Christine Taylor Explains the Story Behind Her and Ben Stiller Reconciling During the COVID-19 Pandemic After Several Years Apart

Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller met in 1999 while filming a pilot for a show that never made it to air. They struck up a relationship almost immediately and decided to tie the knot just six months after meeting one another – getting married in a beautiful oceanfront ceremony in Kauai, Hawaii, on May 13, 2000. 

Two years later, the couple started a family. They had their first child – a daughter named Ella Olivia – on April 9, 2002, and welcomed their second child – a son named Quinlin ‘Quinn’ Dempsey – on July 10, 2005. Within a matter of five years, Stiller and Taylor met, got married, and had two wonderful children. 

They remained together for 17 years until they decided to separate in 2017 as they saw their lives going in different directions. While they were apart, they stayed close to one another and remained cordial – then the COVID-19 pandemic came, and before you know it, they decided it was time to get back together.

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On Tuesday, Christine Taylor sat down with Drew Barrymore on The Drew Barrymore Show and talked about her relationship with Ben Stiller – more specifically, what led to them separating in the first place and what ultimately led to the couple reconciling during the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a beautiful story!

“I think Ben and I both started to grow in different directions. And when we made the decision to separate, it was not something we wanted to talk publicly about or took lightly,” she said of the breakup. “That’s going back three or four years. And during that time apart, we got to know who we are,” she continued. 

She explained how, while they were apart, they remained a family unit and took the time they needed to figure everything out in their personal lives. Once the pandemic came around, they decided to live together as a family, which gave Stiller and Taylor time to talk to one another without any distractions. 

That’s when the old flames were reunited. “I feel like when you’ve lived a lifetime with someone like we have—and we learned as we were going along—there’s a freedom in that. There is a freedom in the comfort of this relationship and the commitment,” she said – calling it a ‘special time’ for the family. 

Ben Stiller Talks Reuniting With Christine Taylor

Christine Taylor wasn’t the only one to talk about their marriage – Ben Stiller did the same in February 2022 in an interview with Esquire. He talked about how reuniting with his wife was definitely ‘unexpected,’ but the couple was ‘happy about it’ and that it was ‘one of the things that came out of the pandemic.’ 

He explained how they make it work now. “I think we have a respect for the ways that we’re similar and the ways we’re different. And I think accepting that, you can really appreciate someone more because you’re not trying to get them to change for you. Once you accept that, you save a lot of energy,” he said. 

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For example, he doesn’t like to go horseback riding, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t like horses – in fact, he likes horses, he likes petting horses, and he likes watching his kids go horseback riding. At the same time, he wouldn’t go horseback riding because it’s not something he wants to do – and that’s okay. 

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‘This is something that works for me; this is something that doesn’t work for me.’ If you have that trust level with your partner, you know that me saying ‘I don’t like doing that thing’ is not me saying ‘I don’t like you,’” he further explained. And that’s the level of trust he now shares with his wife, Christine Taylor.