Why Jennifer Garner Was the First Person Rachel Zoe Called After She Split from Husband Rodger Berman
Why Jennifer Garner Was the First Person Rachel Zoe Called After She Split from Husband Rodger Berman
Rachel RaposasWed, March 11, 2026 at 8:06 PM UTC
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Jennifer Garner and Rachel Zoe.Credit: Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty -
Rachel Zoe opened up about the surreal experience of telling her loved ones that she was getting a divorce
The designer's first call after the decision was to her friend Jennifer Garner, she revealed
Zoe and her husband Rodger Berman announced their split in September 2024 after 26 years of marriage
Rachel Zoe is reflecting on the surreal first moments after she decided to get a divorce.
Appearing on The Inside Edit on March 10, the designer, 54, opened up about her ongoing divorce from husband Rodger Berman, including why they separated and who she leaned on for support in that challenging moment. Zoe and Berman were married for 26 years before announcing their split in September 2024, and share two children together.
Zoe admitted that no one in her inner circle knew she and her husband were divorcing until they shared it publicly. The first person she reached out to when it happened, she said, was her friend Jennifer Garner.
"Jen knew. Because I called Jen to get a lawyer," Zoe shared of the actress, who has been through two divorces herself: with Scott Foley in 2004, and with Ben Affleck in 2018.
At first, Zoe recalled, Garner was shocked at the news, and wanted to know her friend's reasoning for what seemed like a sudden split. But Zoe wasn't quite ready to open up about it in that moment, she recalled, and instead promised Garner "more later."
Jennifer Garner and Rachel Zoe.Credit: Stefanie Keenan/Getty
"Her reaction was so interesting, and I'll never forget it," Zoe said. "And she was like, 'You must be so exhausted.' And I knew what she meant by it. And I was. I really was so exhausted."
"I knew it was time because I was spending more time sad than I was happy. And the person that I never went anywhere without, I wanted to go without," Zoe continued, adding, "And I think I just was done being sad."
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Zoe began attending events solo, or with her friends. At at first, it was hard: people regularly asked her where her husband was, because they were "always together," she said.
When she ultimately broke the news to her two sons — Skyler, 14, and Kaius, who, 12 — Zoe remembered them telling her, "You're going to be happier this way, Mom."
"He said, 'Well, whoever you love, I'm going to love them too,'" Zoe recalled of Kaius' reaction. She expected the conversation to take a much different turn, she said, but she was immediately grateful for her kids' support in that moment — and glad she didn't stay with Berman for their sake.
Rachel Zoe and Rodger Berman.Credit: Elyse Jankowski/Variety via Getty
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Zoe doesn't regret her marriage, nor does she feel like it "failed" or that she wasted years with Berman. Instead, she thinks of her marriage as something that was right for a time — the loss of which she's allowed herself to mourn.
"It's grieving something that was, and a person that was, that it's not [anymore]," she said.
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
