Jennifer Garner Recalls Financial Panic Following Ben Affleck Divorce

Actress Jennifer Garner revealed she experienced intense panic regarding her financial stability and career longevity shortly after her marriage to actor Ben Affleck ended, speaking on an episode of the "Aspire with Emma Grede" podcast.

Garner, who shares three children with Affleck, explained that her decision to step back from acting while raising her young family left her questioning her long-term earning potential in the film industry after the split.

"I panicked when I was first out of my marriage and realized I had taken such a step back in my work," said Garner.

"Suddenly I realized I don't know how long I'll be able to 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.' You know what I mean?

That's not been traditionally the role. I was suddenly like, 'Wait a minute, I have to take care of myself, I have to take care of these kids. So what is it going to be?'" added Garner.

The mother of three noted that geographical constraints prevented her from taking long movie shoots away from Los Angeles during that period of her life.

"I can't leave these kids for six months at a time," she said. "I would love to. I love going on location, but it's not this time in my career."

The couple originally met on the set of "Pearl Harbor" in 2001, began dating after co-starring in 2003's "Daredevil," and married in 2005 before separating in 2015.

"I was so lucky to be able to luxuriate and working some and being home and being a mom a lot of time," Garner said. "I was really grateful for that opportunity. I got to kind of have the best of both worlds, so I can't really look back and complain about any of it … it is what it is."

"It's not like you can just unfamous yourself. Life is expensive, and you still have to figure out how you're going to live," she added. "Just because you're well known by people does not mean that there is some great living being provided for you, and it became very serious to me, very quickly as someone who has never given a lot of thought to money, like, 'Oh I need to be an earner here.'"

Two years following her divorce, Garner launched the organic children's food enterprise Once Upon A Farm as a co-founder.

Reflecting on her prolonged absence from major acting roles, Garner previously described the period following her public split as a time of major domestic disruption.

"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.

Navigating the demands of single parenthood required embracing the unpredictable nature of raising three children across separate households.

"You have to raise yourself at the same time. And just be so radically kind to yourself about how imperfect it is," she said of trying to navigate life as a working mom of three. "And that it is just going to be imperfect.

There’s no such thing as balance. There’s no such thing as doing it right. And when the big moments happen, you are okay, and that’s on you to know and understand so your child feels your okayness."

Garner also highlighted the shifting parental dynamics that occur when raising children outside a unified home environment.

"When your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad, and he becomes dad and mom," said Garner. "You kind of can't help it, right? Because you don't have the benefit of both sides, the yin and yang being in the same house, so you have to have a bit of both in the way you parent."

"There's a little bit of loss in that, but there's also something gained in that," she added. "You also just learn, it's made me let go and not focus so much on the bringing up."