Jennifer Garner Says She Had a ‘Wedding for Myself’ on 50th Birthday

Jennifer Garner uniquely celebrated a significant life event. For her latest cover story in Town & Country, the actress opened up about her 50th birthday party. “I basically had a wedding for myself,” she told the publication. “I was so shocked that I was doing it.” Garner also used the occasion to raise money for a good cause. Town & Country interviewer Mickey Rapkin wrote that she asked her guests “to fill 5,000 backpacks with enough food to feed a family of four” for the Blessings In a Backpack program.”I put everyone to work,” she added. 

In addition, the 13 Going On 30 star shared that she doesn’t mind being labeled as “nice” in Hollywood. “I have no reason not to be nice. My life is lovely,” she said. Garner, however, continued, “I’m not always just nice. I can also be salty, and I can be taciturn, or I can be really serious about what I want to get done.” She explained, “It’s not that I feel I’m underestimated in that way—I’m not afraid to stand up for myself and say, ‘Just so you know, this isn’t going to fly with me.’ When that happens, I don’t want you to be shocked that I’m a real person.”

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Garner has worked with Save the Children for nearly 15 years, first as an artist ambassador and then as a board member. According to Mark Shriver, the organization’s head, her philanthropic work reflects her acting discipline. “When she’s visiting homes, she’s taking notes about what they need,” Shriver said. “She’ll then follow up with me. Are we providing more diapers to mothers who are expecting? Did we follow up with the issues that the senator brought up? She’s on it. And she ­badgers, in the best sense of the word.” 

“If you look at the way Save the Children spends money, if you look at our ratings, if you look at the three-year-olds who have been in our home visitation programs for three years versus their neighbors who have not had that same intervention, the kids in our programs test in line with middle-class kids in the rest of the country,” Garner told the outlet excitedly. She then apologized for the length of her response. “I treat Save the Children like a job—and it’s a job I take as seriously as any job. I mean, how you do anything is how you do everything.” As Garner planned her symbolic wedding ceremony, Ben Affleck, her ex-husband, married Jennifer Lopez in Las Vegas in July, followed by an elaborate wedding in Georgia the following month. A source told Entertainment Tonight at the time, “[Jennifer’s ex-husband] Marc Anthony and Jen Garner have been supportive” of the pair’s union, adding that there’s been “no bad blood or hard feelings as of late.”