Jennifer Garner says her kids mortified by ’13 Going On 30′ at parties

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Jennifer Garner is sharing which of her iconic roles left her children “mortified” at birthday parties.

During a recent appearance on Kylie Kelce’s podcast, “Not Gonna Lie,” the 53-year-old actress discussed her movie, “13 Going On 30,” and why it led to “some tortured years” for her kids.

“They went through some tortured years when they were turning 13, and it was showing up at birthday parties a lot or sleepovers, and the parents thought, ‘Oh, this will be a fun thing,'” she said. “And my kids were, first of all, mortified. Mortified. And second of all, so upset to see me sad, so upset to see me being in love. And also, it’s just so cringe.”

She went on to say that she ended up getting “a couple of calls from sleepovers” from her kids complaining that they had headaches and needed to come home, adding, “And we’re like, ‘You have a headache? You’ve never had a headache, but you need me to get you, okay.'”

Jennifer Garner at a London photocall for her show "The Last Thing He Told Me" in February 2026.

Garner’s kids were “mortified” when other parents would play “13 Going On 30” at birthday parties. (Alan Chapman/Dave Benett/Getty Images for Apple TV)

While her kids may not have enjoyed watching the movie, the “Catch Me If You Can” actress said she loves the movie, and that she “had the best time making” it.

Although she has nothing but good memories from the set of the movie, she admits she hasn’t “watched it in full since the premiere.”

“There have been times when I’ve had to talk about a certain scene or something, so I’ve gone back and watched that scene, and I don’t know why I haven’t sat down to watch the whole thing,” she explained.

Of all the characters she has played throughout her career, Garner ranks “13 Going on 30’s” Jenna Rink as “one or two” on her list of favorite characters, saying, “There was so much joy in the creation of her” and recalled improvising “and playing so much” on set, calling the whole experience “magical.”

Jennifer Garner at the premiere of "30 Going On 30."

Garner ranked Jenna Rink high on her list of favorite characters she’s ever played. (M. Caulfield/WireImage)

The only character that “might be number one” over Jenna Rink is Sydney Bristow, the character she played in the hit ABC show, “Alias,” noting, “she changed my life.”

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“Not just because people cared; it was the first thing I ever did that people really cared about, but more than that, she gave me this sense of self and confidence,” Garner said. “I had always had such girl-next-door energy that I’d never had a swagger, and she made me have a swagger. And I think it’s really important for young women to find, recognize, and know how to use their own swagger.”

Garner starred on the show for five seasons from 2001 to 2006 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe during the show’s run.

The actress played an international spy for the CIA on the show and has often spoken about having to learn dialogue in different languages and performing her own stunts on the show, which involved wire work, jumping off buildings and intense hand-to-hand combat.

Jennifer Garner in a scene scene from the show "Alias."

Garner performed all her own stunts on “Alias.” (Scott Garfield/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)

“It was very stunt heavy,” she said on “The Graham Norton Show” in February. “Every Sunday they would say, ‘Okay, um hi I’m here. I’m your Swedish tutor…Hi I’m here. I’m your Japanese tutor.’ And then the fight team would come over, and we would fight in the backyard, and they would teach me that week’s fights. And then I would go and do them.”

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She also recently told Parade that “Alias” “was like acting boot camp” and that she learned so much on the show. Some of the lessons learned came in handy when filming her current show, “The Last Thing He Told Me,” which recently premiered its second season on Apple TV +.

“Another language comes in really handy because I speak a lot of French this season, and I don’t speak French, which anyone who does who watches this season will know very quickly,” she said. “But, I do know how to work really hard and learn my lines in another language and for that, I’m grateful.”