Culture
Ben Stiller reveals the “generational” issues in parenting that he and his wife Christine Taylor dealt with while bringing up their two children.
Ben Stiller admits that this documentary has caused him to rethink “generational” parenting lessons.
Ben Stiller is attributing his parenting style to himself .While filming his new documentary, Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, about the comedy duo Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, the Zoolander star, Stiller, came to the realization that he and his wife Christine Taylor are still figuring out how to raise Ella, 23, and Quinlin, 20.
“As our children are actors too, and we are going through that, it became a part of the movie when we were talking to them about how really, generationally, these things get handed down,” Ben told The View on Oct. 23. “You want to be better than your parents.”
Ben Stiller confesses that he is dealing with the same work-life “struggle” his parents had and he is trying to be better but admits that sometimes he is not.
In fact, the Severance creator pointed out that he is going back and forth between making “better” or “worse” decisions than his parents who have passed away. “It’s that struggle we all go through.”
“Every family you have to deal with whatever it is,” Ben clarified. “Parents have to go out and work and that time that you don’t spend with your kids and that struggle.”
Ben acknowledged that his parents never quite figured out work-life balance and he added, “That’s something that they feel all the time.”
Ben Stiller’s kids think about the influence his work stress had on him, saying that he sometimes took the joy away from family time.
On the other hand, Ben’s children shared their views on the life that went along with his Hollywood career.
“After a hard day, or if something was not going right, you could see that he was kind of in his own head,” Quinlin in the documentary, talking to his dad, according to Us Weekly. “And when you get to that place, it’s very difficult to get you out of it. So, it would be that kind of thing that would put a damper on the fun part of being on vacation.”
The 20-year-old still acknowledges how much his father had to do but confesses that it sometimes got too much for him.
Ben Stiller’s children reveal that their dad sometimes was the last “father” to his many roles which he admits to be repeating his parents’ patterns
“You have all these hats that you’re trying to balance,” Quinlin went on. “A director, an actor, a producer, a writer. But also, you know, just a father. And sometimes, I felt that fatherhood would be last to these other things.”
Ella supplemented the point by saying, “I literally can’t ever remember you being around when I was growing up.”
In another part of the film, Ben also acknowledges their point of view and in a reflective moment, he says, “I was going through the same thing when I was a kid and I just couldn’t see it at all at that time.”
