Jennifer Garner Reveals Why Her Children Prefer to Watch Ben Affleck Movies Over Her Own Movies

In a recent interview with InStyle, Jennifer Garner talked about her newest project – The Last Thing He Told Me, a thriller miniseries that premiered on Apple TV+ on April 14. The first two episodes are now available to stream with five more episodes set to release every Friday for the next five weeks. 

She talked to InStyle about her role and how it goes against her maternal instincts – she plays Hannah, a stepmother who teams up with her stepdaughter to search for her husband, who disappeared. The series is based on a novel of the same name by Laura Dave and is being produced by Reese Witherspoon. 

Garner started reading the book with her middle child, Seraphina, at bedtime and the two were having a hard time putting the book down. A thriller isn’t normally the type of book they would read together, but it didn’t take long for them to get hooked and she’s excited to help bring the story to life in the miniseries. 

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“It pushed bedtime later and later because the book has this super-propulsive quality, really driven by two things: life-and-death stakes that keep shifting when you least expect it everything turns on a dime again and again and again,” Jennifer Garner told InStyle of her bedtime reading with her 14-year-old daughter. 

While Garner and her daughter enjoyed reading the book, it’s unlikely that Seraphina – or any of Garner’s children, for that matter – sits down to watch the series. In her interview, Garner admitted that her children prefer to not watch any of the projects she works on – especially when she plays someone else’s mother. 

“My kids don’t love to watch me in things. They do to be supportive, but I think it’s a little weird to watch your mom kiss someone or cry,” she explained. “They don’t want to see me sad and they don’t want to see me in a romance. They don’t love seeing me play someone else’s mom, honestly,” she continued. 

While she doesn’t know if her children will watch the series, she’s confident other people will enjoy the story and is excited to see how others react to the adaptation of the book. In fact, she’s hoping to see the series continue beyond the first book – while there’s no plan for a continuation, the option is out there. 

Jennifer Garner Says Her Children Don’t Mind Watching Their Dad

Jennifer Garner shares three children – Violet Anne, 17, Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, 14, and Samuel Garner, 11 – with ex-husband Ben Affleck. They began dating in 2004 and tied the knot in 2005, but announced their separation in 2015 after 10 years of marriage. The divorce was finalized in 2018. 

While Garner’s children prefer not to watch their mother on-screen, they don’t seem to mind watching their father in his films. In fact, Affleck recently shared that sentiment in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter – where he talked about some of the films he worked on that his children have already seen. 

“The first movie of mine that my kids actually sat through together was Armageddon,” he said. “They like movies where they can make fun of me. They just found the whole thing kind of preposterous, but they loved it.” He also talked about the moment he watched Good Will Hunting with his two daughters. 

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“The first movie that I cared about or [was] really interested in what my children thought was Good Will Hunting, which I’ve watched with now two of my three kids,” he said. His daughters were both ‘engaged’ and ‘interested’ in the movie – describing that moment as ‘the most gratifying experience’ of his life.