Jennifer Garner shares lessons from co-parenting with Ben Affleck

Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner has talked about the challenges she’s faced while co-parenting her children with her former husband Ben Affleck and said the former couple has learned how to be “both parents”.

The Hollywood actress married Ben in 2005 and they welcomed three kids Violet, Seraphina, and Samuel, but they split after a decade of marriage in 2015.

During an appearance on Bustle’s One Nightstand podcast, Jennifer explained: “When your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad, and he becomes dad and mom.

“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 ... You also just learn, it’s made me let go and not focus so much on the bringing up,” she added, reports femalefirst.co.uk.

After the divorce, Garner opened up about the pair’s relationship, calling Ben the “love” of her life and insisting they will always feel bonded despite the split.

She told Vanity Fair magazine in 2016: “I didn’t marry the big fat movie star; I married him. And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You can’t have these three babies and so much of what we had. He’s the love of my life.

“We still have to help each other get through this (divorce). 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.”

Affleck, who went on to marry and divorce Jennifer Lopez, later said he never wanted to split from his first wife because he was worried about the effect it would have on the children, but the exes have made it work.

During an appearance on Good Morning America in 2020, he explained: “I didn’t want to get divorced, I didn’t want to be a divorced person, I really didn’t want to be a split family with my children. It upset me because it meant I wasn’t who I thought I was and that was so painful and so disappointing. In myself.

“When you have children with somebody, you’re connected to them forever. And I’m very lucky she (Jenifer) is the mother of my children.

“I’m very grateful and respectful of her. Our marriage didn’t work, and that’s difficult. Both of us really believe that it’s important for kids to see their parents respect one another and get along, whether they’re together or not.”

Indo-Asian News Service