Jennifer Garner Discusses Her Breakup With Ben Affleck: "It Hasn't Been Nearly as Bad as You Might Imagine"

"We're doing really well," the Miracles From Heaven actress says

By Zach Johnson Mar 16, 2016 12:40 PMTags
Jennifer Garner, TodayTwitter

Jennifer Garner is keeping her head held high.

The Miracles From Heaven actress appeared on NBC's Today Wednesday, where Savannah Guthrie asked her about separating from Ben Affleck last summer. "So many people just adore you, Jennifer, and I think they just want to know how you're doing," Savannah said. "If they could give you a hug, I think they would."

"Oh, that's very kind. People have been so kind to my whole family, and we really do appreciate it," said Jennifer, whose three children—Violet Affleck, 10, Seraphina Affleck, 7, and Samuel Affleck, 4—were asleep and on the opposite coast at the time of the interview. "But, you know what, we're doing really well. Thank you. The kids are great. They'll be getting up in the morning and going to school soon, and Ben is there and he'll be taking them. We will make it work."

Guthrie said it must be difficult to "go through something like that in the public eye," but rather than dwell on things she cannot control, Jennifer chose to focus on the positive. "You know what? It's not easy to go through it, period. I have found going through it in the public eye, it's just another facet of it. For anyone when your life shifts in any way, it's tricky enough," the actress said. "But I have found people to be so warm and loving that it hasn't been nearly as bad as you might imagine."

Jennifer, 43, was the first to discuss their breakup in a revealing Vanity Fair cover story. "He's just a complicated guy," she said of Ben. "I always say, 'When his sun shines on you, you feel it.' But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it's cold. He can cast quite a shadow." In spite of that, she added, "We still have to help each other get through this. He's still the only person who really knows the truth about things. And I'm still the only person that knows some of his truths." More than anything, Jennifer said they're focused on getting their family through this time. "The main thing is these kids—and we're completely in line with what we hope for them."

She also wanted to make one thing clear: "It was a real marriage. It wasn't for the cameras. And it was a huge priority for me to stay in it. And that did not work."

Weeks later, Ben broke his silence about the breakup in an interview with The New York Times. At first, he didn't want to talk about his split "for the sake of his three children," since whatever he said would end up "being in the record somewhere, in the great miasma of junk on the Internet." He later confirmed that he knew about the Vanity Fair article before it was published. "Jen's great. She's a great person. We're on great terms. I just saw her this morning, so that's the reality that I live in," the Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice star, 43, said. "She felt like she wanted to discuss it and get it out there and get it over with. So she could say, 'Look, I already talked about it—I don't want to do it again.' It's fine. She's allowed to talk about it."

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Watch: Have Jennifer Garner's Kids Seen Her Bedtime Story Video?