Ben Stiller Hits Back: 'Zoolander' Star Responds to Criticism from his Own Nepo Baby Kids Who Slammed Him 'For Never Being Around'
Ben Stiller has responded to being slammed by his own children for barely being around when they were growing up.
Oct. 24 2025, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Ben Stiller has responded to claims made by his own children that he was barely present during their childhood.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the Zoolander star, 59, admitted he "did worse" than his famous folks who oversaw his upbringing.
Absent Father?
Stiller's two kids accused him of putting a 'damper' on vacations.
He said: "You want to do better than your parents, but then in some places you do better, sometimes you do worse. It's that struggle we all go through.
"I probably f----- up more with my kids than my parents did with us."
He got candid about parenting while discussing his new documentary Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost, which features cameos from his children, Ella, 23, and son Quinlin, 20, plus wife Christine Taylor.
The doc focuses on the behind-the-scenes dynamics between himself and actor parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and viewers will also get a glimpse of his relationship with his own two adult children.
A 'Damper' on Family Vacations
Stiller admits he did a 'worse' job with his kids than his parents bringing him up.
The two children called their father out for apparently prioritizing his professional life over parenting them.
"I literally can't ever remember you being around when I was growing up," Ella told her father in the documentary.
When Stiller turned toward Quinlin and asked if he felt the same way, his son shared similar thoughts.
"After a tough day, or if something was going wrong, you can kind of get into your own head, and when you get into that place, it's hard to get you out of it," Quinlin explained.
Those days would "put a damper" on the "fun part of being on vacation."
The funnyman, here with daughter Ella and wife Christine Taylor, says bringing up his two kids was a 'struggle'.
In one scene in the documentary, Stiller recalled a time when he had to tell his son he wouldn't be at home for months while filming Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb.
"I wish you could stay home," the young boy replied to Stiller with a fallen face.
Elsewhere in the documentary, Quinlin said it felt like being a father came "last" in the many roles his dad had to prioritize.
"You have all these hats that you’re trying to balance, you know? Being a director, an actor, a producer, a writer," he said. "But also just, like, a father, right? And sometimes I felt that that would come, you know, last to these other things."
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Stiller said he felt "stress and tension" while growing up with his own famous parents.
Stiller, who said he felt "stress and tension" while growing up with his own famous parents, said the "irony" was that he thought he was doing "so much better" than Anne and Jerry.
"I thought I was pulling it off," he said in the documentary.
"I was flying home on the weekends and having special places for the kids to play when they come visit the set, but in reality, and just hearing them talk about it for them, it was the same thing I was going through as a kid, and I just couldn’t see that at all at the time," he added.
