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Jennifer Garner says women should never marry a man “thinking you can change him”.

The actress, 52, was hitched to actor Scott Foley, 52, from 2000 to 2004 and Ben Affleck, also 52, from 2005 to 2018, and the two-time divorcee has now opened up about what she thinks the biggest mistake is females can make when it comes to settling down.

She said on the ‘Lipstick on the Rim’ podcast when asked to detail her “favourite quote or mantra”: “Never expect a man… don’t marry a man thinking you can change him.”

Jennifer added the advice came from her mother Patricia Garner.

She also shared more “vintage Pat Garner” sayings on the podcast, but said “they all come from Mrs Ingalls from ‘Little House on the Prairie’ or ‘Anne of Green Gables’ or all of the above”.

Jennifer added two of her favourite bits of other advice from her mum included: “Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes in the morning”, and “Happiness is your own responsibility.”

Jennifer, who has had an on-off relationship with businessman John Miller since 2018, did not speak about either of her marriages during the podcast.

She has said her relationship with Scott failed due to Hollywood, saying they “would probably still be together” if it hadn’t been for their “fast-lane life”.

Jennifer opened up about ‘Good Will Hunting’ star Ben to Vanity Fair in 2016, saying he was a “complicated guy”.

She added: “I always say, ‘When his sun shines on you, you feel it’. But when the sun is shining elsewhere, it’s cold. He can cast quite a shadow.”

Even though she didn’t open up about her and Ben on the podcast, she did agree with co-hosts Molly Sims and Emese Gormley when they praised her and the actor’s three children Violet, 18, Seraphina, 15, and Samuel, 12, as “resilient” and “amazing” kids.