It’s tough having a relationship in Hollywood. Even though Jennifer Garner has been a big star for quite a bit of time now, she was never really all about the spotlight and recently revealed how difficult the exposure was for her to deal with while married to Ben Affleck.

“How do you adapt your career to your life? That’s a big question,” the 46-year-old told WSJ Magazine for their March Women’s Style Issue. “Becoming someone who is well known requires an enormous adaptation.” The 13 Going on 30 star was already a famous face before she met the Justice League actor, also 46, but the attention was ramped up a lot more once the pair said their “I dos” in June 2005.

Ben Affleck Jennifer Garner
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“Something Ben and I used to say to each other all the time is, ‘We have to adapt,’” she added. “We were surrounded by paparazzi. There were so many things you wouldn’t expect. We’d be left alone more at Disneyland than we would at a park 
in Santa Monica.”

The situation became more of a headache once the pair had kids, too. “Then there’s having children and, in my case, a career that’s a very selfish one,” the Alias alum told the outlet. “The combination of those things is the largest adaptation of all. When I had kids, I started considering how jobs worked for my family. How much am I going to ask of my partner and kids? What’s worth it and what isn’t? If you love something, you’ll do whatever you need to do.”

Ben Affleck Jennifer Garner
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Jen and Ben were previously married from 2005 to 2018 and had three children — Violet, 13, and Seraphina, 10, and son Samuel, 6 — together. The two are successful coparents today, as they both have been seen hanging with their children together and separately as well. It was also reported this past December by Life & Style that the exes are still reuniting for therapy sessions for their kids.

“They’re doing it for the kids mostly, but it also helps them communicate better and coparent more efficiently,” a source said at the time. “Even though they’ve had many problems in the past, they’re committed to raising their children the best way they can.”