Jennifer Garner Calls Ben Affleck Love of Her Life in Vanity Fair Cover Interview 2016

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published 26 February 2016

In a seriously unguarded, put-it-all-out-there interview with Vanity Fair, Jennifer Garner talks about one of the biggest celebrity breakups of 2015—her own. Following her divorce last summer from Ben Affleck, after 10 years of marriage, Garner is finally opening up.

"I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him," she told the magazine. "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. What am I going to do about that? He's the most brilliant person in any room, the most charismatic, the most generous. He's just a complicated guy. 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."

"I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him. And I would go back and remake that decision."

The 43-year-old actress got completely candid when asked whether there was a turning point in her marriage. "I'm a pretty hard worker. It's one of the pains in my life that something I believe in so strongly I've completely failed at twice," she said. (Garner was married to Scott Foley from 2000 to 2004.) "You have to have two people to dance a marriage. My heart's a little on the tender side right now, and it's always easier to focus on the ways that you feel hurt, but I know that, with time and some perspective, I'll have a clearer sense of where I let the system down, because there's no way I get off in this."

But she is trying to heal—with the help of her kids.

"The main thing is these kids—and we're completely in line with what we hope for them. Sure, I lost the dream of dancing with my husband at my daughter's wedding. But you should see their faces when he walks through the door. And if you see your kids love someone so purely and wholly, then you're going to be friends with that person."

Jen, our hearts. OUR HEARTS.

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Samantha Leal is the Deputy Editor at Well+Good, where she spends most of her day thinking of new ideas across platforms, bringing on new writers, overseeing the day-to-day of the website, and working with the awesome team to produce the best stories and packages. Before W+G, she was the Senior Web Editor for Marie Claire and the Deputy Editor for Latina.com, with bylines all over the internet. Graduating from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University with a minor in African history, she’s written everything from travel guides to political op-eds to wine explainers (currently enrolled in the WSET program) to celebrity profiles. Find her online pretty much everywhere @samanthajoleal.

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