Jennifer Garner knows what it’s like to be in the public eye — for better and worse. Wed for over a decade to fellow A-lister, Ben Affleck, her ups and downs have been frequent tabloid fodder over the years. But now, more than a year after filing for divorce in April 2017, the actress finally feels like she’s living her best life.
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“Jen’s always been very optimistic and has a glass half full attitude even during the roughest of times,” a Garner insider says in the new issue of Us Weekly. But her joy is more noticeable of late, adds the source: “She’s very happy and in a good place.”
Single for the first time in nearly 20 years (she was married to Scott Foley from 2000 to 2004), the Peppermint actress, 46, has never looked sexier, or felt more fulfilled. “You rarely see her without a smile on her face,” says the insider. The independence has been great for her career, too. Garner recently wrapped filming on the first season of her HBO comedy, Camping, and released her new organic baby food line, Once Upon a Farm.
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More importantly, she has the time and clarity to do what she wants, including doting on her three kids with Affleck — Violet, 12, Seraphina, 9, and Samuel, 6 — as much as possible. “Her free time is really mom time,” says the insider. “She’s always taking the kids different places and looking for fun things to do with them.”
As for her hobbies, the actress, who counts Reese Witherspoon, Molly Sims and her trainer Simone De La Rue as friends, “does a lot of cooking and baking,” notes the source. “And she likes to work in her garden.” Unsurprisingly for the fit Alias alum, she also enjoys a little intensity. Says the source, “She’s all about sweating. She has a gym and she makes sure it gets used every day.”
Garner and Affleck, 45, announced their separation in June 2015; they’re still finalizing their divorce.
For more about Garner’s fabulous single life — including what she really thinks of her ex’s new girlfriend, Lindsay Shookus — pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands now.