In 2017, Hollywood funnyman Ben Stiller stunned the world when he announced he and actress wife of 17 years, Christine Taylor, had separated.
While Stiller has starred in many of the biggest comedy hits of the past more than two decades, Taylor also has an impressive body of work but remains best known for portraying Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and its sequel.
The couple, who starred together in the hit film Zoolander, share two children and eventually rekindled their marriage during the COVID pandemic, but remained largely tight-lipped about their reunion – until this week.
READ MORE: Rebel Wilson and wife Ramona re-wear wedding outfits at tennis
Now, Stiller has revealed during an interview with The New York Times the two simply needed ‘space’ and he never thought their split would be permanent.
Stiller, now 59, and Taylor, 53, first met in 1999 while filming a pilot for a TV show which never made it to air.
Taylor was already a star thanks to the 1995 Brady Bunch movie while Stiller had just starred in the 1998 smash hit, There’s Something About Mary.
The couple’s relationship moved quickly. They became engaged within six months, and married six months after that.
READ MORE: Heartbreaking admission after celebrity’s death
After co-starring together in the 2001 hit film Zoolander, they welcomed their first child, Ella, in 2002. A son, Quinlin, followed in 2005, before Stiller stunned the world in 2017 by announcing their separation.
“When we separated, it was just having space to see what our relationship was, what my life felt like when we weren’t in that relationship, how much I loved our family unit,” he told The New York Times this week.
“It was like three or four years that we weren’t together but we always were connected.”
“In my mind, I never didn’t want us to be together.”
Stiller revealed it was the COVID pandemic that eventually “put us all together in the same house” and allowed them to rekindle their marriage – although it didn’t happen quickly.
“It was almost a year of living in the same house before we were actually together,” he said.
“But I’m so grateful for it, and I think not that many people do come back together when they separate.
“There’s nothing like that, when you come back. You have so much more appreciation for what you have, because we know we could not have it.”
During a 2023 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, Taylor said she and Stiller “started to grow in different directions” before their separation.
Then and now: What the cast of Zoolander is up to 20 years on
Their time apart allowed them to figure out who they were before COVID lockdown gave them time to talk without any distractions.
The couple did not immediately reveal they had reunited, with Stiller waiting until February 2022 to reveal the news during an interview with Esquire.
“We were separated and got back together and we’re happy about that. It’s been really wonderful for all of us. Unexpected, and one of the things that came out of the pandemic,” he said.
Stiller revealed in 2016 he had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer two years earlier when he was just 48 and had his prostate removed followed by radiotherapy.
FOLLOW US ON WHATSAPP HERE: Stay across all the latest in celebrity, lifestyle and opinion via our WhatsApp channel. No comments, no algorithm and nobody can see your private details.