Jennifer Garner is opening up about what left her “panicked” just after her split from her second husband, Ben Affleck.The two were married from 2005 to 2015 and share three children together. “I panicked when I was first out of my marriage and realized I had taken such a step back in my work,” Garner said on the “Aspire with Emma Grede” podcast, released on Tuesday. “And suddenly I realized, like, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to work. This isn’t a career that’s like, ‘Hey, you’re 60, you’re 55, you’re 43? Come on, let’s pay you more than you’ve ever made,’” the “Alias” star said. She was also faced with another realization, when she thought, “Wait a minute. I have to take care of myself. I have to take care of these kids.” Garner, who is based in Los Angeles, said she sat down with her financial advisor to figure out a way forward. “I said, ‘I can work in Los Angeles. I can’t leave these kids for six months at a time,’” she said. “I would love to. I love going on location. That is not this time in my career.” “Life is expensive, and you still have to kind of figure out how you’re gonna live,” Garner said, adding that it wasn’t like she could just “un-famous yourself.” “And just because you’re well-known by people does not mean that there is some great living being provided for you,” the “Dallas Buyers Club” actor said. “And it became very serious to me really quickly as someone who had never given a lot of thought to money. Like, oh ― I need to be an earner here.” When Grede asked Garner if she wished she given more thought to money earlier in her life, the actor said “no” because of the time she got with her kids. “I was so lucky to be able to luxuriate in working some and being home and being a mom a lot of the time,” she said, adding she “was really grateful for that opportunity.” “I got to kinda have the best of both worlds,” the “Once Upon a Farm” co-founder said. “So I can’t really look back and complain about any of it. It just ― it is what it is.”Both Garner and Affleck have spoken openly about the ending of their marriage, with Affleck once telling GQ there’s “no scandal, no soap opera, no intrigue” that led to the couple’s split. The “Argo” director told The New York Times in 2020 that “the biggest regret of my life is this divorce.” Before marrying Affleck, Garner was wed to fellow actor Scott Foley. The two divorced in 2004, one year before she married Affleck. Affleck wed his former fiancée, singer Jennifer Lopez, in 2022. The two finalized their divorce in January 2025.RelatedBen Affleckjennifer garnerCelebrity Divorce