Ben Affleck Called Jennifer Garner a ‘Spectacular Mother’

Ben Affleck joked that he shouldn't give anyone parenting advice. He said Jennifer Garner was a great parent, though.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner are divorced and currently co-parent their children. When their eldest daughter was born, Affleck spoke about how much he liked being a father. He admitted that it was much easier to be a parent when he had a partner like Garner.

Ben Affleck complimented Jennifer Garner as a mother

Not long after the birth of their first child, Violet, Affleck spoke about the joys of parenthood. He said it completely changed his life.

“I love being a father, it’s wonderful. It’s changed my life,” he said in a 2006 press conference for the movie Hollywoodland, per IGN. “It all sounds like platitudes and clichés because they’re true.”

He admitted that it helped to have a wife who was as good of a parent as Garner is.

“It fast became the most important thing in my life and I reorganized my priorities instantly in a way that feels really good. I love that,” he said. “My wife is spectacular, a spectacular mother, spectacular everything, so that’s really nice.”

He said that she doesn’t think quite so highly of him as a father

While Affleck praised Garner’s abilities as a mother, he joked that people shouldn’t turn to him for advice on fatherhood. He didn’t even think that Garner trusted him much.

“Two days ago my wife had to go to work. I was there,” he said, adding, “I was taking care of the baby. I was trying to make sure everything was going to be okay. She said, ‘Okay, I’m running out,’ she gave me the baby. She said, ‘Okay, you know how to feed her with the solid food?’ I said, ‘Yes, I know how to feed her.’ She said, ‘You take the peaches, you stir that up and you put that in with a little oatmeal and then put that in with a little bit of the crushed pears, and you mix that up,’ and then she looked at me and said, in all seriousness, ‘Is this too complicated?’”

He joked that this anecdote represented what Garner thought of him as a parent.

“This is [what] my wife thinks of my parenting abilities,” he said. “Clearly, I should not be offering advice to anyone else.”

How many children do Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner have?

Affleck and Garner have three children: Violet, Fin, and Samuel. While Affleck denigrated his abilities as a father, Garner said he was a good parent.

“He came, he did the school drop-offs and pickups and bedtimes and brought the kids to see me every day on set,” she told Extra. “And he gave me that gift. Otherwise, it would’ve been really hard for me to do. He’s great … He’s a great dad.”

Garner admitted that having more children was something Affleck wanted while they were still married. This was not something she was considering at the time, though.

“I read somewhere that we were thinking of having another,” Garner said. “The fact that Ben wants another is true … But, I can tell you that that would be a pretty uphill battle with me. I am not anticipating having any more kids.”