Ben Stiller felt like a “failure” after separating from his wife

Legs pose He opens up about why he feels like a “failure” after separating from his wife.

In his new documentary “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost,” the 59-year-old “Zoolander” star explores his parents’ decades-long partnership, comparing it to his marriage to Christine Taylor.

Penn and Taylor married in 2000 and announced their separation in May 2017 after 17 years together.

“When we broke up, I was like, ‘Oh, I’m a failure at this,’ and I look at my parents. They had an amazing marriage of over 50 years and I can’t live up to that,” he told Taylor in the documentary. the people.

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The documentary traces the relationship between his father, Jerry posesand his mother, Anne Meara, who together played the famous comedy duo Stiller and Meara. Together they made over 30 appearances on “The Ed Sullivan Show” and later had their own short-lived variety show “The Stiller and Meara Show.”

Penn and Taylor also worked together several times during their relationship. They first met while filming the pilot for a TV show called “Heat Vision and Jack,” and went on to star in “Zoolander” and “Dodgeball” alongside each other. Looking back, Ben remembers wondering “what kind of impact” his parents’ working relationship had on their marriage, and he remembers not wanting to be like his parents when he first started dating Taylor.

“When we broke up, I was like ‘Oh, I’m a failure at this’ and I look at my parents. They had a wonderful marriage of over 50 years and I can’t live through that.”

– Ben poses

“I feel like there’s a history and I think a lot of it has been your experience of what that ultimately means for a relationship that can put extra pressure when you’re eating, sleeping, breathing each other that way,” Taylor told Ben in the documentary. “I also felt like there was a fear from you to me of what it might look like to the outside world. I mean it was very overwhelming.”

The “Tropic Thunder” star previously spoke about his breakup with Taylor during an interview in January 2025 New York TimesIn it, he explained: “In my mind, I never wanted us to be together.”

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Their separation lasted “three or four years”, and the two were in contact throughout that period. They later moved into the same house during the Covid-19 pandemic with their two children, Ella, 23, and Quinlyn, 20.

“I don’t know where Christine was, you’ll have to ask her, but Coronavirus has brought us together “In the same house,” he explained. It was almost a year of living in the same house before we were actually together. But I’m very grateful for that, and I don’t think a lot of people get back together when they break up.”

Taylor also discussed their breakup during a March 2023 appearance on “The Drew Barrymore Show,” explaining that during their breakup “they both got to know who we are.”

She added that they got engaged six months after they met, “and they got married within a year, then they had (daughter Ella) the following year.”

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“Family has always been a priority, but I think Ben and I are starting to grow in different directions,” Taylor said. “And when we made the decision to separate, it was not something we wanted to talk about publicly or take lightly.”

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“I think we have these Growth spurts, even in adultsShe added later. “We needed time to figure that out.”

“Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost” is set to premiere on Apple TV+ on October 24.