Jennifer Garner recalls terrifying papparazzi moment with her kids

Jennifer Garner is looking back on the darkest days of life in the paparazzi spotlight—and says it wasn't fame that scared her most, it was what it did to her children.

While promoting The Five Star Weekend on the Shut Up Evan podcast, Garner recalled why she teamed up with Halle Berry in 2013 to push for stronger laws protecting celebrity children from aggressive photographers.

Before those protections were introduced, she said daily life often felt dangerous.

“If I went through a yellow light, 15 cars would go through the red behind me,” Garner recalled. 

“They would drive up onto people’s lawns... We were trying to have our little one play soccer, and the association asked us to stop because there were 20 cars coming.”

The actress also described frightening moments outside doctors' offices and schools.

“If you show up and you’re trying to get into the pediatrician and you have a sick kid on your shoulder... and you can’t get into the door because you’re blocked by photographers, there’s something wrong with that,” she said. “The kids are paying the price. Kids were getting knocked over coming out of preschool.”

Even today, Garner says photographers still trail her daily.

“I have two photographers that follow me every day,” she shared, revealing she's had one of them assigned to her for more than two decades. Surprisingly, she admitted they now share “a very interesting relationship.”

“We’ve had some really real-life moments together,” Garner said, adding that she once ran to the photographer for help because she trusted him after believing someone else was following her. 

“There’s kind of a Stockholm Syndrome thing.”

For Garner, the cameras may never disappear—but protecting her family has always remained the real priority.