Exclusive: Jennifer Garner Discusses the Challenges of Parenting Older Children During Difficult Times

Jennifer Garner spoke candidly about the challenges of parenting teenagers during the premiere of her new show, The Last Thing He Told Me, at Regency Village Theater in Los Angeles. The actress, who plays a stepmother named Hannah in the Apple TV+ series, recognizes how difficult it is for teens today.

"I just have a huge heart for teenagers," said Garner, who is also a mother of three. "I love them. I love what they're going through. I see how hard it is to be a teen right now."

Garner's character, Hannah, must build a relationship with her 16-year-old stepdaughter, Bailey, played by Angourie Rice, to find her missing husband in The Last Thing He Told Me. While Garner praised Rice's performance, she noted that her own children are not as challenging to parent as Bailey.

"The teenager in the story, Bailey, played by the beautiful Angourie Rice, she's a whole other ... she's mean," Garner joked. "My kids aren't mean — they're teenagers, but they're not mean. Not to me."

The 13 Going on 30 star admitted that raising teenagers is a learning experience for her. "I mean, I'm learning as much from them, or more from them, than they'll ever learn from me," she explained.

Garner also shared how her role in The Last Thing He Told Me challenged her acting abilities. "It was very difficult for me to play a character who's not maternal at all," she said. "I've played a mom quite a bit, and that is actually lovely, because it's very easy to slip into mothering some awesome young actor, and then you build a relationship under it, so at the end, you're quite close."

The Last Thing He Told Me is now available for streaming on Apple TV+.