Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller have been married since 2000. They separated in 2017 but got back together in 2022. In 2023, Christine explained that she and Ben had worked through their issues after he moved back in with her and their two children during the pandemic. Last year, Ben said that he was grateful they’d reunited and appreciated what they had together.

Christine recently appeared on Josh McBride’s The McBride Rewind podcast. McBride asked about her separation and reconciliation. Christine gave a thoughtful answer about how difficult the decision was, the work they put into fixing their marriage, and what they do to make their relationship work. Here’s more from People:

“We got back together, we found our way back during COVID,” Taylor said on the podcast. “I met Ben when I was 28 years old … Kids always have growth spurts and you have different chapters and stages in your life, and I feel that’s also true for adults and particularly women. You get married, become a mom, for those who become mothers … career, put your career on hold, all those different chapters, and I think at that moment in time for us, we were just not on the same page with a lot of things.”

The Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story star went on to explain to host Josh McBride that the pair were “working so hard to make it fit and make it right, and I think really when we zoomed out on it, it was like, ‘Let’s just put a pause here.’ ”

“I can talk about it now, but in the moment, it was very difficult to come to that decision,” Taylor continued. “It was not light, it was not without a heavy heart and feeling even dejected at the time, thinking it wasn’t how I imagined it to be and we should be able to work it out.”

Although their separation was “challenging,” the Zoolander star shared that throughout their “space” from each other, they were “always in contact, coparenting and spending time together as a family.”

“If there’s a silver lining for us during COVID, that was the little gift,” Taylor added.

She and Stiller share two children together: Ella, 24, and Quinlin, 20.

“We all kind of bubbled up together with our kids. Our daughter was graduating high school at the time, our son was graduating eighth grade,” Taylor continued, before sharing how the couple were able to rekindle things during that time.

“We all were in the house together and we had nothing but time, nothing but time, so Ben and I spent a lot of time working on us with a therapist, logging onto Zoom to do our therapy sessions and really found the way back,” she added.

“I think it’s something people don’t love to talk about because it feels like a failure,” she continued, adding that the pair “came out of it” and “really we’re stronger and better than ever.”

Sharing that now they “absolutely make the time” for one another, with Stiller recently driving five hours to visit her on set in Montreal, Taylor added, “I feel really lucky that we found our way back for us.”

[From People]

I really like Christine’s answer about life being made up of different chapters and that people in relationships are not always going to be on the same page. That is so true. It’s also true that you can’t fix your relationship until both parties understand what they’re looking for from a partner. Christine stressed that every relationship has a different path, and what’s right for one couple may not be right for another. As painful as their decision to separate was, it ended up being the best choice for them. I’m really happy that Christine and Ben found their way back together and are able to speak out about it with such clarity and perspective.

Here’s where Christine talks about her and Ben’s relationship. At the very beginning of the clip, McBride drops an F-bomb, but it’s otherwise PG.

photos credit: Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon, Jennifer Graylock-Graylock.com/Avalon