Christine Taylor credits therapy and the COVID-19 pandemic with saving her marriage to Ben Stiller, the actress revealed on The McBride Rewind podcast on May 26, 2026. Taylor, 54, and Stiller, 60, separated in May 2017 after 17 years of marriage but reconciled during lockdown and confirmed they were back together in February 2022.
“If there’s a silver lining for us during Covid, that was the little gift,” Taylor said on the podcast. “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. We all were in the house together and we had nothing but time.”
The couple used the enforced proximity to work on their relationship with professional help. “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,” Taylor explained. The actress emphasized that they were “always in contact, coparenting and spending time together as a family” even during their separation, which made reconciliation possible when circumstances shifted.
Taylor acknowledged the difficulty of their initial decision to separate. “I can talk about it now, but in the moment, it was very difficult to come to that decision,” she said. “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.” She reflected that the pair “weren’t on the same page with a lot of things” at the time and decided to “put a pause” on their marriage.
The actress attributed part of their growth to life stages. “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,” Taylor said. “You get married, become a mom, for those who become mothers, career, put your career on hold, all those different chapters.”
Despite the challenges, Taylor expressed gratitude for the outcome. “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.” She shared that they now “absolutely make the time” for one another, with Stiller recently driving five hours to visit her on set in Montreal.
The couple, who met in 1999 while working on an unreleased Fox sitcom called Heat Vision and Jack, married in 2000 and share two children: Ella, 24, and Quinlin, 20. They have appeared in numerous films together, including Dodgeball, Zoolander, Tropic Thunder, and Arrested Development.
Sources
- People.com — Christine Taylor’s full interview on The McBride Rewind podcast, published June 1, 2026, detailing her separation, pandemic reconciliation, therapy sessions, and current marriage status.
- Page Six — Christine Taylor’s podcast appearance and quotes about the pandemic saving her marriage, published May 29, 2026.
- E! News — Confirmation of the couple’s 2017 separation after 17 years of marriage and their 2022 reconciliation announcement.
