Celebrity

Christine Taylor & Ben Stiller Are Cool Parents (But Their Kids Don't Get It)

"Our daughter gets embarrassed of us no matter what we do," Taylor admits

Published on October 19, 2014 10:00 AM

Christine Taylor and Ben Stiller have a message for their two children: You can talk to us!

But daughter Ella, 12, and son Quinlin, 9, don’t seem to be taking them up on the offer.

In fact, the kids think their famous parents are “dorks,” Taylor revealed at Thursday’s 16th Annual Tomorrow Is Tonight Gala Benefiting Project A.L.S. in New York.

“I said to my daughter, ‘You can talk to me about anything. I’m a cool mom. You don’t have to be embarrassed. You can tell me anything,’ ” Taylor says. “And she goes, ‘You just saying that made you uncool.’ ”

“We’re at the age where our daughter gets embarrassed of us no matter what we do,” adds Taylor, 43, insisting that Stiller, 48, is a “cool dad, definitely.”

The couple do, in fact, hang out with some very cool people, such as Jennifer Aniston and her fiancé Justin Theroux. Asked if the couples double date much, Taylor laughed, “They’re busy people. Ben and Justin are working a lot together right now. They’re busy, good people.”

Christine and Ben, meanwhile, have a busy season coming up, including Thanksgiving, a favorite of Taylor’s.

“I’m not a big cook,” Stiller says. “I like being around the kitchen, though. But that’s her big thing. She loves Thanksgiving.”

He’s also got a semi-big birthday coming in November: the big 4-9. “I haven’t even thought about that,” Stiller admitted. “We don’t do a big deal ever.”

As for their enduring marriage, Stiller recalled taking Taylor to a Project A.L.S. event soon after they first got together over a decade ago. “It’s been a long time,” he said. “It’s an amazing organization.”

Stiller, like one of the evening’s honorees Katie Couric, was also a close friend of Project A.L.S. co-founder Jenifer Estess, who died in 2003 after battling ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. But Stiller stays involved in the cause.

Asked how their relationship has evolved in the years since, Taylor replied, “It’s all change for the better. Right? We’re older, we’re wiser.”

“We’re hopefully getting better,” Stiller agreed.

Added Taylor, “I found a picture of us from 15 years ago, and I saw youth. You don’t see [the change] on a daily basis. We looked like kids. Now we look like parents.”