Jennifer Garner "Basically" Threw Herself a Wedding on Her 50th Birthday

Jennifer Garner may usually prefer to keep things low-key when it comes to her birthday, but she recently revealed that her 50th trip around the sun warranted the most extra celebration, maybe ever.

The actress opened up about the lavish party, which she explained started as an intimate Easter-weekend gathering before “snowballing” into an all-out birthday extravaganza. The talk served as one of the cover stars on the newest issue of Town & Country. “I basically had a wedding for myself,” she joked of the massive turnout. “I was so shocked that I was doing it.”

While the celebration may have felt out of character for Garner, she revealed the way she kept the party customized to one of her most cherished interests: philanthropy. The star shared that a non-negotiable requirement she had was for each guest to help fill 5,000 backpacks with enough food to feed a family of four for the program Blessings in a Backpack, adding, “I put everyone to work.”

Although Jennifer’s added birthday request was undoubtedly a nice thing to do, she also got candid during the interview about how she views that specific label. “I have no reason not to be nice. My life is lovely,” she said. “I’m not always just nice. I can also be salty, and I can be taciturn, or I can be really serious about what I want to get done.”

Garner continued, “It’s not that I feel I’m underestimated in that way — I’m not afraid to stand up for myself and say, ‘Just so you know, this isn’t going to fly with me.’ When that happens, I don’t want you to be shocked that I’m a real person.”