Stiller, who was married to The Brady Bunch star for 17 years before they separated in 2017 but later rekindled their relationship, shed more light on the period during a new documentary about his famous parents, Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara.
“When we separated my feeling was like ‘Oh, I’m failing at this’ and look at my parents they have this incredible 50-plus year marriage and I can’t live up to that,” he said in Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost.
Jerry Stiller was a US comedian and actor best known for his role as George Costanza’s perennially-angry dad Frank in Seinfeld.
He was also part of a long-running comedy team with his wife before they broke up their act for the sake of their marriage, which lasted from 1953 until her death in 2015.
Jerry Stiller died in 2020.
The documentary is directed by Ben Stiller and is both a tribute to the comedy duo and a personal exploration of the family’s legacy. It includes interviews with himself and Taylor, who talk about their own marriage, according to People.
Stiller and Taylor first met in 1999 when she was asked to audition for a TV pilot Stiller was directing called Heat Vision and Jack.
Stiller was yet to find fame for his first major role in Zoolander while Taylor already had a string of credits to her name, including playing Marcia in The Brady Bunch Movie.
He told Parade in 2016 they went on a date and ‘clicked’ but according to the documentary, at the start of the relationship, he remembered thinking “I don’t want to become my parents”.
The two had begun working together as the comedy duo Stiller and Meara soon after they wed but later parted ways professionally, before carving out their own successful solo careers.
According to People, Taylor said in the documentary, “I also felt like there was a fear from you for me of what that would look like to the outside world. I mean it was very loaded.
“I do feel like there was history and I think a lot of it was your experience of what that ultimately meant for a relationship [and] that it could put extra strain when you’re eating, sleeping, breathing each other in that way.”
But whatever fears he had, they wound up marrying in 2000 and co-starred in the 2001 hit film Zoolander before welcoming their first child Ella in 2002.
Taylor worked sporadically after that, appearing in some projects, including Stiller’s hit Tropic Thunder, but largely devoted herself to raising their kids.
They were considered one of the tightest couples in Hollywood before announcing their shock split in 2017.
However, they remained close, even making a number of public appearances together before COVID hit, during which they decided to isolate as a family.
In 2022, Stiller revealed the pair had actually rekindled their relationship during that time, telling Esquire, “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”
Stiller elaborated on their reconciliation and revealed it was the documentary about his parents that helped bring them back together.
“All of a sudden we were together in the house and during that time I started to make the movie too,” he said.
“So there’s sort of this coming together. Us talking about what we were going through, our issues, and looking at what my parents had been through too in a way I hadn’t looked at before.”
Stiller revealed during an interview with The New York Times earlier this year the two simply needed ‘space’ and he never thought their split would be permanent.
Stiller, now 58, returned to the big screen with the 2024 film Nutcrackers after a seven-year hiatus from acting.
Read more on celebrity.nine.com.au
