Jennifer Garner talks Ben Affleck split: Nanny 'not a part of the equation'

Jennifer Garner hasn’t said much about the breakup of her marriage to Ben Affleck — until now, that is.

In the March issue of Vanity Fair, the actress gives a candid interview in which she speaks about her split from the actor-director and the scandal surrounding his alleged affair with their children’s nanny, Christine Ouzounian.

“Let me just tell you something,” Garner says. “We had been separated for months before I ever heard about the nanny. She had nothing to with our decision to divorce. She was not a part of the equation.” The “nannygate” rumors, which Affleck has repeatedly denied, began surfacing shortly after the couple announced their plans to divorce last June.

“It was a real marriage,” she told Vanity Fair as their latest cover star. “It wasn’t for the cameras. And it was a huge priority for me to stay in it. And that did not work.”

Garner, 43, added that her estranged husband is “a complicated guy.” While she still speaks well of him, Garner admits, “When his sun shines on you, you feel it. But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.”

The actress said that she’s not hopeful for a reconciliation, and it’s been especially difficult explaining the situation to their children Violet, 10, Seraphina, 7, and Samuel, 4.

“I have had to have conversations about the meaning of ‘scandal,’ ” she said.

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Garner also couldn’t resist talking about the tattoo that Affleck got after the couple separated — a phoenix rising from the ashes that covers his back.

“You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart,’ ” said the West Virginia-born star. “A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.”