Jennifer Garner Spotted with Rarely-Seen Son — She Believed It Would Be ‘So Weird’ to Raise a Boy

• Hollywood actress Jennifer Garner was recently spotted with her rarely-seen 11-year-old son.
• Paparazzi photographed the two as Garner dropped Samuel Affleck off at his Santa Monica school.
• After discovering she was pregnant with her third child, Garner reported that having a boy would be "so weird" since she was used to having only girls.

Jennifer Garner is a well-known actress who shares three children with her ex-husband Ben Affleck. The ex-couple share daughters, Violet, 17, Seraphina Rose Elizabeth,14, and an only son, Samuel, 11.

Of the three children, Samuel does not enjoy being in the spotlight and avoids the public eye at all costs. According to his mother, Samuel not only prefers to remain away from the limelight, but he also detests the paparazzi.

At four years old, Samuel already knew he wanted no part in living a life of fame. Garner says he is quite adamant in his asserting his disdain for being photographed:

"Every time he sees the cameras, which is still every day, he says, 'I don't like that. There are two things I don't like, Mom. I don't like cameras, [and] I don't like men with cameras.' "

Unfortunately for the little boy, due to being born to famous parents, constantly being in the public eye comes with the territory. Having managed to keep away from the cameras for some time until recently, Samuel was spotted with his mom on a morning school run. A YouTube video capturing the moment showcases protective mom Garner tightly holding onto her son's hand as the two jogged across the street to make it to his school.

The mother and son duo wore matching outfits, with both sporting dark grey hoodies and red sneakers. Though one could see Samuel with a look that seemed somewhat distressed as he heard the shutters of the cameras go off, his mom said something to him which made him laugh and put a smile on his face.

Why Jennifer Garner Said It Would Be "Weird" to Have a Boy After Raising Two Girls

Samuel was born on February 27, 2012, and his birth was extremely private as his parents did not share any details about the event. However, a couple of days after his birth, the news broke. The Mirror was one of the news outlets to report on the arrival of the youngest of the Affleck clan and spoke about how the happy parents felt.

According to the source, Garner fell pregnant with Samuel in August and revealed that although she had thought her husband would have been excited to have a boy finally, he was looking forward to having another girl since he was used to having girls that adored him. Apparently, Affleck had expressed this because he said they had become so used to having girls, and so he knew how to raise them, so having a boy had him slightly nervous as he did not know what to expect.

The couple did not give much else away about baby Samuel at the time except the fact that his big sisters wanted to name him. Months before giving birth, Garner appeared on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" and spoke about her pregnancy.

DeGeneres asked Garner whether she would like a baby boy since she already has two girls. Garner went on to say how everybody had been asking her that and expressed how she is one of three girls and adores her little sister, so she jokingly added that she would like another girl but that the couple would be elated either way—boy or girl.

Despite their only boy Samuel still not having an affinity for the spotlight, his loving mother and father continue to ensure that he and his siblings remain happy and protected.

Although Garner had conveyed that she and Affleck would be happy with either a boy or a girl, she spoke about how different having a boy would be for them. Garner divulged:

"I mean, obviously, we would be happy either way cause it would be so weird to have a boy and cool and different, and I'm sure that it would be fun for Ben [cause] he likes Baseball and all that stuff. But a third girl - three girls is a great way to grow up."

How Baby Samuel Became a "Band-Aid" for His Parents' Disintegrating Marriage

Around the time Samuel was born, to the public's knowledge, the Garner-Affleck family seemed perfectly happy with their third baby, who completed their picture-perfect family. However, a close source of the family revealed that everything was not how it had appeared and that the couple had been going through severe marital issues for a long time.

Apparently, amidst Garner and her now-ex-husband struggling to keep their marriage together, they nearly divorced three years before officially divorcing in 2018. They had exhausted their efforts to make it work by frequenting couple's therapy but to no avail.

For a while, the ex-couple had tried to make it work between the two of them for the sake of their three children. As told by the close source, they even had plans to split up before Samuel was born but decided to hold off:

"They were in couple's therapy for years. They were going to divorce when Sam was born, but you know how it is - [the] baby comes and solves the issues for a bit, but it's just a Band-Aid. It hasn't been working for ages."

In a candid interview with The New York Times, Affleck divulged a bit about how his and Garner's relationship had ended. The actor admitted how his battle with alcohol had only added more problems to the issues they were already facing. He went on to express how one of his biggest regrets was the dissolution of his marriage with Garner.

However, looking towards the future, he revealed that he had tried his best to pick himself up and move forward in the end. Similarly, Garner had expressed that should she be given the opportunity to go back in time before marrying Affleck, she would marry him all over again, stating that he is the love of her life with whom she shares three children.

Although the two did not work out as a couple and decided to divorce after thirteen years of marriage, they committed to remaining friends to focus on co-parenting their children to the best of their abilities. In their joint divorce statement, the pair announced:

"We go forward with love and friendship for one another and a commitment to co-parenting our children whose privacy we ask to be respected during this difficult time."

Garner and Affleck remain friends in order to be the best parents to their three children. Despite their only boy Samuel still not having an affinity for the spotlight, his loving mother and father continue to ensure that he and his siblings remain happy and protected. His doting mom also encourages him to do his best to ignore the paparazzi and live his life.

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