It is a difficult time now for the family of comedian Ben Stiller as his mother Anne Meara passed away on May 23. She was 85.

No further details were revealed about her passing, but Stiller's friends, family, and even notable Hollywood figures have offered their words of condolences to Stiller, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The "Zoolander" actor has remained silent during that time, but has now decided to face the world again. He offered his thanks to everybody who has given their family support and kind words during this sad moment in time, and he tweeted: "Thank you so much for all the kind words about Anne. All of us in our family feel so lucky to have had her in our lives."

On Tuesday morning, Stiller uploaded a picture of his mother on his Instagram account, and gave it a short yet simple caption: "My mom Anne. She was an extraordinary person. Miss her."

Meara, just like Ben was a popular American comedian. She and her husband Jerry Stiller were a popular tandem in the 60s called Stiller and Meara, and during her entire career, she was nominated for four Emmy Awards and has won a Writers Guild Award for her work on the TV movie The Other Woman.

She was pretty good friends with the late Joan Rivers, who was a well-known talk show host. It was just recently that Stiller finally discovered why Rivers disliked him so much. Rivers has repeatedly bashed Stiller and his work, saying that his successful career can only be attributed to luck.

When Stiller appeared on Howard Stern's show, his co-host Robin Quivers finally explained: "She says you ignored her on the red carpet."

In response, Stiller said: "Oh, is that what it is? This is helping me, because I didn't understand why she didn't like me." 

Stern further went on: "She'd say, 'Howard, I'm friends with Ben's mother. And Ben should say hello to me.' She was really ticked that you wouldn't say hello to her."

Instead of being upset, Stiller feels relieved to finally discover the reason behind Rivers' dislike of him, saying that it's sad they were not able to patch things up before she passed away.

"See, this makes it all clear to me now," Stiller said. "I don't remember that happening, but I'm sure it did. She was great, and I feel bad that we never got to work that out."