Yippy-tai-yai-what? Christine Taylor and David Lascher may not have played love interests on Nickelodeon’s Hey, Dude — but their offscreen relationship was a different story.
“You are my first real love, it was full of teen angst and everything you can imagine,” Lascher, 50, told Taylor, 51, during the first episode of their “Hey Dude … The ’90s Called!” Podcast on Sunday, December 11. “You and I bonded over humor, laughter and I just remember we would just make fun of everyone and everything in a lighthearted way. We just laughed for two years straight.”
Lascher and Taylor starred as Ted and Melody, respectively, on the ’90s hit comedy from 1989 to 1991. The series followed a group of friends as they work together at a dude ranch and face the ups and downs of adolescence.
While their characters never crossed paths in a romantic context on screen, the actors themselves sparked quite a romance when the cameras turned off.
In October 2014, the cast reunited during the ATX Festival in Austin, telling fans that “nobody dated” during the show’s four-season run. However, the Zoolander star and the Blossom alum decided to “own it” after starting their rewatch podcast.
“I was nervous to even ask you if wanted to talk about it, but we’re both happily married and we’re adults,” Lascher said during Sunday’s episode. “But yea, we were hot and heavy.”
The twosome explained that the cast, who stayed at a hotel in Tucson, Arizona, during the three years of filming, were essentially “living on their own” as teenagers. Their unique situation allowed them to bond “like a family.”
“I know you, no matter how many years have gone by. We know each other and it’s a comfortability,” the Sabrina the Teenage Witch actor said. “You and I had a friendship that was above and beyond anything else.”
The Dodgeball star, for her part, revealed that while the duo are good pals again now, working together became difficult following their breakup.“[It] was not fun. I have memories of you being really angry with me during certain episodes,” she quipped, before adding that she took “full responsibility” for their split.
“I was terrible. I was non-confrontational and had no idea how to talk or deal with it,” the Pennsylvania native said.
While the twosome’s romance may not have lasted forever, they both found love elsewhere after Hey, Dude came to an end. The Two of a Kind star tied the knot with wife Jill London in 1999 and the couple share three kids: Hannah, Casey and Chelsea.
Taylor, meanwhile met husband Ben Stiller in 1999 while filming a TV pilot titled Heat Vision and Jack. The couple tied the knot less than a year later and went on to star in multiple projects together over the years. In 2002 and 2005, they welcomed daughter Ella and son Quinlin, respectively.
After 17 years of marriage, the twosome announced they were calling it quits in 2017. Two years later, however, they made waves at the 2019 Primetime Emmy Awards as they smiled for photos on the purple carpet. They were also seen looking “happy” and never leaving “each others’ sides,” an eyewitness exclusively told Us Weekly at the time.
Taylor and Stiller remained tight-lipped about their relationship status, with the Friendsgiving star noticeably dodging a question about whether they were officially back together in October 2018. “We’re a big family. We’re together all the time,” she exclusively told Us. When pressed about her seemingly “nice” post-split relationship with Stiller, the Search Party actress responded, “It’s wonderful, it’s wonderful.”
In February 2022, Stiller revealed to Esquire that the pair were officially back together after he moved home amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We were separated and got back together and we’re happy about that. It’s been really wonderful for all of us. Unexpected, and one of the things that came out of the pandemic,” he said.
After Stiller confirmed the duo’s reunion, a source told Us that their previous split was “a serious eye-opener” for the actor. “He missed [Christine] terribly and hated the idea of their kids growing up in a broken home,” the insider added, noting that Stiller realized “what he’d lost” after the breakup.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the Reality Bites director made time for “a lot of self-evaluation” that helped him rekindle his romance with Taylor. “He made a conscious effort to stop sweating the small stuff and figure out how to channel his energy whilst compromising with Christine on those issues that really didn’t matter at the end of the day,” the source told Us.