Jennifer Garner Reflects on Feeling 'Guilty' While Balancing Work and Co-Parenting 3 Kids With Ben Affleck: 'I Struggled So Much'

Jennifer Garner opened up about on letting go of the "guilt" that comes with working while parenting the three children she shares with Ben Affleck.

Garner discussed balancing work and home life on the July 13 episode of TODAY with Jenna & Sheinelle while promoting her new Peacock series Five Star Weekend.

The actress reflected on how she speaks to her children and herself about work-life balance, multiple decades into her career.

"When they were younger, I struggled with this so much," she admitted.

Garner has spoken out in the past about how she refuses to apologize to her children for working hard as an actress and business owner with her food company, Once Upon a Farm.

"Work is part of life," she explained. "And I get so much joy from what I do. And I really do believe that any job I've had I've just really loved getting in there and doing the best that I can."

"I like to work. I'm a worker bee," Garner added.

Garner shares three children — Violet, 20, Fin (born Seraphina), 17, and Samuel, 14 — with her ex-husband. She and Affleck married in 2005 and split in 2018.

"Now that they're older, they're just like 'Thank you for showing us that work is something to be enjoyed,'" she reflected on her children. "It doesn't just have to be tedious all the time."

She advised other working mothers to do their best to relinquish the "guilt" that comes with balancing both.

"Let go of the guilt, it doesn't serve anyone," she said.

Though Garner admitted that a smooth balance of work and parenting doesn't come without support from a "village."

"The only way you can do it all as a woman is if you are part of a village of women," the 13 Going on 30 star said.

Garner explained that she relies on her best friends at work and at home to make sure she and her children feel supported through every phase of life.

"I have [a village] in my work life and I have it in my home life and for me there's an overlap," she said.

Garner previously opened up about the balance of parenthood and life during her cover shoot for InStyle in June.

"You have to raise yourself at the same time. And just be so radically kind to yourself about how imperfect it is," she told the outlet. "And that it is just going to be imperfect. There’s no such thing as balance."

"There’s no such thing as doing it right," Garner added. "And when the big moments happen, you are okay, and that’s on you to know and understand so your child feels your okayness.”