Jennifer Garner doesn’t exactly love her reputation for being nice.
The “Alias” actor opened up about the pressure to be “perfect” in a new interview with Allure, admitting she has trouble putting up a positive front during her darker days.
“The problem with, ‘Oh, she’s so nice’ is that when I have any kind of boundary, people think of it as much more than it actually is,” Garner explained in the interview, released Tuesday.
“The problem is being recognized on a day where I’m not so nice or when I have blackness in my soul,” she continued. “I’ve definitely had days where I just can’t do it. I scowl at people before they can walk up to me.”
“I’m not perfect, and I don’t think I’m rude, but I’m not good at being fake,” the actor added. “I’m an open book of a person.”
Garner also said the pressure of fame made it almost impossible to connect with people.
“There were two decades where it was really hard to hold a conversation,” she told the magazine. “Not in a woe-is-me, poor celebrity way. I was on baby watch every single day. The day after I had a baby, [the paparazzi] were watching again. They kind of rush you through your life because they’re just trying to get to the next stage of something they can sell.”
Garner knows that attention all too well, having raised her three children in the spotlight. The actor shares 17-year-old Violet, 14-year-old Seraphina and 11-year-old Sam with ex-husband Ben Affleck. The pair split in 2015 and divorced in 2018.
Garner previously admitted to having a “salty” side during an October 2022 interview with Town & Country.
“I’m not always just nice,” she said at the time. “I can also be salty, and I can be taciturn, or I can be really serious about what I want to get done.”
The star also said she has no issue with setting boundaries, telling Town & Country, “It’s not that I feel I’m underestimated in that way — I’m not afraid to stand up for myself and say, ‘Just so you know, this isn’t going to fly with me.’ When that happens, I don’t want you to be shocked that I’m a real person.”