Making it work! Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner and more former celebrity couples have different ideas about how to raise kids — but that hasn’t stopped them from prioritizing coparenting for the sake of their children.
“You have to be on the same page,” the actress told Today.com in November 2017 of raising Violet, Seraphina and Samuel with her ex-husband. “You have to cooperate. If you recognize that you both have the best interest of the kids at heart, it’s quite a special connection.”
Garner emphasized at the time that she and the Way Back star, who wed in 2005 and split 10 years later, are “the only two people in the world who care this much about these three kids.”
Three years later, a source exclusively told Us Weekly that their dynamic remained a “work in progress.”
The insider explained at the time: “Things come up between them, but they are committed to doing the best they can for the kids. They stay on top of things and have a lot of meetings and check-ins. They want to be the best parents they can for the kids. If they have differences, they keep it to themselves and don’t let it have an impact. They always put on happy faces for the kids and put their well-being first.”
Affleck respects his ex-wife’s “very specific” parenting plan, the source added. “She’s a great mom and knows what she’s doing. He gives her a lot of credit for getting them to where they are today as a family.”
Another source told Us the previous year that Garner is adamant that the Goodwill Hunting star is sober while in their kids’ lives. (The actor has struggled with substance abuse, first getting sober in 2001 and returning to rehab more than once, including an October 2019 relapse.)
“Jen puts up with a lot and does everything she can to keep it together,” the source told Us in December 2019. “She wants Ben to be in the kids’ lives. That means dealing with things she isn’t happy about. … There’s no wiggle room on that as far as his relationship with his kids goes. He’s trying to stay on track and be the best he can for them. But Jen doesn’t always trust him — and relapse is always a concern.”
Click through the photos below to see other exes who make coparenting work, from Dancing With the Stars’ Gleb Savchenko and Elena Samodanova to The Challenge’s Cheyenne Floyd and Cory Wharton.