Jennifer Garner’s personal life may be synonymous with one big relationship — a certain Ben Affleck — but, way before Jen ‘n’ Ben, there was Scott Foley. Garner and Foley were married for three years in the early aughts — a very long time ago in celebrity relationships.
So, what went down between Garner, 53, and the Scandal star, 52, and where did it ultimately take them?
How it Began
It was 1998 and Garner, then just 26, had been in a few movies, like Mr Magoo and Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry, but wasn’t yet the huge star she is today. Then, she nabbed a guest role on Felicity, the college drama series that Foley — already something of a household name and very much a heartthrob — was the star of. “She played my girlfriend on Felicity,” Foley recalled in a 2021 interview on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy. “We met on the show and we hit it off instantly and [we were] soon dating.”
In the years that followed, the couple regularly stepped out together on the red carpet, looking happy, cute and in love.
How Long it Lasted
The pair married in 2000, by which time Garner’s star was seriously rising: it was the year that Alias premiered. But in April 2003, three years into their marriage and five years since they met, they announced that they had separated.
The rumors had actually started whirring a few days before, when Garner arrived at the Oscars solo. Sure enough, legal documents showed that they had officially split that exact day: March 23. Ouch. Kudos to Garner for still managing to smile on the red carpet!
How it Ended
The pair officially cited “irreconcilable differences” in their divorce papers and Garner later put the breakup down to them being too young — and Hollywood moving too fast. “That sounds cliché, but we really were victims of Hollywood,” she told InStyle in 2004. “Everything is speeded up here — it is a fast-lane life, and if something is not working, it is considered best to end it without much thought. If we lived where I was brought up [West Virginia], we would probably still be together.”
The divorce was finalized in 2004, but Garner had already moved on, falling for her Alias costar Michael Vartan. Their relationship only lasted a year, ahead of her high-profile relationship with Affleck kicking off.
What They Said About Each Other
In 2003, shortly after the split, Foley opened up to TV Guide. “Jennifer became a huge celebrity,” he said. “She became a huge star, and she deserved everything she got. There was no other relationship, there was no infidelity, nothing. People get divorced, you know? Through no one’s fault and everyone’s fault.”
Garner also addressed the split in 2003, telling W, “Honestly, I just don’t have enough perspective on it yet. I think there are a million reasons why things don’t work. I think people understood that we were just two normal people who really loved each other. You know, we got quietly married in our backyard after being together for a couple of years; we never gave our wedding pictures out to be published.”
It was a while before Garner spoke publicly again about what had gone down. In 2012, she told The Sun she regretted getting married so young. “Everyone reaches maturity at different times,” she said. “I wish I’d known to wait for marriage until I was 30 or over. I did marry in my twenties and I found divorce a crushing experience. I thought the divorce statistics would never apply to me. I was beyond heartbroken when they did.”
Sadly, it wasn’t to be Garner’s only divorce: she and Affleck split in 2015, after 10 years of marriage (they share teenagers Violet, Seraphina and Samuel.) And once again, she shared her divorce regrets. “It’s one of the pains in my life that something I believe in so strongly I’ve completely failed at twice,” she told Vanity Fair in 2016.
Perhaps that’s one reason why she and current partner, John Miller, have remained unmarried since meeting in 2018.
In 2013, in an interview with Allure, Garner also described Foley as a “great guy.” She added: “We were full-on grown-ups, but looking back, I’m aware we did not know what hit us. We didn’t have a shot. He’s a really good guy, and we just imploded.”
What They Say Now
In many ways, Hollywood’s a small place, so of course these two have crossed paths in the two decades since their divorce. And Foley, now married to actress Marika Domińczyk since 2007 (they share three children: Malina, Keller and Konrad), says it’s totally fine. “You have to say hello,” he told Radio Andy. “You’re very civil. I mean, we do not keep in contact because she has her own family. I have mine. … But I’ve seen her a few times — especially when we were living in L.A. — and Marika has been with me. You know, everybody says hi and you’re cordial and you move on. That’s life, right?”
Key Relationship Takeaways
Foley summed it up pretty well — that’s life! Looking back, it seems like this was basically a starter marriage for two young talents finding their way in Hollywood. They looked cute together, were a great match on paper and enjoyed navigating their way through the industry together — until they didn’t.
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