Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck's daughter Violet Affleck has been seen back in Los Angeles for the first time in several months. The 20-year-old, who made the rare move of pulling off her face mask during the outing, was kicking off her summer break from college. Last week, she completed her classes for her second year at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
In addition to her 54-year-old mother, Violet was joined by her younger brother Samuel, 14, as they picked up ice cream cones at Sweet Rose Creamery inside the Brentwood Country Mart near their home. Missing from the ice cream excursion was Violet and Samuel's sibling Finn, who used to be named Seraphina.
All three family members were dressed casually while picking up their frozen desserts. Violet wore a stylish Chappell Roan T-shirt, two-toned jeans, and a pink crossbody purse. She finished the look with black sneakers and prescription glasses. She did not have her face mask on but held it in her hand. Affleck wears face masks as a health precaution following her experience with a post-viral condition she contracted in 2019. She has been a vocal advocate for wearing masks in public.
A day later, Violet was seen with a mask on while in a car with her mother getting drive-through takeout food at In-N-Out Burger. During the ice cream outing, mom Garner wore a red-and-black shirt with black exercise leggings, sneakers, and sunglasses. Samuel wore a white T-shirt with a chain around his neck and green sweatpants with sneakers.
In February, Garner opened up about the challenges she has faced while co-parenting her children with Affleck. The Hollywood actress married Ben in 2005, and they welcomed three children, but they split after a decade of marriage in 2015, with the former couple focusing on raising their family together. Garner revealed they have learned how to be 'both parents' for the children.
During an appearance on Bustle's One Nightstand podcast, Jennifer explained: 'When your kids grow up in two separate households, I become mom and dad, and he becomes dad and mom. You kind of can't help it, right? Because you don't have the benefit of both sides, the yin and yang being in the same house, so you have to have a bit of both in the way you parent. There's a little bit of loss in that, but there's also something gained in that... You also just learn, it's made me let go and not focus so much on the bringing up.'
After the divorce, Garner opened up about the pair's relationship, calling Affleck the 'love' of her life and insisting they will always feel bonded despite the split. She told Vanity Fair magazine in 2016: 'I didn't marry the big fat movie star; I married him. And I would go back and remake that decision. I ran down the beach to him, and I would again. You can't have these three babies and so much of what we had. He's the love of my life. We still have to help each other get through this [divorce]. He's still the only person who really knows the truth about things. And I'm still the only person that knows some of his truths.'
Affleck, who went on to marry and divorce Jennifer Lopez, later admitted he never wanted to split from his first wife because he was worried about the effect it would have on the children, but the exes have made it work. During an appearance on Good Morning America in 2020, he explained: 'I didn't want to get divorced, I didn't want to be a divorced person, I really didn't want to be a split family with my children. It upset me because it meant I wasn't who I thought I was and that was so painful and so disappointing in myself. When you have children with somebody, you're connected to them forever. And I'm very lucky she [Jennifer] is the mother of my children. I'm very grateful and respectful of her. Our marriage didn't work, and that's difficult. Both of us really believe that it's important for kids to see their parents respect one another and get along, whether they're together or not.'
