Even with a Golden Globe and a decadeslong Hollywood career, Jennifer Garner says divorce made her panic about her financial future.
Joining Skims founding partner and entrepreneur Emma Grede on her “Aspire with Emma Grede” podcast on Tuesday, the “Alias” actor spoke about how her 2018 headline-making divorce from Ben Affleck prompted her to reevaluate career choices.
“I panicked when I was first out of my marriage and realized I had taken such a step back in my work,” Garner said. “Suddenly, I realized, like, I don’t know how long I’ll be able to work.”
Garner said part of her anxiety came from knowing that Hollywood isn’t necessarily an industry where women — no matter how accomplished — can expect their earning power to increase as they get older.
“I was suddenly like, ‘Wait a minute. I have to take care of myself. I have to take care of these kids.’ I didn’t get some huge payout, so what is it gonna be?” Garner said on the podcast.
Garner had to think strategically about what her work could look like
The “Five Star Weekend” actress said she and her longtime manager, Nicole King of Linden Entertainment, began considering ways she could continue earning without sacrificing the time she wanted to spend with her children.
Money, which Garner said she hadn’t previously spent much time thinking about, suddenly became a much bigger consideration in her career and life decisions, including which acting jobs she could take and which business opportunities to pursue.
“Just because you’re well-known by people does not mean that there is some great living being provided for you,” Garner said. “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.”
Garner found new earning power through entrepreneurship
Sean Zanni/Getty Images for Once Upon A Farm
In 2017, after Garner and Affleck had separated but before their divorce was finalized, Garner joined the children’s organic food company Once Upon a Farm as a cofounder alongside Cassandra Curtis, Ari Raz, and former Annie’s CEO John Foraker.
Garner said Once Upon a Farm was a big part of her long-term play as she and her manager became more deliberate about building the next stage of her career.
She became one of the company’s most visible faces at 45 years old, helping turn what began as a refrigerated baby-food business into a national children’s food brand.
Just shy of a decade later, that bet has become a significant second act in Garner’s career. Once Upon a Farm went public in February 2026, and second-quarter net sales rose 42% year over year to $85.4 million.
Once Upon a Farm’s household penetration rate as of late June was 6.2%, up from 5% a year earlier. The company now expects net sales between $327 million and $335 million for the full year, according to its latest earnings report.
Although Garner returned to the small screen this year in Peacock’s “Five Star Weekend,” the company’s trajectory ultimately gave Garner something she had worried Hollywood might not: another avenue to grow a career and earn as she got older.
