Ben Stiller and Christine Taylor’s Family Life Revealed
Ben previously shared that Ella had a conversation with him about feeling neglected during her childhood because of his career.
“She’s very expressive about it, and sometimes it’s difficult for me to hear. It’s tough,” he told Esquire. “Because it’s me not being there in the same way I saw my parents [actors Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara] not being there. I always thought, ‘Well, I won’t do that.'”
Although Ben admitted it was hard to hear Ella’s words, he emphasized the importance of acknowledging her feelings: “But then it’s that thing that, like, I was trying to navigate my own desire to fulfill the hopes and dreams I had, too.”
The actor also mentioned that Ella and her brother Quinlin were not keeping track of his absences due to work, they simply wanted to spend quality time with their dad.
“What I’ve learned is that your kids are not keeping score on your career,” he explained. “It would be self-centered to think that my kids actually care about that. They just want a parent who’s emotionally present and supportive of them. That’s probably what they want more than for me to be going off and pushing the bounds of my creativity.”