Jennifer Garner is no stranger to revisiting the past, but even she appeared unprepared for the emotional moment that unfolded during what she believed would be a straightforward holiday photoshoot.
The 53-year-old actress arrived with her mother, Patricia ‘Pat’ Garner, expecting a routine day on set. However, this wasn’t for a film or TV show. Instead, the pair was met with something far more resonant, prompting a reaction neither anticipated.
The setting that KitchenAid had whipped up initially appeared typical enough: warm seasonal lighting, quiet festive music, and the usual preparations of a production team. Yet there was an unmistakable shift in Garner’s expression as she surveyed the room.
She paused, holding her mother’s hand as Pat, too, sensed a familiarity she could not immediately place.
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It took a few moments before the reality became clear. They were standing inside a full-scale recreation of their former kitchen in Charleston, West Virginia - a meticulously constructed replica that echoed the space where Garner spent her childhood.
From the wooden table to the green refrigerator and the patterned wallpaper, every detail had been carefully rebuilt. The impact was immediate, with Garner wiping tears from her eyes as Pat exhaled softly in surprise.
As they moved through the room, each feature appeared to unlock another memory. Garner crouched beneath a set of cabinets, recalling the family’s daily rituals.
She said: “This is where we would hang out, all our crafts happened right here with somebody looking through from that side," before opening a cupboard with familiar ease.
She added: “This is the cabinet where you hid the chocolate chips.”
A photograph of Pat perched on the counter prompted another recollection, with Garner noting it reminded her of the perm her mother used to get while ‘sitting at that table’.
Pat eventually took her seat at that very table, reflecting on the experience. Garner, visibly moved, said: “I think it’s a privilege to get to see where we used to be… I want that to be the den, and then I wanna hear dad come home from work. That’s what I feel.”
The actress later described the moment as giving her ‘a really deep feeling of homesickness and gratitude’.
She turned to her mother to acknowledge the foundation of those memories, saying: “You made everything. Whatever we had was stuff that we made. You made every cookie we ate, you made our homemade pizza. We would hover around the stove waiting for that.”
Fittingly, the visit concluded with the pair baking a batch of their well-loved chock-full cookies: a small but meaningful return to a tradition that had shaped so much of their shared history.
Topics: Celebrity, TV and Film
Ben Williams