beauty du jour

Jennifer Garner Crowned People’s Most Beautiful Person, Is Confused About It

Jennifer Garner. Photo: Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for The Art of Elys

Jennifer Garner, earnest Instagram princess and kayak skeptic, is getting a fancy new accolade. People has crowned her as its newest Beautiful Person of the Year, citing her relentless streak of activism and, we’re low-key assuming, her cucumber-cool public presence following her divorce from Ben Affleck. (And, yeah, she is also very beautiful! Give us the “Top Shelf” interview!) Per tradition, Garner swung by Ellen this morning to discuss what it means to receive such an honor, which she’s still processing. “People is now a magazine for AARP,” she joked. “I have never been more nervous than I am today. I guess I just thought you guys would boo. Like, you guys are expecting Kaia Gerber, and it’s me. And I feel like bolting. I feel like I should go, you know what I mean? Because it’s so ridiculous. It’s silly, but it’s nice.”

Elsewhere in the People interview, Garner describes her style as “band geek chic,” which made us remember this iconic Instagram of hers — where she wishes Reese Witherspoon a happy birthday with a saxophone. “I was so not one of the pretty girls that I just bypassed insecurity and didn’t see myself as attractive at all,” she added. “It was not part of my life.” Well, it is now.

Oh, we’re sorry, did you think we weren’t going to show you another one of Garner’s marching-band videos created just for Witherspoon? Please enjoy.

Jennifer Garner Confused About Being People’s Most Beautiful