Christine Taylor is speaking openly about the separation that eventually helped her and Ben Stiller rebuild their marriage.
The actress discussed the couple’s 2017 split and later reconciliation during an appearance on The McBride Rewind podcast. Taylor said the break was painful, but it also gave both of them space to understand what was not working.
E! News reported that Taylor said the COVID-19 pandemic later brought the family back under one roof, giving her and Stiller time to work on the relationship through therapy and daily family life.
Taylor Said the Separation Was Not an Easy Choice
Taylor said the decision to separate was not made lightly. She described that period as difficult and said she and Stiller had reached a point where they were not on the same page about several parts of their life.
“It was not without a heavy heart,” Taylor said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
The couple announced their separation in 2017 after 17 years of marriage. They share two children, Ella and Quinlin, and Taylor said they stayed connected during the separation through co-parenting and family time.
The Pandemic Put the Family Back Together
Taylor said the pandemic brought the family into the same house at a time when both children were reaching school milestones. Ella was graduating from high school, while Quinlin was finishing eighth grade.
“We all kind of bubbled up together with our kids,” Taylor said, according to Page Six. “We all were in the house together and we had nothing but time.”
Entertainment Weekly reported that Taylor and Stiller used Zoom therapy sessions during that period and eventually “found the way back” to each other.
Therapy Was Part of the Reconnection
Taylor did not describe the reconciliation as something that happened simply because they were in the same home. She said both she and Stiller spent time looking at their own issues and working with a therapist.
She also said people can be reluctant to discuss separation because it can feel like failure. Taylor now sees the experience differently, describing it as a pause that helped them understand what each of them needed.
Stiller previously confirmed the reconciliation in a 2022 Esquire interview. Page Six noted that he called getting back together one of the unexpected things that came out of the pandemic.
Their History Includes Work, Family, and Comedy
Taylor and Stiller met in 1999 on the set of Heat Vision and Jack and married the following year. Over the years, they appeared together in projects including Zoolander, Dodgeball, Tropic Thunder, Zoolander 2, Arrested Development, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Their relationship has also returned to public attention through Stiller’s documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, which looks at his parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and the pressures of marriage, family, and creative partnership.
Taylor’s new comments keep the focus on the work behind the reconciliation. She said the separation hurt, the pandemic gave them time, and therapy helped them rebuild a marriage they had not fully let go of.