How Jen Finds Strength in Her Faith

Through worship and reflection, Jennifer Garner has built a sense of peace that helps her continue to show up for others

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As a kid growing up in West Virginia, there was “one beautiful sermon” about “the power of letting go” that Jennifer Garner and her family often referenced. The minister at their Methodist church “talked about taking something hard that had happened and imagining yourself going down to the banks of the river and fashioning a beautiful box out of what you find there and placing this hurt carefully in the box and watching it float down the river,” Jen told Allure in 2023. “So many times” since then, she shared, “my sisters and I have said, ‘You need to put that in the river.’”

The 53-year-old star’s faith is an important part of her life, especially in recent years. “She really leaned on her faith during her difficult divorce from Ben [Affleck], and when she lost her dad, William, last year,” a source tells Life & Style. It’s not only comforted her, adds the source, but shaped her “into the strong individual she is now.” That strength, says the source, “is why so many people turn toward Jen in times of trouble. That’s why Ben,” who struggled with alcohol addiction before and after their split a decade ago following 10 years of marriage, “still leans on her so much.”

BACK TO HER ROOTS

The 13 Going on 30 star grew up going to church every Sunday. When she moved to LA in her 20s, “it wasn’t something that was just part of the culture there in the same way,” she told Good Morning Texas while promoting her 2016 film