Jennifer Garner is opening up about a difficult period in her personal life.

The 13 Going on 30 alum—who shares kids Violet, 20, Seraphina, 17, and Samuel, 13, with ex-husband Ben Affleck—detailed how the former couple’s 2015 split impacted their young family. 

“When my kids were little, I worked so little,” she told InStyle in an interview published June 3, “and then we had such an upheaval in our family, that I really hardly worked for a long time.”

Jennifer and Ben announced their breakup in 2015 before finalizing their divorce three years later. Though the Alias actress took a step back from acting to focus on her family life, she leaned into that decision even further following their split.    

“First of all,” she explained, “when you're in a performance kind of role, you give up a year/year-and-a-half of performance while you are pregnant, having a baby, recovering.”

Though she still managed to nab roles in Juno and The Kingdom during that period—where she was breastfeeding between scenes, according to the outlet—it wasn’t enough for her agent, who suggested Jennifer sign onto 2013’s Academy Award–winning film Dallas Buyers Club or consider retirement. 

Though she wound up joining the film’s stacked cast, she wasn’t in the same place then as she is today when it comes to her career. After all, the 54-year-old—who is starring in the TV adaptation of The Five Star Weekend, streaming on Peacock July 9—couldn’t be happier to dive headfirst back into her craft. 

Indeed, she’s grateful “to have this year and a half where I just indulged [in acting], because this job is very selfish,” she explained. “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.”

“I relate to that feeling of like, ‘Okay, I gave everything to mothering. I’m still their mom, I’m not going anywhere, I’m still all-in,’” she added. “I’m also really grateful to have this part of my life back.” 

And though Jennifer will be finding more of a balance between her personal and professional lives moving forward, she’s not afraid of any inevitable missteps. 

“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. Working hard is part of life, and messing up is part of life. Tripping and falling—there’s room for all of it.”

Keep reading for everything Jennifer has said about parenthood...

When it comes to co-parenting, Jennifer Garner will always maintain a cordial relationship with her ex-husband Ben Affleck for the sake of their children: Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.

“It’s not Ben’s job to make me happy," Garner shared in a 2016 Vanity Fair interview. "The main thing is these kids―and we’re completely in line with what we hope for them."

She continued, "Sure, I lost the dream of dancing with my husband at my daughter’s wedding. But you should see their faces when he walks through the door. And if you see your kids love someone so purely and wholly, then you’re going to be friends with that person.”

Though she and Affleck are both successful actors, Garner doesn't want their kids to live inside a Hollywood bubble.

"It's really important for my kids to see that everyone doesn’t have the lives they see in Los Angeles," she told Southern Living. "That doesn’t reflect the rest of the world. I want them to grow up with the Southern values I had―to look at people when they say hello and to stop and smell the roses."

And that's why her parenting style is very hands-on.

“I think teaching your kids anything is a lifelong job and certainly values are something―you can’t just say, ‘Here, have values!’" she previously told E! News. "You have to show them that you have values."

Explaining how setting a good example is the "most important job," the Alias alum added that she and Affleck—who she split with in 2015 after 10 years of marriage—hope that their kids "see and appreciate the work we do."

Of course, there is no one standard way of parenting.

“As much as you think that, ’OK, I’m going to follow what this person says,'" Garner noted during a 2016 appearance on Late Night With Seth Meyers, "it’s not up to you, dude."

Advising parents to "let it go" when it comes to their worries, the 13 Going on 30 star continued, "You’re going to struggle. It’s going to suck—just like for everyone else."

For Garner, the key to maintaining a good structure for her kids is setting up boundaries and rules.

"You just have to do it," she explained to Us Weekly. "It’s not pretty. I don’t think that I’m always the best at it, but I try my best to be consistent and for them to know what they can expect from me."

And when she does experience a roadblock in her parenting journey, Garner believes "every day is a fresh start."

"You always can say, ‘Today, we’re going to try this!'" she told People. "And if it goes horribly, you can say, ‘Today, we’re throwing that out, and we’re trying this!’"

The actress added, "That’s part of what I like about being a mom in general."

Garner's motherhood joy extends into the cinematic universe as well.

"I’m really glad that I’m playing moms," she told Today, "because there’s no more rich time in women’s lives than when you have your babies."