Jennifer Garner Compares Split to Jennifer Aniston & Brad Pitt's, Plus 12 More Revelations From Her Vanity Fai

The 'Miracles From Heaven' actress breaks her silence on life after Ben Affleck.

Jennifer Garner is finally letting the world know her side of the story.

In a tell-all interview with Vanity Fair, the 43-year-old actress breaks her silence on her highly-publicized split from husband Ben Affleck last June, the rumors of his alleged affair with their 28-year-old nanny, Christine Ouzounian, and single life.


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The past year -- which Garner refers to as the "year of wine" -- was not an easy one for the Miracles from Heaven actress, as she and Affleck, 43, announced their plans to divorce just one day before their 10-year wedding anniversary. Now, we're breaking down the most interesting revelations we learned from her no-holding-back interview.

Vanity Fair


1. Nothing about her relationship with Affleck was fake.

"It was a real marriage," she explained. "It wasn't for the cameras. And it was a huge priority for me to stay in it. And that did not work."


2. If she had the chance, she'd do it all over again.

"I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him," Garner gushed. "And I would go back and remake that decision. He's the love of my life. What am I going to do about that?"

"I always say, 'When his sun shines on you, you feel it.' But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it's cold," she added. "He can cast quite a shadow."


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3. Though they're not together anymore, they still share a special connection.
"Of course this is not what I imagined when I ran down the beach, but it is where I am," she confessed. "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."


4. "Nannygate" wasn't necessarily as dramatic as it seemed.

"We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny," Garner confirmed. "She had nothing to do with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation. Bad judgment? Yes. It's not great for your kids for [a nanny] to disappear from their lives."

"I have had to have conversations [with our kids, Violet, Seraphina and Samuel] about the meaning of 'scandal,'" she added.


5. Tina Fey and Amy Poehler helped her cope.

"When I can't sleep -- and I am not someone who typically has that problem, but I really have in the last year -- and I need something to switch my brain off, it has been Tina Fey and Amy Poehler," the mother of three explained. "God bless those girls."


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6. She temporarily shares a room with her eldest daughter.

"I'm happy to have [Violet]; she's happy to have me," she shared.


7. Her children don't plan to follow in their mama's footsteps.

"I danced six hours a day," Garner remembered. "My cross to bear is that my children have no interest in ballet. I think they could smell how much I wanted to put their hair in a bun."


8. She sometimes gets the urge to punch things.

"When the earth shakes, you go to what you know from childhood," she explained. "All of a sudden I'm sitting down at the piano. I went back to church. I sat down and wrote bad poetry all day because I was so sad. I needed a dance class."

"I feel the need to be physical and I feel the need to punch someone," she added.


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9. …Which is why she stays offline!

"I turned on CNN one day, and here we were. I just won't do it anymore," the West Virginia native admitted. "I took a silent oath with myself last summer to really stay offline. I am totally clueless about all of it."

"Ben says, 'Oh, you just don't care,' and I say, 'No, it's the opposite.' It hurts me so much, and I care so much," she added, referring to "not giving a sh*t" about what the world thinks of her divorce.


10. It's been a long time since she's been kissed.

"When you haven't been kissed for over eight months, it's strange," she revealed, referring to the love scene she had to film for Wakefield, a drama she stars in opposite Bryan Cranston.


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11. She might not be receiving any real-life smooches, but she does get hit on.

She recalled a time where a fellow airplane passenger asked her out for a cup of coffee. Though she didn't accept it, she doesn't oppose the idea of going on dates -- as long as the lucky man can impress her! "Men don’t call anymore," she stated. "I want flowers; I don't want to text."


12. Even she was rooting for Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston to make it work.

"When Jen Aniston and Brad Pitt broke up, I was dying to see something that said they were getting back together."


13. Despite all the hardship, she's OK.

"No one needs to hate [Ben] for me," Garner said. "I don't hate him. Certainly we don't have to beat the guy up. Don't worry -- my eyes were wide open during the marriage."


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