Jennifer Garner is one of the most beloved figures in Hollywood. The 50-year-old actress first made a splash in television on Alias, before she transitioned her career to the big screen. Jennifer’s most notable film roles include 13 Going on 30, Daredevil, Juno, Dallas Buyers Club, Yes Day, and more. As a mom of three kids, Jennifer is also an activist for childhood education and has been involved in anti-paparazzi campaigns for children of celebrities.
Jennifer’s kids — Violet, 16, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 10 — are from her marriage to Ben Affleck, 49. Before marrying Ben, which became one of the most famous couplings in Hollywood history, Jennifer was married to actor Scott Foley, 49. Both relationships had a huge impact on Jennifer, who is now dating businessman John Miller. Here’s everything you need to know Jennifer’s former marriages.
Scott Foley
Jennifer met her first husband on the sitcom Felicity, when she guest-starred as his character’s girlfriend. The pair started dating shortly after. Almost two years later, Jennifer and Scott took the next step and got married at their home on October 19, 2000. The marriage, unfortunately, wasn’t meant to be, and they split in 2003 and finalized their divorce the following year. Since their relationship, Scott has married actress Marika Domínczyk, and the couple have three children.
Jennifer and Scott have said only nice things about each other since the divorce. “Oh, he’s a great guy,“ Jennifer said in Aug. 2013 during an interview with Allure. “We were full-on grown-ups, but looking back I’m aware we did not know what hit us. He’s a really good guy, and we just imploded.” Scott revealed in a September 2021 interview on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy that the former couple “do not keep in contact” anymore. “She has her own family. I have mine,” the Scandal alum shared. “I’ve seen her a few times, especially when we were living in LA, and Marika’s been with me. Everyone says hi, and you’re cordial, and you move on!”
Ben Affleck
Jennifer and Ben’s romance was born on the set of 2003 film Daredevil. However, since Ben was with Jennifer Lopez at the time, he didn’t act on his feelings for Jen Garner — although he did admit in a 2017 Playboy interview that he fell in love with her on set. Ben and Jen Garner made their relationship public on Oct. 23, 2004, kissing and cuddling in the stands at a Boston Red Sox game.
Jennifer accepted Ben’s proposal on April, 17, 2005, her 33rd birthday. They wed two months later on June 29, 2005 in a four person ceremony on the beach in the Turks and Caicos, with just the officiant and Jen’s Alias co-star and close friend Victor Garber serving as their witness. By then, Jennifer was already pregnant, and the couple welcomed daughter Violet on Dec. 1, 2005. Ben and Jen would go on to have two more children, daughter Seraphina in 2009 and son Samuel in 2012.
Unfortunately, Jennifer’s second marriage wasn’t meant to be. Things appeared to go downhill in June 2015, when Ben left a family vacation in the Bahamas and flew to a charity poker tournament in Las Vegas with the family’s nanny Christine Ouzounian. His rep denied that Ben was cheating, but several days later, Ben and Jen officially announced their split. In a candid March 2016 interview with Vanity Fair, Jennifer said, “We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation. Bad judgment? Yes.” Their divorce was finalized in Oct. 2018, at which point Ben dated Saturday Night Live producer Lindsay Shookus, and then actress Ana de Armas, before he got back together with Jennifer Lopez in 2021.
Ben and Jennifer’s ten-year marriage was put to the test a number of times as the Deep Water actor struggled with alcoholism. He even implied that the relationship is what drove him to drink. “Part of why I started drinking was because I was trapped,” he said in a December 2021 interview with Howard Stern. “I was like, ‘I can’t leave because of my kids, but I’m not happy, what do I do?’ And what I did was [I] drank a bottle of scotch and fell asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution.” However, Ben has made it clear that he’s disappointed his and Jennifer’s marriage couldn’t last. In a Feb. 2020 interview with the New York Times, Ben revealed, “The biggest regret of my life is this divorce.”