Jennifer Garner has nothing but love for pal Reese Witherspoon.
“I think back to going through a very public, very hard moment in my life,” Garner, 51, said during a panel discussion at Hello Sunshine’s inaugural Shine Away Event on Saturday, October 21, in Los Angeles. “She was right there and the way I needed to get through it was dance cardio. And I danced cardio’d so hard, we broke her foot, but she kept going!”
“Just keep dancing, ladies. Just keep dancing,” Witherspoon, 47, joked.
“It was like, OK, we worked out at 7 on vacation, we’re going to work out again at 2. She was like, ‘I’m going to be there. I’m going to be there,’” Garner said.
Garner did not reveal any details about the “hard moment” she was referring to in her life, but continued to praise the Morning Show actress.
“She’ll also look at you and say, ‘OK, you need to be finding a preschool,’” Garner said. “‘This kid is 2 and a half and they need to start next month. You actually have to get on this.’”
The 13 Going on 30 star shares three children, Violet, 17, Seraphina, 13, and Samuel, 11, with ex-husband Ben Affleck. After tying the knot in 2005, the pair announced their separation in 2015 and finalized their divorce in 2018. (Affleck, for his part, is now married to Jennifer Lopez while Garner has moved on with businessman John Miller.)
Earlier this year, Witherspoon executive produced the AppleTV+ mystery series The Last Thing He Told Me, which starred Garner in the lead role. Garner, for her part, spoke highly of Hello Sunshine during the panel discussion — and how the production company Witherspoon co-founded has allowed her and other actresses to openly speak about the industry.
“Those meetings happened at Reese’s house. And it was the first time I’d ever sat down with that many actresses in the same room that we weren’t passing each other in an award show in big dresses, where we just sat,” Garner said. “We’ve been siloed off the one place.”
She continued: “The place that doesn’t happen, the place that started the change where that no longer can happen is Hello Sunshine. It’s just true.”
This isn’t the first time that the two have publicly shared their love for one another. In 2017, the Big Little Lies actress wrote a heartfelt birthday message to her friend via Instagram — and even referenced her infamous dance moves.
“Here’s lookin’ at you, Jen!” Witherspoon wrote at the time. “Happy Birthday to my gorgeous friend #JenniferGarner who always laughs at my jokes and my bad dance moves! Love you!”
