At least two people sent us this article on the transformation of Jennifer Garner from sexy action star to modest “oh gosh” mom, currently starring in a Christian glurge movie. (Thanks Melissa and Erin for the tip!) Writer Anne Helen Petersen has a thoughtful, well-researched take on how Garner buttressed her image, and her estranged husband’s image, despite a flailing career. Plus she quotes us, and Lainey, on Garner’s very strategic moves.
I’ve said this before and it bears repeating – it wasn’t until recently that I realized how calculating Garner is. Kaiser has told me this for years, and I didn’t see it until Garner’s type-A personality went into overdrive while she was trying to protect her family from the fallout over her husband’s very messy cheating scandal. (Kaiser is usually way ahead of me when it comes to reading people, I’ve learned.) That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it’s just that she’s very conscious of how she comes across. It’s worked well so far for her and has benefitted Ben, as Peterson points out.
This is a long editorial and I’m cutting it way back for space, so it’s worth reading in its entirety if you’re interested.
After 13 Going On 30, Garner was poised to become the next Julia Roberts: a rom-com queen who could act, America’s Next Fresh-Faced Sweetheart, equally at home on the cover of Good Housekeeping and lad mags, with a love life that hit the sweet spot between wholesome and gossipworthy. But then, Ben Affleck happened.
After their wedding, Garner — whose first marriage to Scott Foley was rumored to have fallen apart because of her rising star — allowed her career to take a backseat. She had three children, stopped showing her midriff, and started covering her shoulders. While she was still as beloved as ever, she gradually segued into roles as a supporting actress, the mom in children’s films or, most recently, in “mainstream” faith-based fare like Miracles From Heaven.
Garner’s appeal is no longer sexual, but emotional: When she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair this month, it wasn’t actually to promote Miracles so much as her own resilience after the scandal of the last year: Affleck’s public dalliance with the family’s former nanny. Yet the success of Garner’s image transformation serves as a powerful reminder of the sort of traditional femininity still cherished by a vast and influential swath of the American public. Garner may no longer be “cool” or “sexy” or even a mainstream actress — but she’s also never been a more powerful, or ideologically potent, star…
Garner’s career could survive bombs like Elektra and Catch & Release; wan, charisma-less rom-coms like Ghosts of Girlfriend Past; and even entire years without a film in theaters, but only if she had another compelling narrative — in her case, domesticity and motherhood — to engage fans.
As Matt Damon explained in The Guardian, “Ben’s wife, Jennifer Garner, sells a shitload of magazines in the midwest. Magazines that — Ben explained this to me — you and I have never heard of, but that appeal to the mom in the midwest, who for some reason identifies with Jennifer and wants to know what she’s doing as a mom.”
Garner doesn’t have an newsletter like Gwyneth and doesn’t use Snapchat like Reese, but no matter: She’s cultivated more than enough goodwill to win a steady stream of advertising contracts and, more crucially, subtly direct that goodwill toward Affleck — an unlovable star whose success nonetheless matters much more to the future of her family.
For the last fifteen years, Garner’s career has operated in reciprocal relation to Affleck’s: Her star was on the rise when they met, and his was in the toilet…
A mom who, when her husband cheats on her, focuses on protecting the family, rather than shaming him publicly. Even the coordinated decision to announce their “secret” 10-month trial separation — which effectively moved back the date of their breakup, transforming his relationship with the nanny from “cheating” into a “bad decision” — was made to protect the entire image of the family.
After reading a joint interview with Garner, her mom and her sisters, I do think this evolution into a soccer mom was kind of natural for her. (I don’t think her lips are natural as she claims, but whatever.) Garner comes from West Virginia, she has three kids now, and it seems inevitable that she would chill out and become more mom-like as she aged. She does play it up though, and she does play to a certain audience. She surely chose this Miracles from Heaven movie to cater to her fanbase and assure them she was still very much with them, as Matt Damon and Peterson so aptly put it.
I still stand by my statement that she should do social media and cut back the leaks to traditional outlets, though. (Thanks for quoting me!) Look at how Naomi Watts uses Instagram – sparingly and in a way that only shows the happy stuff. Maybe there’s a whole team of people making these publicity decisions for the Garner-Afflecks, but the more I learn about Garner the more I think she’s calling the shots.
Garner in 2006:
Affleck and Garner in 2010:
Photos credit: FameFlynet, Getty and WENN
She deserved a better career and she deserves better than to be reduced at this image ( even if she worked to have this image)
totally agree. she was everything in Alias, ever since then I’ve always had a soft spot for her, no matter what drek she was in. i think a tv series would suit her- but maybe I’m just wishing for more Alias…..
yeah, this is sorta framed like her hand was forced into transforming into a bible toting minivan mom whose whole identity is “a mom”. but that isnt what any of us who used to like her wanted! i adored her alias character, and it remains the most watchable AND three dimensional role she has ever had.
the fact is she chose to make this transition to boring yet type A mommy who makes a living on selling her shallow images of motherhood to the public via pap strolls, leaking/selling stories to gossip rags and these cheesy hallmark movies. this wasnt forced on her in any form or fashion.
ironically, she wouldnt have had to hustle so hard to “cover” for ben if she hadnt hustled so hard in the first place to make sure americas mommies were following and salivating after her life and every move. (like the higher up, the longer/harder the fall.) if she had just stuck with some version of her old life as a decent action star, they would just have been like any other hollywood couple in the public’s eyes: abnormally lucky, attractive people who are probably equally as dysfunctional as your neighbors.
and all this is to say, yes jennifer is and always has been, definitely the one calling the shots.
i dont agree. she is not a good actress. this whole image at least speaks for her in terms of being business smart.
i will never feel sorry for people being reduced to an image that they invented, played up and profited from greatly. you cant make millions of it and then complain that people only see you as a mom (im aware Garner does not do this, but countless others do it)
She does do that though.
I remember when she complained about being asked about her kids….and compared it to Ben, who is rarely, if ever asked about their kids…..I think the context was she’d just finished a junket for a project, and said every one of the journalists had asked her about her kids…..
But then a month later, she’s on the cover of a Southern Living-esque magazine with her mom and sisters, talking about how she’s a good ol’ “Garner girl”, and giving details about her childhood/life with her family as a girl–specifically talking about her church-y upbringing, how “Garner girls” didn’t have their ears double pierced (or something like that)…….so yea. She feeds into it.
@Virgilia Coriolanus
I’m not sure if I’m remembering this correctly/ my interpretation is correct, but iirc, Garner was bringing attention to the question, “How do you balance your career and being a mom?” She wasn’t objecting to being asked about her kids but rather the assumption that she had to do this balancing act while Affleck did not. I liked that she brought attention to that fact – because it is rooted in sexism. Men are expected to have careers and are never asked how they balance working and fatherhood while women, assigned the role of primary caretaker by default, are expected to have to do a sort of juggling act if they want a career.
When she said that, she’d just given multiple interviews that were exclusively focused on her as a mother and her children. She didn’t just open the door, she knocked the wall down.
Ben rarely talked about his home life, and when he did it was part of a much larger piece focused on his work. One or two sentences basically just acknowledging that yeah, he has a wife and kids. Of course no one’s going to bother asking him anything about that at a press junket, because the answer wont be worth it. Garner on the other hand will actually give details of her personal life.
Most male actors don’t get asked about balancing family because very, very few make that a public thing. Many female actors make it a major part of their public persona, talk at length about their children, start businesses or take sponsorships based on motherhood etc. The ones who don’t do that are asked just as often as men ie. rarely if ever. I constantly forget that Scarlett has a child for example, because she hasn’t made it part of her image.
When Ben started participating in the thrice weekly pimping out the kids pap walks Garner did, when he wanted an Oscar for Argo, he was suddenly asked about family life much more. Because he started to make that part of his public persona. He only did it for a few weeks. Garner’s done it for a decade.
I agree. And I also don’t see why some people find it degrading to be portrayed as a mother above all else.
Judgy moms can bother me, but I never understood why some women act offended when mothers rave about their kids and talk about how much they enjoy “motherly” activities. Jenn strikes me as a real hands on mom (a rich one at that), and if she can profit from that schtick then good for her.
Really? I don’t think she’s ever displayed any range whatsoever. Romcoms and family movies are pretty much it for her.
She decided to marry Ben and devote herself to having kids with that depressing dude. She ought to have picked a better guy. Even gwyneth Paltrow could see through Affleck.
Gwynneth got separated sooner than Ben. Her husband was rumored to have had an affair. And, guess what, Goopy was cheating with a couple of married men during her marriage. The last married man left his wife for her and she left Chris. And while Goopy carries on about conscious uncoupling and sleepovers and vacations with the ex, she forgets to mention her long-term boyfriend, Brad of a few years. I don’t see her life being much different “seeing through Ben.” Hers was a mess it turned out also.
This.
I read a Hollywood insider story back in 1999 or so naming the most ambitious women in Hollywood at the time: Jennifer Lopez, Catherine Zeta Jones and Jennifer Garner.
I still think that if Garner wasn’t already tied to Affleck at the time, she would have been first in line to audition for the role of Tom Cruise’s wife.
I have nothing against ambition but what Garner has must be a different strand that I can’t get.
Working hard for what you want, maybe even bending the rules a little bit to get what you want, this, I get. But Garner used her kids and her private life to further the career of her man, not even her own career. First she helped Affleck and only after he cheated, she started pushing for herself.
When she is promoting herself she is pushing what a good mother she is, not the talent she has or what her artistic vision is. Why is this admirable?
There are a lot of women and men that have kids and love their families and still maintain a professional attitude at work by separating the private and the professional.
There are women out there that actually throw their cheating men out the door the minute they catch them in the act and suffer the consequences: explanations offered to the family, insults for not being more forgiving, friends’ sharing, being almost single moms. They pay this price for dignity. Where is the praise for them? Garner liked the easy life of having a husband and no dignity.
And in contrast to her previous warrior-like roles, she always fought from behind the scenes, either through Affleck or through her kids, like a coward. She never once says that what she does is because of what she wants, more like it’s for the kids or it’s for the family, creating the image of a woman that has no emotional or sexual needs of her own. A martyr.
She played the card she was given. She’s not a strong enough actress to succeed on talent alone, so she created an image. It is ambition, and kudos to her for using it.
Forgiving a cheating husband isn’t an easy road nor does it mean you lack dignity. What a bunch of judgemental b.s. As a woman that kept my family together and functioning after infidelity you have no idea what it takes. Dignity and self esteem are the two highest qualities on the list.
Yeah, she said as much as she didn’t like being sexualized in Alias.
ITA @Jlee. Keeping a marriage together after infidelity is very difficult. It’s not ‘the easy choice’ at all. And women that make that choice deal with tons of judgment too “Where is your dignity?” “How could you forgive him?” “She must be doing it for the money, the security, etc” etc
I don’t think it’s the right choice for everyone but I do feel that keeping a marriage together long term always ALWAYS involves alot of forgiveness.
Didn’t Lainey have a blind at one point saying she did audition?! And she ran like the wind cos he weirded her out lol apparently that’s why Ben didn’t get the Oscar nom for Best Director.
I think that was either Jessica Alba or Scarlett Johansson who ran from Cruise.
It’s not a blind that Scarlett ran like the wind to get away from Cruise. She was supposed to be in MI3 but backed out when she got the hard $ci sell.
She auditioned after being sent in by Spielberg and Cruise sent her the gift of a – get this – tiger to woo her. Garner freaked out and ran; many years later when Ben is a shoo-in for Best Director for Argo he gets snubbed. Lainey hinted it was because of Spielberg’s grudge against Garner that he got shafted. Total weirdness all around.
Yeah it’s weird to think that she was the sexy action girl… I think her sweetness always came through though.
That photo of Ben looking elsewhere as she goes in to kiss him is awful. He just looks so miserable and disinterested.
ITA. I love Alias but I always thought she was oddly cast in that role because no matter how hard she tried to be badass you could see the inherent sweetness underneath.
I think her evolution to soccer mom was also natural and inevitable and not as calculated as some seem to think.
no way she was perfect for that role she was both a badass and sweet which you never see. i really like it . not all action stars have to butch and cold hearted.
But CIA spies go through an insane amount of training to not be sweet and soft and gullible. It was never believable that Sydney Bristow, as played by Garner, would have even been approached by the CIA, let alone made it through that training.
Well, she wasn’t approached by the CIA – she was approached by SD-1, specifically because SD-1’s leader wanted leverage over her father.
Her entire backstory (i.e. being tricked into believing she was working for the CIA when she was really working for SD-1, getting her fiance killed because she didn’t grasp how brutal her employer was, etc.) basically required her to be naive & gullible.
And of course, on this show, the CIA was unrealistically “nice” & morally upright, so Sydney fit right in.
I really think Ben is glad the movie is out.. good or bad. He is probably relieved and is ready to move on. Regardless of what Jennifer or anyone says; I really think that he is glad that they are over.
@lisa2 he may want the marriage to be over, but it seems that, from a few other recent reports, they are under the same roof – even a bedroom apart – implying that they are separated with benefits.
Sure – it seems she has finally let the sham marriage go given the interviews she’s done, but I think she’d hang on to him if there was a chance.
What DRAMA!
@bella
I agree. I feel like she would give it another chance.. I really hope for her that is not the case.
I know! @lisa2
It’s crazy…or I should say, she’s crazy.
To even consider hanging on to him when he clearly doesn’t respect her or the marriage.
Pity…3 lovely children…
Separated with benefits? You think that they are sleeping together? She was clearly clueless about his fake back tattoo. I don’t think so…
I do believe they are sleeping together @lila fowler.
As for the “fake” tattoo…Lainey’s coverage implies that it may indeed be real, but given Garner and JLo’s ridicule of the ugliest tattoo ever…he’s had it removed and tried to save face saying it was a fake all along.
Look how often Garner and he have been together with the children.
She didn’t have to be sleeping with him to know whether or not the tattoo is real.
But I continue to believe they are together whenever he’ll have her.
Just my opinion about people I’ve never met 😎
Wow. Matt Damon loves being condescending to her and her fan base, doesn’t he?
I know, that made my blood boil a bit as I read it.
Oh, darling, you know magazines WE of course have never heard of, but some some reason those dreary little Midwesterners find appealing…
Yeah, gag.
Guess that was an appearance by Bad Will Hunting.
Patronizing little shit.
which is also kind of ironic because his fanbase is not totally different. he sells himself as this down to earth non hollywood guy that is in a stable long marriage to a woman not affiliated to hollywood.
but yeah damon really seems like an unpleasent person when you read his interviews, not only this but also his whitesplaining.
I have always felt that Jennifer G is basically the female Matt Damon that Ben could actually marry. Both make him look better. Both have that homespun, gee golly public persona, both probably do a lot to keep him reined in. Maybe all of Matt’s passive aggressiveness originates from jealousy towards JenG. Hmm…
@Jinni I think you nailed it!! That was always my impression…Matt and Jennifer G really do look a lot alike and they cater to a very similar fan base.
The funny thing being that Garner and Damon never really got on that way.
As for the quote, it’s pretty old, and it was in the context of people (accurately) giving Garner a hard time for calling the paparazzi and he was trying to explain how the demand for Garner photos was so great that photographers would just follow her around all day.
Matt Damon is a name dropping, passive aggressive, shade queen. But damn it, is he still oh so charming sometimes.
lol
If you subtract the charming part, I am right there with you on your description of him.
I can’t help liking Matt, although it bugs me when he uses the word “civilians” to refer to non-actors. I tend to not take things too literally, but that just seems condescending, and it irks me. I mean, they are just actors at the end of the day – not curing cancer.
I know. Has he always been such a dick? Wow. Between that and his mansplaining diversity – I’m way done.
He sounded like a real jerk and so did his BFF, Ben.
Birds of a feather…or, jerks stick together.
Ugh, personally I’m liking Ben better than Matt, and think he comes off loads better. At the very least, he doesn’t come off as someone who thinks he’s better than everyone else, like Matty D does/is.
@ Virgilia
With Ben, what you see is what you get. He’s a moody self-absorbed drama queen, but he’s not putting on airs.
Matty D is much more controlled and controlling.
@INeedANap, you are right. I really like Matt and he is the more charming one, but he knows how to play the game in interviews about family like most of the actors do. Perfect dad, blah, blah. Ben admits his mind wanders while bathing them, etc., and he gets cremated. Ben talks about his fears in interviews at least regarding his career and directing. I have loved several of Matt’s long interviews, but realized after the second one that he is a massive namedropper in interviews.
Still, I love their friendship together. He is Ben’s true love. LOL They’ve been friends since Ben was eight and Matt was ten. Can you imagine now in their 40s and still so close in this cutthroat business? Ben said at that age the age difference was kind of big for hanging out, but Matt wanted to get into acting, and Ben was a kid actor, and used that to begin hanging with Matt.
He begged Matt to move his family to California so their kids could grow up together, like they did. He was so excited when they moved down the street that he had counted at one point 70 times of back and forth, hanging out at each other’s houses..
Ben can’t be faithful to women, but he will always be faithful to his best friend. LOL
Does Matt still live down the street? I thought I read something thing about them moving or putting their house up for sale, not long after it was reported that Ben’s house was up for sale (which doesn’t appear to be true?) if Matt & family moved, I wonder why.
this thread is so amusing to read when you know that ben is a leo and matt is a libra
Yeah, I know Matty D gets love for being a good ol’ Boston boy, but he is just as cunning and shady as everyone else in Hollywood. Only Tom Hanks got to the top by being the nice guy.
I’ve always thought there was a lot more darkness (and creep) to his personality, he just hides it better than Affleck.
Yes he does, and I have to admit I love it. I always get a good chuckle out of men being catty because goodness knows they’re better at it than any woman I’ve met.
He dislikes his best friend’s wife and likely dislikes how said friend changed because of the wife. But unlike all the other guys in this situation he has a public platform to snipe about it.
I know, I am getting annoyed lately by his passive-aggressive comments. I don’t know if he always has been this way and I just didn’t see it or if he has changed recently but he is far from being the humble down to earth guy they want to sell us.
At this point I started to like better Affleck than Damon and that’s too much to say.
The quote is old and CB covered it initially. I commented on the condescending tone and was told that is not what he meant.
The tide has turned for some reason. Good.
@Tiffany I remember that post. I couldnt believe how many defenders he had, it was such a crappy thing to say. He also had some shady words about Brad too, iirc. The mansplaining on Project Greenlight finally clued people in.
Hey does anyone have a mailing address for the BORING MIDWESTERN PEOPLE TIMES magazine? I’d love to get some tips on how to churn butter and where to buy the best aprons.
I really liked Garner on Alias, but I thought it was pretty obvious she was going to start moving away from Action work once she got pregnant the first time. She talked about her training regimens and diet for that show, and it was punishing. She would have had to give up a lot to keep on that career path, and the action movies just didn’t hit (anyone remember Elektra?).
I also really liked her on Alias…she was perfect for the role. I think it might have been a natural development. Action movies didn’t work as she expected, she got children, got older and embraced a new aspect of her life. I don’t see how that all needs to be a big plot directed only at her career image. She does a lot of “girl/woman next door” kind of movies and she is pretty consistent. I guess that’s her main line of work and she knows it. The same goes for people like Aniston or Kate Hudson, who are also talked has having a characteristic image but very far from the “minivan mom”. I don’t understand why everything with her needs to be seen as an intense calculating plan…it’s not like she has been campaigning for an Oscar.
I’ve always gotten the impression that she was just happy to work consistently, too.
This is the image she can compete at in any way. When she’s not a wife/mother the public doesn’t care. She’s not a great actress (cannot compete with the Winslett/Blanchett crowd) and she’s not charismatic enough to compete at a Jolie level. This was what she could do. Kind of bland, safe roles. Good Housekeeping basically. Nothing wrong with it but..meh. Most of her recent attention is due to the Mrs. Affleck thing. That’s going to fade, so…?
I think that is what she is trying to do.. build her brand outside of Ben. But as you said; everything up to now has been about her being Mrs. Affleck.
I think the start will be to not talk about Ben. Get the divorce if that is the way; and move on. I know her first interview had to talk about the marriage. NOW stop and don’t. Because she will paint herself into a corner that she will not be able to get out of. It has happened before. Once the public characterizes you as that woman; you won’t be able to shake it; and the powers that be will view you that way too. And work will be hard to get.
Well, I always thought she was considered “America’s Sweetheart” and don’t think that title much changed even after she got married.
Well, that helps the whole weird thing with her seeming to want Affleck back make more sense. I think it was smart of her to take her image from sexy, which has a very short life span, to mom, which has no exact expiration date.
She also got pregnant while she was in her Alias run, which can put a bit of a damper on the “sexy” image.
I think some pregnant women look sexy, but yeah, I know what you mean.
Nice.
I haven’t had coffee yet, but I seem to remember good old Ted Casablanca saying once she got involved with Affleck, he was her main hobby or occupation. I wish I could remember his quote!
Ok coffee now!
Ugh, I hate the pic where she’s kissing him and he can’t wait for it to be over…The look in his eyes is so bored. He’s SO over it. And, of course, THIS photo of him and Blake Lively popped into my head. http://www.celebitchy.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/fp_3524492_affleck_lively_fp2_09_17.jpg
Just … compare the way he looks at both women.
This dude has issues.
Oh, that hurts my feelings for her. I would cry if my husband looked at anyone else like that.
What a grin he has on his face!!!
this story made me think that maybe he’s a gross controlling kind of guy who wants his women an old fashioned type.
Jennifer is such an interesting bird. A part of me truly buys that she is just a sweet southern girl that loves God and her kids and is just trying to do the right thing. But then there’s another part of me that remembers Scott Foley, and Michael Vartan, and the fact that she married Ben Affleck… Married him.
I think she is as much an opportunist as she is a giver. I think she does it in equal parts. She wants everyone around her to be happy and successful and she’ll fight for that, but not more than she fights for it for herself. She’s like a tiger mom packaged in a Betty Crocker box.
Absolutely!
Yes-and you don’t get anywhere in Hollywood without being aggressive. She may package it better but of course it’s there.
I can’t speak to the calculating part of her, though I think Celebitchy (and Kaiser) have laid out a nice case for it. But who can blame someone for doing what they need to do for their career and family if they are not hurting anyone else? And she is genuinely sweet. My aunt ran into her and the girls at the beach last year while they were visiting Ben on set, and they chatted for about an hour. My aunt said she couldn’t have been nicer, relaxed and genuine. And they have a common tie: Glory Daze was based on Rich Wilke’s relationship with my cousin Brooke.
I actually have a lot of respect for her ambition and fierce protection for her family. In order to maintain a happy family in Hollywood I think you need to be very calculating.
Eh, I certainly don’t bash her for being calculating. Everyone in HW/public eye is calculating….and I don’t think that’s a bad thing……if I had a job where I knew the public was going to judge me based on what I put out there through my actions and words…..I’d be careful and calculating too.
And that’s the thing – so what if she is calculating?
One of the things i loved about her character on Alias, was that she wasn’t just one thing. She didn’t just kick bad guys butts. She was sweet, and genuine, and tried her best but failed, and selfish, and caring. No person is one thing, but women are so frequently pigeon holed into one space. Like Garner herself, in this article they see her as either a leather wearing sex kitten or a mom. But, a woman can kickass and want to make her kid’s birthday cake from scratch. It’s not one or the other.
So she’s smart, knows her fan base and probably doesn’t need someone to work out a marketing strategy for her. Nothing to sneer at there I think.
I don’t think she ever was sexy in that way. She just got an edgier role that brought that forward in Alias. She has said she has always been the type that would wear her pajamas out every day if she could, no fashion sense or caring.
Ben even said in the beginning of their marriage, when he was in love, that she was drop dead beautiful but in a non-threatening way and never lead with a sexy image in her career.
I don’t find her sexy….but I think that she is just so gorgeous in a completely natural way. The longer you look at her, the more beautiful she is.
I agree. I think she has a very natural beauty.
I grew up with her. She definitely was not the sex kitten / wild girl in high school. Was in the band and considered the “least attractive and least popular” of her sisters. She was the awkward middle sister. But a nice person, definitely NOT a mean girl.
Yeah, she said she was kind of dorky and not the pretty one of the girls. She said it took time for her to grow into her face.
Am I really the only one that sees Ben and Jen staying together? I’m not saying it’s the right thing to do, but that they both see it, in their own individual ways, as being beneficial to them.
I think he’s been done with her for years.
And I think she’s done with him now. He’s going to miss her more than she will miss him.
I think very often what people miss is the safety of the relationship vs. the actual person. I think it’s easy to confuse the two until you’ve had enough time apart to come through the haze and see everything more clearly. Just because Ben may have had the questionable behavior while Jen seems to be taking steps to independence doesn’t mean Ben is going to be crushed without her or all of a sudden realize and regret what he’s missing. I think they’re both going to miss their former family unit, but my guess is they will probably both be happier in the long term as friends. (That is if they don’t stay together. Had to say it – Haha! 😄)
No-I think the worst is over for him-he was afraid of rocking the boat-she had to be the one to leave. He certainly doesn’t seem to be trying to woo her back. I think they’re filing soon and moving on.
I love AHP. I think it was originally through reading her stuff that I got into this site. I love a good thoughtful reflection on celebrity.
I think anyone who would write about Jennifer right now will get a 15 minute of fame on social media. AHP did good though on this one.
I don’t think it’s earth shattering news that Garner is “calling the shots.” That’s always seemed pretty obvious. Ben himself made a comment about how Daredevil pretty much symbolized their relationship, that she’s “been beating him up for years.” It seems very clear that he’s always been more passive aggressive and weak-willed in terms of making adult decisions (unhappy? then move out and get a divorce instead of turning to destructive behaviors.) Yet, he wasn’t willing to give up the “stable home life” backdrop, and she made that easy for him because she was never going to leave, no matter what. And she totally calls the shots in terms of how their family life is perceived, while Ben skulks around like a whimpering puppy. I still think she publicly discussed the separation timeline to create a situation that potentially lets them remain together while making it seem like Ben didn’t actually cheat.
Yeah, I think Jen called the shots a lot more than people realize. He wanted to direct Homeland and she quashed that, thinking it would take too much time away because she had a movie to do, and they alternated jobs. So he didn’t. It worked out, because Argo came along down the road since he was not tied into a long project..
As time went on, I think she turned into his mom in a way, controlling their lives in certain respects, trying to keep order in chaos since he was off doing movies so much. He answered to her and resented it more and more. I remember him saying in an interview when she’s off doing a movie and he’s home with the kids she leaves explicit instructions for each meal, snack, etc., etc. He said, she doesn’t trust I can do it, but I manage to get the job done. The thing you appreciate so much sometimes can turn into the thing that irritates you more than anything. Dynamics get created in relationships that are hard to break..
So true Jayna. I honestly think part of his behavior was like a teenager rebelling against strict parents. It’s not a good dynamic for either of them.
I also think that some of Ben’s friends got jealous of him because he was able to right his image when he married her and therefore, did their best to dislike her and feed that dislike to Ben. Ben being weak listen to this so called friends and realized she is “controlling,” boring and marriage life is not really for him.
There was a gossip that Matt’s wife is a party animal. Their marriage is not as structured as the way JG handles family life. Ben said that JG is very traditional when it comes to family life.
His friends resented that and made sure Ben knows it.
I always thought Matt married a non-famous woman who gave up on her job because he had to be the “man of the house” and the breadwinner. It’s just a vibe I get from him. So his wofe being a party animal is interesting.
If you have noticed by now, JG is not close with Lucy. She is closer to Giselle and have vacation together a few times now. The Bradys have more of a family structure. They are more traditional. I guess since both came from structured background. They are just multimillionaires. JG probably could talk more comfortably with Giselle than with Lucy. Both are intellectually smart and savvy. Not sure about Lucy.
@bella
I know Ben does have tats on his back. But I don’t thing this one is real, it was just too much. And I don’t think he is getting it removed.. because it was fake.
Are they sleeping together? My opinion. NO. There is something about how Jennifer is talking and her attitude that makes me say NO. I feel that Jennifer is liking the attention she is getting. I think she likes that for the most part the public is behind her. She seems like she is feeling good. To my belief the sex was over some time ago. They could have had some moments; but I just don’t see that. Ben seems to want to be done and is waiting for that last whatever to happen for it all to be over.
She’s shown her true colours – beige. Are church movies a savvy career choice or just a desperate pay cheque?
It is still a movie that a lot of actors would still take a chance and be part of. Ben and Matt are producing one. Bale starred on one.
I just don’t see what the big deal with Jennifer is. She was never a particularly strong actress and she’s not a young starlet now, so she’d probably make a better living off the mom schtick. And I see nothing wrong or degrading about it.
For Ben I have no words other than he’s a bad actor. Every portrayal of him I read of is a charicature – he’s a kind and misunderstood genius or a sleazy, vicious scumbag. Absolutely every person I know has both positive and negative traits, so I’m sure the truth is somewhere in between.
And that’s too bad, I loved her in Alias.
Cool to see Celebitchy as a source!
I’ve followed Jennifer since her Alias days and while she definitely has projected this sweet, mid-western girl image over the years who likes to spend time with her kids, she was never this sexy bad ass vixen this article claims she used to be and “evolved” into a different person. She stopped working as much once she had kids and did the mom thing but her personality never changed. Her role as Sydney Bristow was supposed to be bad ass, yes. She was so not. I remember in interviews promoting Alias and she was as sweet and Midwesterny back then as she is now.
Her casual style was terrible even when she dated Michael Vartan and they were always spotted at farmer’s markets together. Once Ben Affleck knocked her up, her career took an immediate backseat (which is why season 5 of Alias was so ridiculous with her running around as a hugely pregnant spy and that whole mess of kicking Michael Vartan off the show for most of the season).
She caters to the mini van moms, sure. She totally wants to protect her image. But I just never saw her transform from some sultry siren to who she is now. She has always been like that, she just really reinforces it now and in everyone’s face about it.
Also this whole article could be summed as she got pregnant with Ben Affleck’s baby and became a mom. She stopped taking action roles after she had Violet pretty much.
There is 1000% a whole team of people who created Garner’s minivan mom image and is making PR decisions about the Afllecks public image before and after their divorce. Garner’s career after Alias was going nowhere fast, cue shotgun wedding and becoming Mrs Ben Affleck that saved her and has kept her relevant in Hollywood for the past ten years, she is shrewd and smart enough to know that without Ben’s star power she is just another irrelevant C list actress.
this
Yep. She’s not proven herself A list as an actress but I have a feeling she knows this.
She should have dumped him right after he sh*t all over her in his Oscar acceptance speech. He’s a jerk.
she was with michael vartan when she hooked up with ben. she was obsessed with ben and got pregnant to seal the deal. i don’t think ben was really into her but then she got pregnant and so have to marry her…..don’t kill me, english is not my first language.
In the linked article there are a few comments that Garner repeated over the years; ‘garner girls are good girl’s’, ‘garner girls don’t get their ears pierced or wear makeup’, ‘garner girls are…..’, it seems like she was raised in an environment where there was an obsession with being the ‘good girl’ and being seen to be the ‘good girl’, the family put a lot of pressure to keep up the ‘garner girls are good girls’ reputation, she said that there was nothing worse than been seen as anything but a good girl. That explains a lot about her presentation over the last few years. Perhaps not manipulation so much as utter terror of been seen as whatever was put into her head about the girls who are not good.
I wonder if she still wears thongs with jeans? Seriously can’t stand her
I live in the midwest and I don’t know any minivan mom’s who sit around talking about Jennifer Garner. Most people in the midwest talk about college football, politic’s and their kid’s.
I don’t know that this was a role she chose so much as was forced to go with. Her acting skills were not enough to keep the good roles coming in, and sexy has a shelf life. What was her other option? But props to her. I will always support a woman who hustles and keeps a career in a field where women are usually marginalized by 30.
Jennifer Garner is a NATIONAL TREASURE. But I agree with a lot of commenters up above that part of my loving her so much, no matter what, is that I was a huge Alias fan. My whole family bingewatched it together until we caught up around season 4? I wish she and Michael Vartan had worked out!!
I guess I’m a terrible mother because I have 3 piercings in each ear. This is the stuff that makes me roll my eyes about her. Good girls. What does that even mean?
I do think it’s better for her to be rid of a husband who clearly wanted out but I hope she takes this opportunity to dial down on the sugary pap strolls and do some solid work. I did like her in 13 Going On 30 and Catch and Release. I’m not asking for edge but more depth maybe in Indy movies or a very good tv series even playing a flawed mother.
I wonder when she said “Garner girls don’t get pierced ears”, because I think she finally did get them pierced back in several years ago. Delayed rebellion, I guess.
I read the article. I’d respect her more if she wasnt a doormat.