Like many Southern women, the actress grew up withSouthern Living.
No entourage or demands.
No gripes about the wardrobe or unflattering angles.
“I would not trade growing up in West Virginia for anything.” -Jennifer Garner.Credit: Miller Mobley
lt’s a reflection of their upbringing inCharleston, West Virginia,where Patricia pushed humility over vanity.
The sisters didn’t wear makeup as teens and got $400 a year for clothes.
(“That had to buy everything from our underwear to our shoes,” Jen says.
“More than being my kids' mother, I’m first and foremost the middle Garner girl.”
Their mom is the central point that keeps them connected.
“We all talk on the phone a lot,” Patricia says.
“And they all talk to me.
If they miss each other, I get them caught up.”
“It was a shock when I got to college to hear people say I was pretty.”
I can’t feel like I’m wearing a costume."
She passed that tenacity on to her girls.
“I always had a job,” Jen says.
“In high school, I worked at a men’s clothing shop and babysat.
In college, I worked at a summer stock theater for free, building sets and cleaning toilets.”
The actress says she wouldn’t trade growing up in West Virginia for anything.
“Community is the one thing people crave most, and it’s hard to come by.
She visits often to see family and work with the nonprofit Save the Children.
“I’m happy to be anywhere in the state,” Jen says.
“There is nothing better,” she says.
On Individuality
“We let the girls do their own thing,” Patricia says.
“Being the middle child, she was the clown,” Patricia says.
“I thought Jen would be a writer because she was always making up these little stories.
She inherited that trait from my side.
My mom was a good storyteller, and my brother was a pretty good liar.
He’d tell me Oh, Pat, there is no story that can’t be made better!'
“That doesn’t reflect the rest of the world.
