How Ben Stiller is tackling ‘generational’ parenting ‘struggle’ after confessing he ‘f–ked up’

Ben Stiller is working to break the nepo baby mold after his kids called him out for being an absentee father.

Ben — the son of Hollywood icons Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara — reflected on how his childhood impacted his own parenting while discussing his new documentary, “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost,” on “The View” Thursday.

The “Meet the Parents” actor — who shares daughter Ella, 23, and son Quinlin, 20, with wife Christine Taylor — explained the patterns he noticed while making the film about his late parents.

Ben Stiller reflected on the “generational” parenting struggle in an interview with “The View” Thursday. Getty Images

Ben is the son of late Hollywood stars Anne Meara and Jerry Stiller. WireImage for Harrison & Shriftman

“Having kids who are now actors also, and experiencing that, that became part of the movie in terms of talking to them about how cyclically, generationally these things get handed down,” Ben said.

“You want to do better than your parents,” he continued. “In some places, you do better, sometimes worse. It’s that struggle we all go through.”

Ben, 59, also appeared on the “Today” Thursday, where co-host Savannah Guthrie complimented him for having “hard” conversations with his children on camera.

“Having kids who are now actors also, and experiencing that, that became part of the movie in terms of talking to them about how cyclically, generationally these things get handed down,” Ben said. Getty Images

The father of two said he realized the influence his parents had on him. FilmMagic

“I realized the influence my parents had on me and my sister and all parents have on their kids has influenced my relationships with my wife and my kids,” Ben explained.

“As I got deeper into looking at my parents’ relationship, I realized I had to acknowledge my own relationships and the effects that they had on that. So it became more of a family story,” he said of the project.

While interviewing his wife and kids for the doc, Ben realized that he was having new, vulnerable conversations with them.

“As I got deeper into looking at my parents’ relationship,” he said, referring to working on his film, “Stiller & Meara: Nothing Is Lost.” AppleTV+

Ben shares Ella and Quinlin with wife Christine Taylor. WireImage

“As I was watching cuts, I was like, ‘Oh, wow, I’ve never really talked about any personal stuff like this,’” he told the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday.

In the documentary, the “Zoolander” star’s kids blasted him for not being around much when they were growing up.

Ella told her father, “I literally can’t ever remember you being around when I was growing up.”

When Ben asked his son if Ella’s thoughts resonated with him, Quinlin told the actor that parenting seemed to come “last” on his list of priorities.

“You want to do better than your parents,” Ben said. “In some places, you do better, sometimes worse. It’s that struggle we all go through.” Getty Images

Ben also has a sister named Amy. AppleTV+

Want more celebrity and pop culture news?

Start your day with Page Six Daily.

Thanks for signing up!

“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 said. “So that would kind of put a damper on the fun part of being on vacation.

“You have all these hats that you’re trying to balance, you know?” he continued. “Being a director, an actor, a producer, a writer. But also just, like, a father.”

Quinlin also expressed his disappointment over his father being gone for months at a time due to filming schedules.

The “Zoolander” star’s kids said that he was an absent father. Getty Images for Tribeca Festival

“I literally can’t ever remember you being around when I was growing up,” Ella told him in the doc. NBC via Getty Images

Ben admitted that he thought he had done a better job than his father, but that he now knows this to be untrue.

“I thought I was pulling it off,” Ben said in the documentary. “I was flying home on weekends and finding special places for the kids to play when they would visit the set. But in reality, 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.”

Ben admitted in an interview with the Times published earlier this month that he “f–ked up” raising his kids.