Ben Stiller felt like he was ‘failing’ after separation from wife

Ben Stiller is opening up about why he feels like a “failure” after splitting from his wife.

The 59-year-old “Zoolander” star explores his parents’ decades-long union, comparing it to his own marriage to Christine Taylor, in his new documentary “Stiller & Meara: Nothing’s Lost.”

Ben and Taylor married in 2000 and announced their separation in May 2017 after 17 years together.

“When we broke up, I just felt like, ‘Oh, I’m failing at this,’ and I looked at my parents. They had an incredible marriage that lasted over 50 years, and I can’t go through that,” she tells Taylor in the documentary. People.

JANA KRAMER CREDITS HER HUSBAND’S BACKYARD BBQ FOR HELPING HER DIRECT LOVE SCENES

The documentary follows the relationship between her father, Jerry Stiller, and her mother, Anne Meara, who co-starred in the iconic comedy duo Stiller and Meara. They made more than 30 appearances together on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and later had their own short-lived variety show, “The Stiller and Meara Show.”

Ben and Taylor also worked together several times during their relationship. They first met while filming the pilot episode of a TV show called “Heat Vision and Jack” and later starred together on the TV series “Zoolander” and “Dodgeball.” Looking back, Ben recalled wondering “how damaging” his parents’ work relationship was to their marriage, and that he didn’t want to be like his parents when he first started dating Taylor.

“When we broke up, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m failing at this,’ and I looked at my parents. They had an incredible marriage that lasted over 50 years, and I can’t go through that.”

—Ben Stiller

“I feel like there was history, and I think a big part of it was your experience of what that ultimately means for a relationship, which can create extra tension when you’re eating, sleeping, breathing each other that way,” Taylor told Ben in the documentary. “I also felt like for me there was a fear of you about how this would look to the outside world. So it was very loaded.”

The “Tropic Thunder” star previously talked about his split from Taylor in a January 2025 interview. New York Times“In my mind, I never wanted us to be together,” he explained.

Ben Stiller never thought his breakup with Taylor would be permanent. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

DO YOU LIKE WHAT YOU’RE READING? CLICK FOR MORE ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Their separation lasted “three or four years” and the pair remained in contact throughout that time. They later moved in with their two children, Ella (23) and Quinlin (20), during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I don’t know where Christine is, you’d have to ask her, but COVID brought us all together in the same house,” he explained. “We lived in the same house for almost a year before we actually got together. But I’m so grateful for that, and I think not many people get back together when they break up.”

Taylor also spoke about their split on “The Drew Barrymore Show” in March 2023, explaining that during their split, the two “found out who we were.”

She added that they got engaged six months after meeting each other “and within a year, they were married, then they were married.” [daughter Ella] next year.”

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR THE ENTERTAINMENT NEWSLETTER

Taylor said that she and Ben are growing in different directions and need time to figure things out. (Kennedy Pollard/Getty Images for Don Julio Tequila)

“Family was always a priority, but I think Ben and I both started to grow in different directions,” Taylor said. “And when we made the decision to leave, it wasn’t something we wanted to talk about publicly or something we took lightly.”

CLICK TO REACH THE FOX NEWS APPLICATION

“I think we go through these growth spurts even as adults,” he later added. “And we needed time to figure that out.”

“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” will air on Apple TV+ on October 24th.