Christine Taylor has offered rare insight into the dissolution and eventual reconciliation of her marriage to Ben Stiller, describing the 2017 separation as a challenging period that ultimately led to personal growth and renewed commitment.
Speaking on the Tuesday, May 26 episode of "The McBride Rewind" podcast, Taylor, 54, credited the COVID-19 pandemic with providing an unexpected opportunity for the couple to rebuild their relationship. "If there was a silver lining for us during COVID, that was the little gift," Taylor told Us Weekly. "We all kind of bubbled up together with the kids. Our daughter was graduating high school at the time, our son was graduating eighth grade."
The enforced proximity of pandemic lockdowns created space for intensive therapeutic work. Taylor explained that she and Stiller, 60, had "nothing but time," allowing them to focus on their relationship. "We'd log into Zoom and we'd do our therapy sessions and really found the way back," she said.
The couple, who married in 2000 and share children Ella, 24, and Quinlin, 20, announced their separation in May 2017. Taylor described the decision as the culmination of fundamental incompatibilities that proved insurmountable at the time.
"We were just not on the same page with a lot of things and working so hard to try to make it fit and make it right," Taylor explained, speaking to Us Weekly. "And I think really when we kind of just zoomed out on it, it was like, 'Let's just put a pause here.'"
The actress acknowledged the emotional weight of the separation, describing it as a departure from her expectations for the marriage. "It was not without, you know, a heavy heart and feeling really even dejected at the time of like, 'This is not how I imagined it was going to be and we should have been able to work it out,'" she said, adding, "I mean, it was challenging."
Despite the separation, Taylor and Stiller maintained consistent contact through their shared parenting responsibilities. "We were always in contact," Taylor said. "We were coparenting together. We were spending time together as a family." The couple did not publicly confirm their reconciliation until 2022.
Stiller addressed the separation in his October 2025 documentary "Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost", examining how his parents' enduring marriage influenced his own expectations. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were married for 61 years before their deaths.
"When we separated, my feeling was, like, 'Oh, I'm failing at this and look at my parents. They have this incredible 60 plus years of marriage and I can't live up to that,'" Stiller said in the documentary.
The documentary also explored Stiller's reluctance to collaborate professionally with Taylor, despite their history of working together on projects including "Zoolander", "Tropic Thunder", "Dodgeball", "Dedication", and "Friendsgiving". Stiller acknowledged feeling an "aversion" to such collaborations.
Taylor, who appeared in the documentary, addressed this dynamic directly. "I think a lot of it was your experience about what that ultimately meant for a relationship. It can put extra strain when you're eating, sleeping, breathing each other in that way," she said. "I also felt like there was a fear for you for me of what that would look like to the outside world. I mean it was very loaded."
The couple's willingness to discuss their marital struggles publicly represents a departure from typical celebrity privacy around relationship difficulties, offering insight into how even long-term partnerships can face significant challenges and potential renewal.
