Jennifer Garner has revealed she ‘panicked’ about her financial future after the breakdown of her marriage Ben Affleck and realized she had to become “an earner” after years of prioritizing motherhood over Hollywood.
The Alias star, 54, who split from fellow actor Ben, also 54, in 2015 after ten years of marriage, said she suddenly became aware she had taken a step back from her career while raising their three children – and feared there was no guarantee the work would keep coming.
“I panicked when I first got out of my marriage and realized that I had taken such a step back in my work,” Jennifer said on Emma Grede’s Aspire podcast on Tuesday.
‘Suddenly I realised: I don’t know how much longer I can work. This isn’t a career that’s like, hey, you’re 60, you’re 55, you’re 43 – come on, let’s pay you more than you’ve ever made. That’s not traditionally the role.’
Jennifer and Ben married in June 2005 and share three children: Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14.
Jennifer Garner has revealed she ‘panicked’ about her financial future after the breakdown of her marriage to Ben Affleck and realized she had to become ‘an earner’
The Alias star, 54, who split from fellow actor Ben, also 54, in 2015 after a decade of marriage, said she suddenly became aware she had stepped back from her career
They announced their separation in June 2015, shortly after their tenth wedding anniversary, and eventually finalized their divorce in 2018.
Jennifer said the end of the marriage forced her to think differently about her own financial security and how she could continue to earn while still being present for the children.
She added: “I suddenly thought, ‘Wait a minute, I have to take care of myself. I have to take care of these children. So what’s it going to be?’
The actress said she and her longtime manager then became “very calculated” about what her next chapter should look like, with the non-negotiable being that she had to stay close to home.
Jennifer continued, “She thought, how can you work? And I said, I can work in Los Angeles. I can’t leave these kids for six months at a time. I would really like to – I like to go on location – but that is not this time in my career.
“And so it’s like, OK, what can we make happen? How can we do it? And we’re just very purposeful and still working on it.”
One of the answers was Once Upon a Farm, the organic infant food company that Jennifer joined as co-founder in 2017.
Jennifer recalled, “Once Upon a Farm was a big part of that piece. The crazy thing is that it works.’
The company debuted on the New York Stock Exchange in February at $18 per share, giving it a valuation of about $724 million.
Jennifer and Ben married in June 2005 and share three children: Violet, 20, Fin, 17, and Samuel, 14 (pictured with her brood in April 2020)
Jennifer is the company’s largest individual shareholder, owning approximately seven percent of the company.
Forbes estimated this month that her stake was worth about $50 million.
Looking back on her financially uncertain period before the business got off the ground, Jennifer said her fame provided little assurance that money would continue to come in.
She explained: ‘It’s not like you can just make yourself unfamous. Life is expensive and you still have to figure out how you’re going to live.
“And just because you’re well known by people doesn’t mean you’re going to have a great life.
“And it became very serious for me very quickly, as someone who had never thought much about money. Like, oh, I have to be an earner here.”
The star also joked that even now her old business manager can make her fear she is broke just by giving her a look.
She added, “All he has to do is look at me funny and I convince myself I’m broke. My problem is… I give away a lot of money.
“So every now and then he says, can you put on the brakes? So I had to cool my jets on that.”
Jennifer’s admission comes after she revealed earlier this summer that she had “barely worked for a long time” while her children were young and amid her family’s “turmoil” surrounding the end of her marriage.
Her acting career has since regained momentum, with Jennifer recently starring in the Peacock drama The Five-Star Weekend, while continuing her role on Once Upon a Farm.
Still, she says she doesn’t regret spending those years closer to home.
She said: ‘I was so lucky that I was able to work a little bit and be at home a lot and be a mother. I was very grateful for that opportunity. I kind of have to have the best of both worlds.
“So I can’t really look back and complain. It just is what it is.’
