Ben Stiller: ‘Turning 50 made life more simple’

Ben Stiller’s priorities in life are to be “healthy and happy”.

The actor, who is father of two with wife Christine Taylor, turned 50 last November (15). Reaching the landmark birthday marked a change in Ben’s outlook, and he feels like life has become more straightforward since then.

“That's life, life happens to you,” he told Hello! magazine. “I think as you get older, you just want to feel good about yourself. For me as I get older, I think about my life and I feel it gets much simpler. I just want to be healthy and happy.”

Ben’s latest movie offering Zoolander 2, in which he reprises his role as male model Derek Zoolander, started to hit cinemas earlier this month (Feb16).

Shooting the film saw Ben spend a lot of time in Rome, Italy, but he and Christine made the decision not to relocate their family for the duration of filming.

“On this one, they went back and forth to Rome,” Ben said. “My kids are in school and as much as I imagine it would be great for us all to move to Italy for six months, the reality is that I have a daughter who has just started a new school in New York. For her, it would have been harder to have had to make friend for just a few months. So we figured out a balance - a really important thing because it's family - and ended up making a lot of trips backwards and forwards.”

The sequel sees cameos from stars including Justin Bieber and Benedict Cumberbatch. Ben reveals that Sherlock star Benedict was the perfect guest addition to the movie.

“He was so game and so excited,” Ben smiled. “I felt really fortunate that people who were fans of the first movie wanted to come on board and be part of it. There are definitely a few surprises in there too.”