During a recent appearance on Kylie Kelce’s podcast, “Not Gonna Lie<\/a>,” the 53-year-old actress discussed her movie, “13 Going On 30,” and why it led to “some tortured years” for her kids.<\/p>\n “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\u2019s just so cringe.”<\/p>\n 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\u2019re like, ‘You have a headache? You’ve never had a headache, but you need me to get you, okay.'”<\/p>\n 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)<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n “There have been times when I\u2019ve had to talk about a certain scene or something, so I\u2019ve gone back and watched that scene, and I don\u2019t know why I haven\u2019t sat down to watch the whole thing,” she explained.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n Garner ranked Jenna Rink high on her list of favorite characters she’s ever played. (M. Caulfield\/WireImage)<\/p>\n The only character that “might be number one” over Jenna Rink is Sydney Bristow, the character she played in the hit ABC show, “Alias,” <\/a>noting, “she changed my life.”<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n “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\u2019d never had a swagger, and she made me have a swagger. And I think it\u2019s really important for young women to find, recognize, and know how to use their own swagger.”<\/p>\n Garner starred on the show for five seasons from 2001 to 2006 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards<\/a> and won a Golden Globe during the show’s run.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Garner performed all her own stunts on “Alias.” (Scott Garfield\/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images)<\/p>\n “It was very stunt heavy,” she said on “The Graham Norton Show<\/a>” 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.”<\/p>\n LIKE WHAT YOU\u2019RE READING? CLICK HERE FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS<\/a><\/p>\n She also recently told Parade<\/a> 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 +<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Another language comes in really handy because I speak a lot of French this season, and I don\u2019t 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\u2019m grateful.”<\/p>\n Garner called “Alias” acting bootcamp. (Chris Haston\/WBTV via Getty Images)<\/p>\n![\"Jennifer](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/jennifer-garner-mirror.jpg\")
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