Jennifer Garner Gave the Best Breakup Advice to a Fan on Instagram

If there’s anything our country can agree on with near unanimity, it’s that Jennifer Garner is lovely. She makes us laugh; she makes us cry; she does laundry with her cat; she saves the children; SHE. WEARS. A. MASK.

We were reminded of all the reasons we love the mother of three on Monday when she shared nine of her quirky quarantine ‘fits with her 9.3 million Instagram followers. As is to be expected when you’re an A-list Jennifer, Garner’s comments section was flooded, but one particular message stood out to the actress.

Shayn Vitti Avila (@meregoddess) opened up to Garner (and, by extension, Garner’s 9.3 million followers) about leaving her husband. “I wish I had your happiness and feeling of security,” Avila began. “And I don’t say that resentfully because you present yourself as a good and kind person. Your actions show you to be good and kind. It’s that I have finally gotten the courage to tell@my husband [sic] to leave after years of emotional abuse and I feel@like [sic] I will never find happiness or security. I find a sense of balm from seeing yours buts it’s also mixed with a winsome feeling because I don’t think I’ll@ever be there. He is so vindictive and powerful and I have nothing and no one. Why am I saying this to a stranger? I really don’t know.”

Garner, along with hundreds of others, responded to the message, telling Avila, “Your heart sounds heavy, I am so sorry. Hopefully you have powerful women in your corner, reminding you of your strength and your worth. Hopefully, you are able to calm your mind and heart with prayer/meditation/exercise/art. Laughter will come and really — it is worth fighting for. Until then, all of my love."

Avila reflected on the loving exchange on her blog, explaining that Garner’s resilience after her own divorce gave her hope and inspired her to write the comment.

“Jennifer’s post was bright and pretty and fun,” Avila wrote. “I recalled her marriage [to Ben Affleck] and its break up. Blazed across papers and the internet for all to read and misunderstand and yet here was this amazing woman. Posting cute photo of her quarantine pictures and I thought of all the wonderful things she was doing. Acting, her business, her donations, and her positive presence online. BUT most important to me was that she had survived and she was thriving.”

Avila explained that after she left the comment she went back to delete it and was “stunned” by the abundance of responses she’d received. “I cried for a long time,” she wrote. “Strangers. People who don’t know me, who don’t owe me anything took the time to reach out and care for a total stranger.”

“When I saw Jennifer Garner’s note to me, I was floored,” she continued. “To take a moment and share her kindness and well wishes and message of hope — I was and continue to be GRATEFUL.”