Christine Taylor is revisiting a frightening experience from her early years in Los Angeles: a carjacking at gunpoint that occurred in broad daylight during the 1990s. The actress, now 55, shared the story during a recent appearance on the We’re Still Here, Babe podcast, offering a rare glimpse into a traumatic moment that shaped her in ways she didn’t fully understand at the time.
The incident happened while Taylor was living with her Blossom co-star and roommate David Pressman. What struck her most, as she recounted it, was how ordinary the moment felt before it turned dangerous—and how long it took her to process what had happened.
Taylor’s recollection comes with an unexpected twist: the carjacking led directly to her being cast in a horror film just days later, an experience she describes as unexpectedly therapeutic. Her comments offer insight into how trauma can linger, resurface, and eventually be understood through reflection and therapy.
According to Taylor’s account on the We’re Still Here, Babe podcast, the incident occurred in the early 1990s on Detroit Street near Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles, where she and Pressman shared an apartment.
Taylor had just parked their car, and she and Pressman were preparing to cross the street to their apartment. A car slowed down nearby, which did not initially raise any alarm. “I didn’t even think twice because the car was slowing down,” Taylor recalled. “But it was three in the afternoon! Bright sunshine!”
A man emerged from the passenger seat holding a gun. He waved Pressman to stay on the curb and told Taylor to hand over the keys. Because Taylor had secured a steering wheel lock—commonly known as a “club”—to the car, the man instructed her to remove it first.
Taylor remembered having her purse on her shoulder and thinking to herself, “Don’t go for the purse, just take the car.” The man then told her to leave the purse behind.
The entire encounter lasted roughly a minute and a half to two minutes, but Taylor described the sensation as one of slowed time. “It felt like time stood still. It was so scary,” she said. “I was just so grateful that we were okay.”
Taylor also noted that she had laundry in the trunk at the time, a mundane detail that underscores the ordinariness of the moment before it escalated.
Taylor’s descriptions emphasize both the terror of the moment and a strange sense of detachment. She recalled focusing on practical thoughts—like whether to protect her purse—rather than giving in to panic. The experience unfolded in what felt like suspended time, even as it lasted only minutes.
Her gratitude that she and Pressman were physically unharmed comes through clearly in her account. She has described the incident as “scary” and acknowledged the fear she felt, but she has also framed her survival as a source of relief rather than dwelling on the threat itself.
This combination of fear and gratitude is a common response to traumatic events, though Taylor did not use clinical language to describe her experience. She simply reported what she remembered and how she felt.
One of the most significant parts of Taylor’s recollection is her acknowledgment that she did not process the trauma in the immediate aftermath.
“I wasn’t talking, processing trauma in that way,” she said. “We didn’t do that in the ‘90s, really. You had your friends and your family to lean on through those kinds of moments.”
Taylor has described how the experience affected her physically in the period after the carjacking. “Very soon after it happened, if I saw somebody on the street in a crosswalk, my body would freeze because of seeing a person crossing and thinking they’re going to come to the car,” she explained.
This kind of involuntary physical response—freezing at a trigger that resembled the original threat—is consistent with how traumatic experiences can manifest, though Taylor has not publicly described receiving a formal diagnosis. She has simply described her own experience in her own words.
It was only years later, through therapy, that Taylor came to understand how the incident had stayed with her. She has said the experience “comes up often” in how her body responds to trauma, indicating that the memory and its effects have been long-lasting.
Taylor has spoken about being in therapy for years, and she credits that work with helping her understand the connection between the carjacking and her later reactions.
“As somebody who’s now been in years of therapy,” she said, the incident continues to surface in how her body responds to certain situations.
Taylor’s comments suggest that therapy provided a framework for understanding reactions she had previously experienced without context. Rather than suggesting that therapy “cured” her or resolved the trauma entirely, her account points to a gradual process of recognition and understanding—connecting physical responses to their source in the carjacking.
She has not described specific therapeutic techniques or claimed that the process was linear. Instead, she has spoken about the ongoing nature of processing trauma and the value of having a space to examine how past experiences shape present responses.
Taylor’s story takes an unexpected turn with the role she landed just days after the carjacking.
At the time of the incident, Taylor had been auditioning for a horror film called Night of the Demons 2. She described the project with some ambivalence—“I didn’t think it was the time,” she said—but acknowledged that getting cast “a day or two after the carjacking” gave her something to focus on.
“It was the most therapeutic experience,” Taylor said of working on the film. She described the experience of “getting to be in this horror movie where you’re running around screaming with kids your age” as a way of working through the fear and adrenaline of the carjacking in a controlled environment.
Taylor was careful not to claim that acting “cured” her or resolved the trauma. Instead, she framed the experience as one that helped her process what had happened—an opportunity to channel the emotions of the carjacking into a creative outlet at a time when she wasn’t otherwise talking about what she had experienced.
Night of the Demons 2 is a 1994 horror film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and released by Republic Pictures. It is the sequel to the 1988 film Night of the Demons.
Taylor played the character Terri, one of a group of teenagers who are drawn into a haunted house and subsequently possessed by demonic forces. The film was released in 1994, placing it early in Taylor’s career—before her breakout role as Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie the following year.
The film has become something of a cult classic in horror circles, though Taylor has not treated it as a significant artistic achievement. Her interest in discussing it now centers on what the experience meant to her personally at a difficult moment, rather than the film’s reception or quality.
Christine Taylor is an American actress known for her work in comedy and television. She was born in 1971 in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and began her career in the late 1980s with roles on television series including Hey Dude and Saved by the Bell.
Her breakout role came in 1995 when she was cast as Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie, a comedic parody of the classic television series. She reprised the role in A Very Brady Sequel the following year.
Taylor has appeared in numerous films, often in comedic roles. These include The Wedding Singer (1998), The Craft (1996), Zoolander (2001), and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004). She has also made memorable television appearances on Friends, Arrested Development, and Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Taylor has frequently collaborated with her husband, Ben Stiller, appearing alongside him in Zoolander, Dodgeball, and Tropic Thunder.
Christine Taylor is married to actor, director, and producer Ben Stiller. The couple met in 1999 while working on a television pilot called Heat Vision and Jack, and they married less than a year later, in 2000.
They have two children together: a daughter, Ella, and a son, Quinlin.
The couple separated in 2017 after 17 years of marriage, but they reconciled during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taylor has spoken publicly about the separation, describing it as a difficult decision that ultimately led to a stronger relationship. “We came out of it and really we’re stronger and better than ever,” she said in a recent interview.
Taylor has said that she and Stiller worked with a therapist during the pandemic to rebuild their relationship, and she has expressed gratitude that they found their way back to each other.
Taylor’s decision to discuss the carjacking on the We’re Still Here, Babe podcast reflects a willingness to revisit a difficult experience with the perspective she has gained over time.
The podcast, hosted by Natanya Ross, appears to focus on personal stories and mental health themes. Taylor’s discussion of the carjacking was framed as part of a broader conversation about how people process trauma—and how those processes have changed over the decades.
Taylor has not suggested that she is revisiting the story for any particular reason beyond the podcast context. Her comments offer a rare public reflection on an event that occurred more than three decades ago, and they provide insight into how she has come to understand its lasting effects.
Christine Taylor was carjacked at gunpoint in the early 1990s. She and her roommate, David Pressman, were outside their Los Angeles apartment when a man approached them with a gun and demanded her car keys.
Yes. Taylor has said a man got out of a car holding a gun and told her to hand over her keys. She described the experience as “so scary” and said it “felt like time stood still.”
Taylor was with David Pressman, her Blossom co-star and roommate at the time. They had been living together for several years when the incident occurred.
The carjacking occurred in the early 1990s. Taylor has said it happened at three in the afternoon on Detroit Street near Beverly Boulevard in Los Angeles.
Taylor described the incident as “so scary” and said she was “so grateful that we were okay.” She also noted that she did not process the trauma at the time and that it affected her for years afterward.
Taylor has said she was not in therapy at the time of the carjacking. She has since been in therapy for years and has said the incident “comes up often” in how her body responds to trauma.
Night of the Demons 2 is a 1994 horror film in which Christine Taylor played the character Terri. Taylor was cast in the film just days after the carjacking and has described the experience of making it as “therapeutic.”
Christine Taylor is married to actor Ben Stiller. They married in 2000, separated in 2017, and reconciled during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Taylor is known for playing Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch Movie and A Very Brady Sequel, as well as roles in The Wedding Singer, Zoolander, Dodgeball, The Craft, and Arrested Development.
In a September 2026 podcast appearance, Taylor recalled the carjacking in detail, described its lasting effects on her, and explained how she eventually came to process the experience through therapy and reflection.