Jennifer Garner Says 20 Paparazzi Cars Drove Her Off Children's Soccer Field

Q: After two decades of pursuit, what turned Jennifer Garner's relationship with two paparazzi into something resembling Stockholm syndrome?

It stemmed from years of constant contact with the same two photographers, especially one man who had followed Jennifer Garner for roughly 20 to 25 years, combined with a moment when that adversarial relationship unexpectedly felt protective. Garner said the nonstop pursuit created an “odd respect” and a strange familiarity. The key incident came when she felt threatened by another person and, instead of fleeing from the paparazzo, ran to him because she knew him, trusted him in that moment, and believed “he and I would be OK.” That experience turned a long-running harassment dynamic into what she described as “kind of a Stockholm syndrome thing.” Her account does not suggest the harassment stopped. She said she still calls police regularly to ask for basic privacy, including being able to walk around the block with her children and dog without being followed. But after two decades of being trailed by the same people, the relationship became psychologically complicated: intrusive and damaging, yet familiar enough that one of the photographers briefly became someone she sought out for safety.

Q: Jennifer Garner helped pass a law to protect celebrity children in 2013. Thirteen years later, has it actually worked?

Yes, but only partly. The law Garner helped champion with Halle Berry in 2013—California’s SB 606—was designed to punish paparazzi who harass children because of a parent’s fame. By Garner’s own account in 2026, it appears to have worked in its narrowest aim: the worst behavior she described from her children’s early years—cars running red lights, photographers blocking a pediatrician’s entrance, children being knocked over outside preschool, and soccer games overwhelmed by pursuing vehicles—has been curbed. She said the legislation prevents the kind of harassment her children grew up with. But the law has not ended paparazzi intrusion. Garner says two photographers still trail her regularly, and she still calls police to get basic privacy, even for a walk around the block. That suggests the statute reduced the most dangerous and child-focused harassment without eliminating the broader business of following celebrities in public. There are also reasons the improvement may not be due to the law alone. The paparazzi market has changed since 2013, with social media reducing the value of some candid photos and giving celebrities more control over images. That likely weakened incentives for the most aggressive chases. So, 13 years later, the evidence points to a mixed result: SB 606 seems to have helped stop the most extreme conduct aimed at celebrity children, but it did not solve the larger problem of persistent surveillance and intimidation by paparazzi.

3 articles · Updated · Geo News · Jul 22

Garner said paparazzi swarmed her family so aggressively that a youth soccer association asked them to leave after about 20 cars showed up for one child's game.
On the Shut Up Evan podcast, she described photographers running red lights behind her, driving onto strangers' lawns and blocking a pediatrician's door while she tried to bring in a sick child.
She said the crush also endangered other children, recalling kids being knocked over outside preschool as photographers rushed toward her or ex-husband Ben Affleck.
Garner added that two photographers have followed her for more than 20 years, creating what she compared to Stockholm syndrome even as she has repeatedly called police to get space.