Getty Jennifer Garner and her daughter, Violet.
Actress Jennifer Garner told the TODAY show that she was a “wreck” and constantly crying this spring.
However, it wasn’t because of issues with her ex-husband Ben Affleck, who has been in the news a lot in May and June because of his marriage to singer/actress Jennifer Lopez. Rather, Garner was discussing her daughter Violet’s high school graduation. Violet is the eldest of Garner’s three kids with Affleck.
Garner spoke with hosts Hoda Kotb and Sheinelle Jones on June 24. Garner’s mom, Pat Garner, appeared on the show and spoke about parenting and cooking with her daughter in social media videos.
“My eldest is about to go to college,” Garner said, referring to Violet. “I was a wreck the whole month leading up to it every award ceremony, every final, everything,” she said. “I just cried and cried at everything. I cried on planes trying to think about it.”
Jennifer Garner Says She Was Happy When the Actual Graduation Arrived
GettyActress Jennifer Garner poses with her children Violet Affleck, Seraphina Rose Elizabeth Affleck and Samuel Garner Affleck.
Despite her emotions leading up to Violet’s high school graduation, Garner told TODAY that the actual ceremony was a happy time when it finally arrived.
“The day of was just so happy,” she said. “There was nothing to be other than so proud and happy.”
Pat Garner told the hosts that “graduation was happy but when they went to college, that’s another thing,” referring to her own kids.
I said, “She’ll never come home again,” she recalled of the time Garner went to college.
Garner said her mom is “cozy” as a grandma. She said her mom writes her grandkids a note every month. Pat said she writes to her grandkids to stay close to them. She has been writing about her life to Garner for years.
Jennifer Garner’s Mom Revealed She Is Enjoying Having a Taste of Fame Through Her Social Media Cooking Videos With Her Daughter
Jennifer Garner and her mom Pat join Hoda and @sheinellejones to talk all about their “Pretend Cooking Show,” how Pat felt when Jennifer went away for college, how Jennifer feels with one of her kids now about to college, their mother-daughter relationship and more ❤️
Garner appeared on TODAY with her mom Pat Garner, who is frequently seen cooking with her in social media videos. That led Kotb to ask Garner’s mom how she was dealing with her own measure of fame.
“I love it,” Garner’s mom, 86, said of her new-found fame. “I probably wish I were Jennifer Garner,” she added.
Garner called her mom an “overnight sensation.”
Actress Jennifer Garner (L) and her mother attend the premiere of Twentieth Century Fox and Regency Enterprises’ “Elektra” at the Palms Casino on January 8, 2004 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Garner said “people are so nice to me, and they’re so nice to my mom.” She said she has the “nice kind” of fame. People “come up to me and they want to say hi,” Garner said, adding that people are “friendly, lovely to me.”
“It’s hard not to like it if you like people,” she noted. She said people are coming up to her mom now too.
Garner and Pat also spoke about their parenting styles.
Kotb said that “benign neglect was part of her parenting advice,” referring to Garner’s mom.
“You don’t try to control everything they do,” Pat said, adding that Garner was “funny” growing up.
Pat said she never had a curfew. “I don’t remember many rules,” she said, adding that Garner was always gone being involved in local theater. She also revealed that “Jennifer has no sense of direction.”
“We all just respected our parents,” Garner said. “We had no reason to be scared of them. They never yelled at us, very little. We all just kind of fell in line.” She has two sisters.
“You want to be every bit like your mom if you have a mom like mine,” Garner added.