Christine Taylor Opens Up About Splitting Up With Ben Stiller And Why They're Back Together Now

Relationships can sometimes be tough. And if anything that may be more true with high-profile couples than everybody else. Nearly half of all marriages end in divorce in the U.S., regardless of the level of fame involved. But Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor have become that rare couple that looked like they were headed in that direction, but have since reunited.

Christine Taylor recently appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show where she talked honestly about her relationship with Ben Stiller. She explained that the two of them had gotten married and had their first child all within a short period of time, and as such, they found themselves potentially wanting different things as they got older than they once had. Taylor said…

Family was always a priority but I think Ben and I both started to grow in different directions. And when we made the decision to separate it was not something that we wanted to talk publicly about. It was not something we took lightly either. It was like, we’re both at this impass of like, let’s figure out what’s best, what is best for us in this chapter in our lives.

People change over time, that’s not exactly new information. While couples might expect to be in love forever, all sorts of things can change that cause people to reevaluate those feelings. Growing apart is a phrase often used to describe when two partners don’t necessarily change the way they feel about each other, but see their life moving forward in a direction that makes the relationship more difficul. And that certainly seems to be what happened here.

Oftentimes when couples separate it seems clear that divorce is the next step .But every once in a while that doesn’t happen, and the separation actually brings a couple closer together. In this particular case, it may also have been the global pandemic that actually helped things in the relationship; Christine Taylor says that it meant that they could focus on each other and really talk, as there was little else to do. She continued… 

When the pandemic hit and we all had to sort of figure out where we were gonna hunker down, we all ended up in our house together, with two teenagers, and we found this way back. We had time to talk, there were no other distractions.

The pandemic was a rough time for a lot of people, and the stress of it all certainly ended more than a few relationships, but it seems that at least in this one case, it was a good thing. Check out Taylor's full comments below.

This is the rare case where a couple is able to find happiness after nearly losing it. Considering how often we see celebrity divorces, and how often those divorces like that of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can drag on and become quite brutal, it's nice to see a happy ending.

Dirk Libbey
Content Producer/Theme Park Beat

CinemaBlend’s resident theme park junkie and amateur Disney historian, Dirk began writing for CinemaBlend as a freelancer in 2015 before joining the site full-time in 2018. He has previously held positions as a Staff Writer and Games Editor, but has more recently transformed his true passion into his job as the head of the site's Theme Park section. He has previously done freelance work for various gaming and technology sites. Prior to starting his second career as a writer he worked for 12 years in sales for various companies within the consumer electronics industry. He has a degree in political science from the University of California, Davis.  Is an armchair Imagineer, Epcot Stan, Future Club 33 Member.