Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor haven’t had the smoothest of relationships – and she’s now revealing exactly why she took him back after their time apart.
The celebrity couple tied the knot in 2000, after meeting on the set of television pilot Heat Vision and Jack just a year prior. Stiller was directing the pilot, whilst Taylor was cast as a ‘sexy sheriff.’
Stiller previously said it was ‘love at first sight’ for the pair – who went on to star in films including Zoolander and Dodgeball.
However, they sent shockwaves around Hollywood when they announced their split in 2017. In a joint statement, they said: “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.”
Ben and Christine found their way back to each other in 2022 (Photo by Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
Fans were delighted however, when the actors revealed they had reunited in 2022 – and now the Sweethearts actor has revealed what happened prior to them getting back together.
Speaking about their 2017 separation on McBride Rewind podcast, the 54 year old said the pair ‘weren’t on the same page’ with many things at the time.
Of course, she says the split was still extremely difficult, and left her feeling disappointed and heartbroken.
“It was not without a heavy heart and feeling really, even, dejected at the time,” she revealed. “This is not how I imagined it was going to be.”
The pair went their separate ways after 17 years of marriage, but Taylor revealed that they were in contact throughout their separation, as they were co-parenting their children, Ella and Quinlin. Then, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and the family ended up under the same roof once again – which ultimately shared their marriage.
The couple share two children together (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)
They also attended zoom therapy sessions, as Taylor said they managed to work their problems out and ‘find their way back’.
“We had nothing but time,” she said of the pandemic which locked down the world in 2020.
She then opened up about how much work goes into long term marriages, urging more people to speak about their separation, in hopes they can recover their partnership.
In 2023, Taylor opened up about the split on the Drew Barrymore Show, in which she told the host: “Family was always a priority, but I think Ben and I both started to grow in different directions.
“I think we have these growth spurts, even as adults. And we needed time to figure that out.”Featured Image Credit: ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Images
Ben Stiller’s kids give heartbreaking admission to their childhood
Ben Stiller opened up about his childhood and his own family in his new Apple movie about his parents
Ben Stiller’s kids have opened up about what it was like having him as a father when they were young in gut-wrenching comments.
The actor who is best known for his roles in films like Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, and Along Came Polly, made a rare admission on his family after releasing a documentary as an ode to his parents.
The documentary produced by Apple on his father, Jerry Stiller, and mother Anne Meara, premiered at the New York Film Festival on Sunday (October 5).
Titled Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost, the doc looks into Stiller’s parents’ best moments on screen, as well as his own relationship with his wife and kids.
In the film, Stiller revealed he felt ‘disconnected’ from his family, explaining: “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.”
Ben Stiller dove into his childhood, and his family (Apple)
The 59-year-old actor shared that as a child of showbusiness parents, he was trying to make his children’s childhood better than his own.
However, his children have spoken out about what that was like.
The son of two comedians, Stiller listed himself as a ‘perfectionist’, and this led to him cutting out his daughter’s role in one of his films.
Stiller dubbed this the ‘worst decision’ he’s ever made in his life.
“For me, it kind of goes deeper. What it relates to is my own issues with my own obsession with my work, or ‘perfectionism’,” he said.
While his daughter was fine with it, she did have some qualms about his parenting.
“The irony is, I thought I was doing so much better than my parents. I thought I was pulling it off,” Stiller admitted.
“I was flying home on the weekends and having special places for the kids to play when they come visit the set, but in reality – and just hearing them talk about it – for them, it was the same thing I was going through as a kid, and I just couldn’t see that at all at the time.”
His daughter Ella, revealed she doesn’t remember him from her childhood (Roy Rochlin / Stringer/ Getty Stock)
Ben Stiller, his wife Christine Taylor and his son Quinlin (Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Ella Olivia Stiller, 23, and son Quinlin Dempsey Stiller, 20, revealed their relationship with their dad was strained when they were kids.
Ella candidly told her dad that she ‘literally can’t ever remember you being around when I was growing up’.
Quinlin admitted he felt he ‘came last’ for his dad, sharing: “After a tough day, or if something was going wrong, you can kind of get into your own head and when you get into that place, it’s hard to get you out of it. So that would kind of put a damper on the fun part of being on vacation.”
He added: “You have all these hats that you’re trying to balance, you know? Being a director, an actor, a producer, a writer. But also just, like, a father. And sometimes, I felt that would come last to these other things.”
Sadly, Stiller revealed how he tried to differ from his parents, but failed.
He told the Sunday Times: “Like any parent, I remember things that weren’t happy about my childhood and go, ‘I’ll do better.’
“And then I realized it was impossible to avoid making the mistakes [my parents] made. I feel like I have a really great relationship with my kids, but it’s complicated and has at times been strained.”
He explained: “When they were young, I did not get it. I thought, ‘Oh, the kids are young, I can work away and be a good dad earning for the family.’ But the bonds you form with your kids when they’re young are so important.”Featured Image Credit: Rob Kim/Getty Images for Tribeca Festival
Published 16:57 2 May 2026 GMT+1
Ben Affleck gave honest admission on why Hollywood is dying
The Gone Girl actor broke down the barriers that make it harder to make movies, despite still working on some
Ben Affleck has admitted there’s ‘truth’ to the idea that Hollywood is ‘dead’, despite the actor being involved in a number of upcoming projects himself.
For as long as we can all remember, Hollywood has been a place of wealth, success and glamour, with major stars still emerging from the neighborhood that’s synonymous with the movie industry.
But more than 40 years since earning his first acting credit, Affleck addressed the idea that Hollywood might be facing its demise during an appearance on the All the Smoke podcast, when hosts Matt Barnes & Stephen Jackson asked: “What do you say to the people that say ‘Hollywood is dead, it’s too expensive to make movies‘.”
Given the millions of dollars that movies rake in every year it’s hard to imagine that cash would ever be their total downfall, but Affleck actually admitted ‘there is some truth to that’.
Affleck is on board as an actor and producer in future projects (Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)
The 53-year-old explained: “Where I started in this business was… a bunch of very low budget like $250,000 movie or you know, a million dollar movie, which to me that seemed like a lot of money. You got to go get a million dollars from somebody, and it shouldn’t be that the barrier to entry is so high.
“I think there should be…like kind of tiers where you can come in and do something that’s, you know, not trying to be a very big commercial movie, trying to take some risk, trying to do some interesting stuff that still can use professional people. I would love for that to be possible.”
Affleck went on to note that there are people who are ‘willing’ to work in the industry, but that it can cost more to do so in California in comparison to other regions that offer rebates or tax breaks for such projects.
When asked his thoughts on how much money it would take to make a movie that hits theaters, Affleck admitted it would take around $25 million – and that’s only the beginning.
Hollywood has long been synonymous with success (Getty Stock Photo)
He continued: “It really varies, but like people will tell you now it’s very very difficult to make a movie for less than $25 million,” he said. “And it can go up very quickly as soon as you got a big stunt unit or big action stuff or visual effects.”
With another $25 million going towards marketing, movies can easily mean a $50 million investment.
Affleck then explained that theaters typically make creators 50 percent of box office grosses, meaning if a movie makes $100 million, the studio gets about $50 million back.
“You got a $25 million movie, you got to gross $100 million just in simple math,” Affleck said.
There’s clearly still a lot of interest in the movie business, as proven by Affleck himself who is named as a producer in nine upcoming projects, according to IMDb, while also having a couple of acting roles lined up.
Still, there’s no denying there’s risks involved when it comes to the high cost of making new flicks.Featured Image Credit: Miikka Skaffari/Getty Images
Lindsay Lohan explains why she didn’t feel ‘protected’ as a teen in candid new interview
One fateful decision helped Lindsay Lohan escape the downward spiral that Hollywood and the paparazzi put her in
Moving to the other side of the planet has done former child prodigy Lindsay Lohan a world of good, the once-troubled actor has revealed in a candid interview for Vogue Arabia.
But while her 2014 decision to move away from the hustle, bustle, and paparazzi of Hollywood to the personal privacy and luxury of Dubai, Saudi Arabia, appears to have helped transform Lohan into a confident and assured businesswoman, she still has questions about her youth.
Speaking to Vogue Arabia, the 39-year-old opened up about the string of car crashes, legal problems, and substance abuse issues that marred her transition into adulthood after starring in smash hits like Freaky Friday and Mean Girls.
With society generally agreeing that the gawking headlines and invasive photography of the 2000s were messed up, even misogynistic, Lohan is left with asking: “Why didn’t anyone just go and take me out of there, protect me more?”
Lohan has been living in Dubai for over 10 years, meeting Bader Shammas in 2019 and marrying him in 2022 (Samir Hussein/Getty Images for One & Only)
Lohan had moved to Los Angeles when she was just 15, with the hopes of boosting her burgeoning acting career after turning from starring in commercials aged 3 to her breakthrough role in 1998’s The Parent Trap.
Now that she is an adult entering her fourth decade this year, with a strong home life thanks to husband Kuwait financier Badder Shammas and their two-year-old son Luai, Lohan regrets trying to set out on her own.
“It was all so overwhelming and consuming,” she told Vogue Arabia in an interview for a stylish cover shoot. Lohan went on to say: It was all so overwhelming and consuming,” she shared: “I should have listened to my mom and dad and moved back to New York.
“But I was young and wanted to be in LA. And I didn’t know. So yeah, while a lot of it was fun, it was hard when I was young. It was a double-edged sword.”
Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, and Britney Spears would party together and were often chased by paparazzi (Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)
Striking a pose in front of the Dubai skyline from the top of the towering Jumeirah Burj Al Arab building, the former child star said that the change in location and lifestyle had helped her to find her own space in the movie industry.
”With age comes a different kind of confidence,” she said. “When I was younger, I wasn’t so comfortable saying how I felt about a character and being involved with the process of it. And I love that part now.”
Making her comeback to motion pictures in recent years with a string of romantic films made by streaming giant Netflix, Falling for Christmas (2022), Irish Wish (2024) and Our Little Secret (2024), Lohan is turning 40 with a new spring in her heel.
And if the Saint Laurent heels she was snapped wearing at the Vogue photoshoot are anything to go by, the successful 2025 reboot Freakier Friday which broke $150 million at the box office has given her an even bigger spring.
Lohan attributed part of her transformation to her decision to get out of America for a while, even though Saudia Arabia is a far cry from the streets of LA.
But the lack of paparazzi and privacy, along with a ‘clean’ skincare routine and ‘lots of Pilates’, has been transformative for Lohan, physically and mentally. She explained: “Being in Dubai is very grounding.
“I get to just spend time with my family. The city gives me a sense of being with what’s most important.”Featured Image Credit: Taylor Hill/Getty Images
Topics: Mental Health, Hollywood, Saudi Arabia
Published 05:14 20 Feb 2026 GMT
Jason Bateman details honest conversations with wife that made him get sober
The actor made the decision to go ‘California sober’ the year he married his wife Amanda A
Jason Bateman has opened up about his sobriety as he detailed the key conversations he had with wife Amanda Anka that made him change his partying ways.
“Amanda and I definitely had a few negotiations about the point at which the [partying] spigot was going to completely turn off,” Bateman, 57, said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, as he outlined how she had encouraged rather than ordered him to make changes to his lifestyle. “She’d be like, ‘This drip, drip, drip is annoyingly unpredictable, Jason.’”
As part of the negotiations, Anka took a relaxed approach and Bateman explained that although she didn’t ‘demand’ he ‘absolve completely’ from substances, it was a natural conclusion he came to on his own, for the sake of his relationship.
“I was like, ‘Well, I feel like my [sobriety] ETA is six months away, but if I could land this plane now, it would alleviate a lot of the tension, so let’s just f***ing do it,’” he said.
At the height of his partying, Bateman was no stranger to alcohol and cocaine, which he branded ‘The Scarface stuff’ in a reference to the iconic Al Pacino film, however after vowing to become sober he hasn’t touched either, instead opting only to smoke marijuana, something he described as ‘California sober.’
Jason Bateman almost risked his relationship by partying too hard in the 90s. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Image)
Reflecting on how he managed to hide his partying ways for so long, Bateman added: “Fortunately I was living at a time without social media and camera phones, so I got away with a lot,” he recalled. “But it was definitely close a few times,”
Part of his realisation that his lifestyle needing to change came from watching friends struggle with addiction themselves, as he explained: “I’ve got friends who had bottoms that were pretty chilling, but I was lucky enough to recognise, ‘This is probably as far as I should go if I still want to accomplish the things that I want to get to,’” he told the outlet.
“I was conscious the whole time of wanting to get a lot of these boxes checked before I became a father and a guy with a career that I not only wanted but had a feeling I might be able to get it if I just got the right job,” the Emmy winner added.
Bateman married Anka in July 2001— the very same year he got sober, and he hasn’t looked back since.
The couple went on to welcome daughters Francesca, now 19, and Maple, now 14, in 2006 and 2012, respectively – with fatherhood being one of his proudest accomplishments.
The couple will mark their 25th wedding anniversary this year (Christopher Polk/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)
Yet his happy marriage almost didn’t happen, as he previously told Details in a 2009 interview, that his partying, if he had continued, may have ruined his relationship with Anka for good.
“I was never at a place where rehab would have been appropriate,” he reflected. “Booze was what would make me want to stay out all night and do some blow or smoke a joint or whatever, so shutting that off was key. It’s like ketchup and French fries — I don’t want one without the other.”
Yet it was through a shared understanding and clear boundaries that they were able to build a foundation that is still going strong today.
“Our marriage has defied the odds and works really well,” he told Redbook in January 2013. “We are really aware of our boundaries. We know how to bug each other and not bug each other. If you don’t get along, it’s garbage. With a girlfriend, you get into a fight, you drive away. With us, we learn to fight quickly or not at all. I wanted to marry a friend. Friends last longer.”