Christine Taylor: How Ben Stiller and I ‘found our way back’ after separation

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor stunned fans when they announced the end of their 18-year marriage – then reunited just three years later.

Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller in 2008. Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

Christine Taylor revealed that quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic helped her reconcile with her estranged husband Ben Stiller.

“We had all this time to talk,” Taylor, 51, told Drew Barrymore on her talk show of her and Stiller’s 2020 reunion following a three-year separation.

“There were no other distractions. It was a really special time,” she added, calling their renewed romance “organic” and “natural”, reports Page Six.

The Brady Bunch Movie actress clarified that while “time apart” had been vital for the couple, they kept their family a “priority” before reuniting.

“We always stayed a family unit [and] continued to do things together,” Taylor said. The pair have two children – daughter Ella, 20, and son Quinlin, 17.

Fans were delighted by news the couple had reunited. Picture: Monica Schipper/Getty Images

Now, the couple’s relationship is “so good” as they make time for each other while still “taking care of” themselves.

“It’s hard,” Taylor said. “[But] when you’ve lived a lifetime with someone … there’s history.

“We learned as we were going together,” she continued. “There’s just a freedom in that, in the comfort of this relationship and commitment.”

Stiller, 57, revealed their reconciliation in February 2022 while speaking to Esquire.

“We’re happy,” the filmmaker said at the time. “I think we have a respect for the ways that we’re similar and the ways we’re different.”

The pair had been one of Hollywood’s favourite couples (pictured here in 2008). Picture: Robyn Beck/AFP

Stiller’s confirmation came five years after he and Taylor announced their separation in a joint statement.

“With tremendous love and respect for each other, and the 18 years we spent together as a couple, we have made the decision to separate,” the pair wrote in 2017.

“Our priority will continue to be raising our children as devoted parents and the closest of friends.”

Taylor elaborated on their brief split on the Drew Barrymore Show, saying they did not take the decision “lightly”.

The Zoolander co-stars had been “growing in different directions” and found themselves at “an impasse,” she said.

After getting engaged within six months of meeting each other, tying the knot the following year and “very quickly” starting a family, the duo needed to pause and “figure out what was best” for their future.

Taylor noted that taking time for individual “growth spurts” allowed for their “special” reunion down the line.

This article originally appeared in Page Six and was republished with permission