Her Kids for Her Busy Work Schedule: 'Working Hard Is Part of Life'
Jennifer Garner Doesn't Apologize to Her Kids for Her Busy Work Schedule: 'Working Hard Is Part of Life'
Kayla GrantWed, June 3, 2026 at 7:12 PM UTC
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Jennifer Garner
Credit: Celeste Sloman/InStyle
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Jennifer Garner revealed her agent once gave her an ultimatum to act in Dallas Buyers Club or retire
Garner balanced her career, advocacy work, and raising three kids after stepping back from acting during their early years
She now embraces acting more as her kids are older and says she feels "lucky" to work from a place of joy
Jennifer Garner is not afraid of working hard on the things she's passionate about.
The Five-Star Weekend actress, 54, chatted exclusively with InStyle about everything from her upcoming TV series to her family life. Garner, who's a mom to Samuel, 13, Seraphina, 17, and Violet, 20, shared that she once received an ultimatum from her agent to sign on to the 2013 drama Dallas Buyers Club or consider retiring from her career. While she wasn't ready to retire, Garner, who shares her children with ex Ben Affleck, knew that in that moment of her life, acting took a lower priority to her growing family.
“When my kids were little, I worked so little, and then we had such an upheaval in our family, that I really hardly worked for a long time," she told the outlet.
Jennifer Garner for Instyle
Credit: Celeste Sloman/InStyle
She didn't stop acting despite what her agent told her. Instead, the 13 Going on 30 alum balanced growing her career, running her company, Once Upon a Farm, completing her advocacy work for Save the Children and raising her children.
Years later, the doting mom of three still maintains a busy schedule. With her kids now older, she's able to squeeze in some more acting roles into her packed schedule. Garner told the outlet that she feels "lucky" to be able to work from a "place of joy."
"I’m not tortured. It’s not filling a hole. I just really love to do it," she said. "And I love to be around people who love to do it. I was really, really happy when I was working in summer stock and making a hundred bucks a week.”
The Last Thing He Told Me actress went on to share how she doesn't apologize to her kids for giving her acting career more time in this stage of her life.
“To have this year and a half where I just indulged [in acting], because this job is very selfish. It’s all about your schedule," she explained. "It’s not about what the kids have going on at school. It’s not about pickups and drop-offs and making it home for dinner."
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"When I work, I don’t apologize to my kids for it. I do thank them for being so sweet about it. But that’s part of life," Garner added. "Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. Tripping and falling—there’s room for all of it.”
Jennifer Garner for Instyle
Credit: Celeste Sloman/InStyle
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Garner and Affleck wed in 2005, welcomed their first child, daughter Violet, that same year, and split a decade later before divorcing in 2018. When Garner did take time away from her children to act, she told InStyle, they were “such bricks” about losing mom time.
The actress previously opened up about how she strikes a balance between motherhood and being an actress — and revealed that she had a moment of doubt about her career after giving birth to her third child, son Samuel, in 2012.
The Alias alum took a six-month break after Samuel was born because “three kids just knocks you flat on your ass,” she told Variety in 2018. Then, a call with her then-agent of 20 years, Patrick Whitesell made her rethink her career.
“Patrick said, ‘Either this is the telephone call about you doing Dallas Buyers Club and how we're going to make that happen, or it's a telephone call about your retirement,' ” the star recalled to the outlet. “That was a real moment of decision and clarity and I loved him for it because it forced me to say, ‘OK, I am not ready to be home all the time.' ”
Garner said, “I would have to decide, ‘No, I actually do love this job.' ”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
