Ben Stiller believes lockdown helped to save his marriage

Ben - who has Ella, 23, and Quin, 20, with Christine - says in the documentary Stiller and Meara: Nothing Is Lost: "All of a sudden we were together in the house and during that time I started to make the movie, too. So there was 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 it before."

Ben was ultimately determined that his marriage wouldn't go the same way as his parents' marriage had gone.

He recalled thinking: "I don't want to become my parents."

Ben moved back into the family home in 2020 so he could spend time with his children amid the COIVD-19 lockdowns.

And the comedy star previously admitted that the situation later "evolved" between him and Christine.

He said: "Then, over the course of time, it evolved. 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."

Ben and Christine now have a "respect" for their similarities and differences, and they're more "accepting" of each other than ever before.

The movie star - who married Christine in 2000 - explained: "I think we have a respect for the ways that we're similar and the ways we're different.

"And I think accepting that, you can really appreciate someone more because you're not trying to get them to change for you.

"Once you accept that, you save a lot of energy. 'This is something that works for me; this is something that doesn't work for me.'

"If you have that trust level with your partner, you know that me saying 'I don't like doing that thing,' is not me saying 'I don't like you.'"