Ben Stiller gives heartbreaking admission about 5-year separation from wife

Ben Stiller has offered a rare comment about his painful separation from his wife Christine Taylor, with whom he rekindled his relationship in 2022.

The 59-year-old Zoolander actor and Brady Bunch alum Taylor, 54, met in 1999 while filming the unaired Heat Vision and Jack pilot.

After saying ‘I do’ a year later at an oceanfront ceremony in Kauai, Hawaii, the couple went on to star in Tropic Thunder, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, and Arrested Development together.

The A-Listers later welcomed Ella Olivia Stiller, 22, in 2002 and son Quinlin Dempsey Stiller, 19, in 2005 before announcing their separation in 2017.

“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.

"Our priority will continue to be raising our children as devoted parents and the closest of friends. We kindly ask that the media respect our privacy at this time," they said at the time.

In 2022, Stiller and Taylor got back together, and now, The Royal Tenenbaums star has lifted the lid on that difficult period of his life.

The comments were made during the actor’s new documentary on his father, Jerry Stiller, and mother Ann Meara, which had its world premiere at the New York Film Festival on Sunday (October 5).

The doc, titled Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, explores Stiller’s parents’ best moments on screen. It also looks at the Severance director’s relationship with his own wife and kids.

In the film, Stiller admitted that he felt ‘disconnected’ from his own family, remarking: “My career had been going along for a long time, but things actually weren't great in my personal life.

“I just felt out of balance and unhappy and kind of disconnected from my family, from my kids, and just kind of a little bit lost.”

In a previous interview with the New York Times, Stiller recalled how the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 acted as a catalyst for his and Taylor’s relationship to get back on track.

"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."

According to the Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost documentary, he and his wife spent ‘three or four years’ apart before solidifying their relationship once again.

Stiller made headlines last month when he made his feelings clear on Disney pulling the Jimmy Kimmel Live! show from ABC after the beloved host commented on the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

The 31-year-old was fatally shot in Utah on September 10, with officials later identifying the alleged shooter as 22-year-old state native Tyler Robinson.

"We had some new lows over the weekend with the MAGA gang desperately trying to characterise this kid who murdered Charlie Kirk as anything other than one of them, and with everything they can to score political points from it,” said Kimmel, 57.

In the days after the long-running talk show’s cancellation, Stiller took to social media and wrote: “This isn’t right.”

The father of two also signed an open letter written by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) condemning Disney’s decision to suspend Kimmel from the late-night show.

His signature sat alongside the likes of Jennifer Aniston, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, and hundreds more Hollywood icons.

Kimmel was later reinstated as the Jimmy Kimmel Live! host.

Disney said the decision to pull the programme off air was initially designed to ‘avoid further inflaming a tense situation at an emotional moment for our country’.