After the split in 2017, the actors have been apart for a few years Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor reconciled.
Now, after nearly 25 years of marriage, Stiller is speaking openly about their time apart and their decision to try again.
While talking with The New York TimesStiller spoke about his marriage not being “in a great place” after moving from California back to New York after the film’s release Zoolander 2, failure that “blindsided” Stiller.
“There was a lot going on,” Stiller said. “When we separated, I just had the space to see what our relationship was like, what my life was like when we weren’t in that relationship, how much I loved our family.”
“It’s been three or four years that we haven’t been together, but we’ve always been connected. In my mind, I never wanted us to be together,” he continued.
“I don’t know where Christine was, you’d have to ask her, but Covid put us all in the same house.”
When a reporter for the NYT David Marchese called the moment of their reconciliation “an act of God,” Stiller agreed.
“It was almost a year of living in the same house before we were actually together,” Stiller explained. “But I’m very grateful for that and I don’t think a lot of people get back together when they break up.”
Stiller and Taylor have two children: daughter Ella, 22, and son Quinlin, 19.
Stiller added: “There’s no such thing, when you come back. You appreciate what you have so much more, because we know we couldn’t have it.”
In conversation with Drew Barrymore in 2023Taylor said reconciliation during the pandemic “was for us.”
“We got married very quickly,” Taylor recalled of their 2000 wedding. “We knew each other for six months and got engaged. We were married within a year, and the next we had Ella.”
“I mean for us, life itself, especially in this business and careers, a lot of work and family has always been a priority, but I think Ben and I started to grow in different directions.”
At the time they decided to separate, Taylor told Barrymore that it was something they wanted to keep private because it was “not something we took lightly.” But they were both at an “impasse” that required them to figure out what was best for each of them.
Taylor said the time apart to get to know who they were as individuals allowed for “growth spurts even as adults.” There was a time they both needed, she admitted, although they always “remained a family unit” despite being apart.
“We found this way back,” Taylor continued. “We had so much time to talk.”