Jennifer Garner joins child Fin Affleck, 17, for Los Angeles outing

What happened

Jennifer Garner and her child Fin Affleck, 17, went out together in Los Angeles this week, with the teenager wearing a centre-parted hairstyle associated with the 1990s.

Fin paired a graphic T-shirt featuring Bob Marley with cut-off shorts. Their hair fell to either side in a curtains style, a change from the closely cropped look they wore during public appearances in 2024.

Garner, 54, wore a blue shirt and leggings for the errands. The actress, whose films include 13 Going on 30, was spending time with the middle of the three children she shares with her former husband, Ben Affleck.

The couple also have a daughter, Violet, 20, and a son, Samuel, 14. Affleck is 54. Fin has been seen out with both parents this year, including an appearance with their father in New York City in March 2026.

The background

Garner and Affleck were married from 2005 until 2018. Their children now span different stages of adolescence and young adulthood: Samuel is the youngest teenager in the family, while Violet has entered her twenties.

Fin publicly introduced themselves by their current name in April 2024, during a memorial service for Garner's father. The service took place at Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston, West Virginia.

At the service, Fin wore a black trouser suit and had a buzz cut. They gave their name before reading a Bible passage to the congregation, making the introduction as part of a family occasion rather than an entertainment event.

Fin is non-binary and uses they/them pronouns. Their shorter haircut had already been seen in February 2024, before the memorial service at which they first publicly used the name Fin.

After his marriage to Garner ended, Affleck resumed his relationship with Jennifer Lopez in 2021. The pair had previously been engaged before separating in 2004, with their reunion coming roughly 17 years after that earlier split.

Affleck and Lopez married in Las Vegas on 16 July 2022. They then held a larger wedding celebration the following month at Affleck's property in Georgia, where relatives and close friends joined them.

Lopez filed for divorce on the second anniversary of the Georgia wedding. Their divorce was finalised in early 2025, bringing that marriage to an end less than three years after the Las Vegas ceremony.

Their professional association continued after the divorce. Both were involved with the 2025 film Kiss Of The Spider Woman, and they appeared together on the red carpet at its New York City premiere in October that year.

Lopez has two children of her own, 18-year-old twins from her marriage to singer Marc Anthony. Affleck has discussed his affection for them as well as Lopez's continuing relationship with his children, describing family connections that have carried on beyond the marriage.

What people are saying

Affleck has spoken publicly about the way his children respond to his attempts to offer guidance. During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, he described finding that advice about relationships was a particularly easy target for a teenage retort.

He recalled beginning to give his view on a relationship, only for his 17-year-old to challenge whether his own history made him an expert. The anecdote drew on the contrast between his position as a parent offering advice and his children's awareness of his marriages.

Affleck also described trying to talk through matters at the dinner table and noticing the children exchanging looks. Rather than encountering an eye-roll from just one teenager, he said he now sometimes found himself facing a shared reaction from more than one child.

He said he had thought of himself as a cool father. As the children have grown older, however, their responses have increasingly included sarcastic remarks, leaving him conscious that they can see his attempts at parenting differently from the way he intends them.

In a separate conversation with Entertainment Tonight, Affleck spoke warmly about Lopez's treatment of his children. He described her relationship with them as an ongoing one and praised the care she had shown them.

He also expressed affection for Lopez's twins and spoke appreciatively about her character. His comments addressed both sides of the family connection, rather than limiting his account to the children he shares with Garner.

Affleck has discussed working with Garner as well as parenting alongside her. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, he recounted a conversation about a proposed on-screen reunion in his film Animals, explaining that their shared personal history had become part of the decision.

What happens next

Animals had initially been intended to feature both Affleck and Garner. Kerry Washington was subsequently cast in the role that Garner had been expected to take, changing the planned pairing at the centre of that proposed collaboration.

Affleck said Garner had raised concerns about the personal associations audiences would bring to seeing them together in those roles. His account presented that concern as a reason not to pursue the original casting, rather than as a disagreement over the film itself.

The project would have placed the former spouses opposite one another in a fictional marriage. That made the casting question different from simply appearing in the same production: their characters' relationship would have invited attention alongside their own history.

For Affleck, the parenting task he described on television continues separately from those casting decisions. He said he still tries to offer advice and talk matters through with his children, even when their response is to question his authority on the subject.

Why this matters

For UK film audiences, Animals connects a forthcoming screen partnership with a familiar Hollywood family story. The marriage Affleck and Garner had been due to portray was a troubled one, giving particular relevance to her concerns about bringing their personal history into the production.

Affleck's comments also offer a domestic perspective on an actor associated with films including Good Will Hunting and Gone Girl. Alongside the public appearances and professional decisions, his account centres on the everyday challenge of being taken seriously by children who are growing older.