Jennifer Garner Confesses She's Not Perfect When It Comes to Parenting: 'There's No Such Thing as Doing It Right'

Jennifer Garner is getting real about parenting.

In a new interview, the famed actress opened up to InStyle about how she approaches motherhood in a new summer-inspired, poolside cover shoot.

"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."

In her latest cover shoot, the 54-year-old looked striking as she lounged next to a crystal blue pool in a bright red body suit.

"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.”

Garner and her ex-husband, Ben Affleck, share three children: Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13.

The couple was married between 2005 and 2018. The actress told InStyle that their divorce impacted both their family and her work.

"When my kids were little, I worked so little, and then we had such an upheaval in our family, that I really hardly worked for a long time," she said, in a rare comment about her very public divorce.

Now that her children are older, Garner said, they are very understanding of her career.

“When I work, I don’t apologize to my kids for it," she said. "I do thank them for being so sweet about it."

"But that’s part of life," Garner added. "Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. Tripping and falling—there’s room for all of it.”

Garner is returning to screens on July 16 in Peacock's The Five Star Weekend.

The eight-episode series is adapted from Elin Hilderbrand’s novel by the same name. Garner plays a food blogger who hosts her friends in Nantucket after her husband's tragic death.

The Emmy-nominated actress hasn't graced television screens since making a cameo as Elektra in Deadpool and Wolverine, but said she was excited to be "selfish" and focus on her career for a change.

"[It’s a gift] to have this year and a half where I just indulged [in acting], because this job is very selfish," she said. "It’s all about your schedule. It’s not about what the kids have going on at school. It’s not about pickups and drop-offs and making it home for dinner."

After a decades-long career, Garner divulged that she has learned to approach her career through a perspective of joy and gratitude.

"I feel lucky because I really come at [acting] from a place of joy," she added. "I’m not tortured. It’s not filling a hole. I just really love to do it. And I love to be around people who love to do it.”