Back in 2017, Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor split up after 17 years of marriage. Through living together during the COVID-19 pandemic, their relationship was mended. However, Stiller got real that not only did the pandemic bring him and his wife back together, but so did working on his documentary about his parents’ marriage.
After Taylor and Stiller got back together during the pandemic, The Brady Bunch Movie alum felt like the two being in one house during quarantine with their teen kids gave them time to talk without distractions. On the other hand, the Meet the Parents actor said to E! News at the Oct. 5 NYFF63 premiere of Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost that he also credits his documentary about his parents for rekindling his marriage:
You just have to want to be together and want to make it work. I think that’s the biggest thing. It’s just about a commitment to the relationship, and valuing the relationship.
Ben Stiller’s Fox television pilot Heat Vision and Jack may not have worked out, but it did allow him to meet Christine Taylor. They got married in 2000 and have two kids. Taylor even co-starred in Stiller’s best movies, like the Zoolander movies, Tropic Thunder and Dodgeball. But when Taylor previously spoke about her 2017 split on The Drew Barrymore Show, she said she and her husband were starting to grow apart and wanted different things.
I think it’s really beautiful that Ben Stiller telling his parents’ love story for Stiller & Meara helped him find a way to work on his own. In the documentary, we see Stiller and his sister, Amy, sift through archival footage of their parents in and outside of their comedy duo, and about how professional success can strain a marriage. But as Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara stayed together for six decades, I’d like to believe that the comedic actor learned the value of showing up for each other despite the hurdles.
The Zoolander couple may have been separated for a few years during their split, but it didn’t mean their connection was gone. Stiller continued to tell E! News how grateful he was that wanting to work things out in his marriage was what his wife wanted, too:
I feel really lucky that we got to a place where we could—on both sides—value what we had, and want to make it work.
It proves right there how much Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor care about each other in choosing not to spend their lives apart. While the COVID-19 pandemic was a difficult time in terms of health, work and relationships, it also became an unexpected blessing for certain spouses and their kids to spend more time with each other while in quarantine.
Just like Ben Stiller’s documentary showed his parents balancing career and marriage despite the obstacles, its director clearly found inspiration in his parents’ love story to revive his own marriage with Christine Taylor. It’s a full-circle moment that proves sometimes revisiting one couple’s past can be applied to healing your own love story.
The 2025 movie release of Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost hits select theaters on October 17th, and can be streamed on your Apple TV+ subscription on October 24th.