Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor separated for five years. Then they were forced to live together.

Five years after announcing their separation, actors Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor rekindled their relationship.

The actors — who married in 2000 and share two kids, daughter Ella and son Quinlin — separated in 2017 but reconnected during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Stiller moved back into the family home.

In a new interview with The New York Times, the Severance actor, 59, explained how the time apart made their relationship stronger.

"When we separated, it was just having space to see what our relationship was, what my life felt like when we weren't in that relationship, how much I loved our family unit," he said.

"It was like three or four years that we weren't together but we always were connected. In my mind, I never didn't want us to be together."

Stiller added: "I don't know where Christine was, you'd have to ask her, but COVID put us all together in the same house.

"I'm so grateful for it."

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Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor, who is best known for playing Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie, met in 1999 while filming the pilot for TV show Heat Vision and Jack, which never made it to air.

According to Stiller, it was pretty much love at first sight.

"When I met her, I pretty much thought, 'That’s the person,'" he said in a 2007 interview with Entertainment Tonight.

"It was like, 'Wow, this is a great person. I love her.'"

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor. Image: Getty.

In 2000, the pair got married in Kauai, Hawaii and continued to appear alongside each other in several movies, including Zoolander, DodgeBall: A True Underdog Story, Dedication, Tropic Thunder and Friendsgiving.

They welcomed their first child, daughter Ella Stiller, in April 2002. She is now 22 years old.

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In 2005, their second child, Quinlin, now 19, was born in their home city of New York.

After 18 years together, the couple announced 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," they said in a joint statement.

"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."

And when they said they would continue to raise their children as devoted parents and the closest of friends... they actually meant it.

Between 2017 and 2019, Stiller and Taylor continued to amicably co-parent, attending events like the 2019 Emmys together and catching up for long lunches in New York City.

Then, in lockdown, the pair rekindled romantically.

Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor in 2024. Image: Getty.

In a 2022 profile with Esquire, Stiller opened up about their relationship, sharing that they decided it would be best for him to move back in to the pair's family home in the early months of lockdown so he could continue to see their kids.

"Over the course of time, it evolved," he shared.

"We were separated and got back together and we're happy about that. It's been really wonderful for all of us. Unexpected, and one of the things that came out of the pandemic."

He described this time as an 'act of God', adding that it was almost a full year of living in the same house before they actually got back together.

Stiller said he was lucky to get the opportunity to see the relationship with fresh eyes.

"But I'm so grateful for it, and I think not that many people do come back together when they separate," he said.

"There's nothing like that, when you come back. You have so much more appreciation for what you have, because we know we could not have it."

For her part, it seems Christine agrees.

Speaking on the Drew Barrymore Show in 2023, she said, "Family was always a priority, but I think Ben and I both started to grow in different directions…

And [during] that time apart, we got to know who we are," she added."I think we have these growth spurts, even as adults. And we needed time to figure that out," she said.

This article was originally published in February 2022, and has since been updated with new information.

Feature Image: Getty.

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