I don’t know much about actress Kristen Bell, 30, but after reading this recent interview with her in Parade I have to say I like her! She seems really normal and like she’s just grateful to be a working actress. There’s not a lot of artifice from her, and maybe the reason we haven’t heard much about her is because she doesn’t go to every event or have much tabloid drama to speak of. Bell has been engaged to actor Dax Shephard, 35, since early this year. In Parade she gushes about Shephard and talks about how she feels more comfortable in her own skin now that she’s 30. Yes, it’s a common interview theme from actresses, but I like her take on it and how she admits that she’s been too hard on herself in the past.

Bell is promoting her new film You Again, co-starring such Hollywood luminaries as (poop goddess) Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver and Betty White. It’s out in the US on September 24. Here’s part of Bell’s interview, with more at the source:

Remembering her high-school days.
“I think I was somewhere in between popular and nerdy. I went to a very small school where the consequences of bullying were a lot more dramatic than they were at a big school. You couldn’t just walk down the hall and shove a nameless face because we all knew each other’s families. There wasn’t a stereotypical bully. But in high school, I was just very insecure because I was always so concerned that everybody liked me so I was just very sweet, a little meeker than I am now, but I was really just so hopeful that I wouldn’t fight with anybody.”

Why she’s keeping it real.
“I have no desire to put on this face of perfection. I’m constantly striving to better myself, but that’s also maybe out of intense insecurities. Feeling like I went right from high school to Hollywood, it’s essentially the same dynamic. But I can admit, I don’t always have the best style. I trip a lot, I go to therapy because I make mistakes, I just try to be as real and as well-rounded as possible because there’s nothing really that interesting about perfection. It’s been done so many times before.”

On recently turning 30.
“I love 30 more than I’ve ever loved anything. I feel like I was born on my 30th birthday. It’s finally the time where I’ve fully accepted and loved myself, which I’m realizing more and more each day — it is so important to love yourself. Because if you don’t love yourself than nothing really matters. For a long time, I went through life kind of beating myself up and trying to be a perfectionist and do everything right and I just thought, ‘What’s the point?’ I have faults, that’s fine. I can still strive to be better, but I’m not going to be as rough on myself as I used to and it’s just kind of alleviating all of this stress and kind of taken a weight off my shoulders and I think now I’m just happy.”

Finding comfort in her engagement to Dax Shepard.
“I never loved dating. I think it’s very uncomfortable to put yourself out there and be vulnerable. I’m much more comfortable in a relationship and I’m very happy.”

They’re not your typical Hollywood couple.
“I’m definitely a homebody. I don’t know if I’ve been to a club in the last seven years, at least not one that I was forced to go to because it was for a friends’ birthday party. I’m not much for the club atmosphere, but I don’t drink so that may have something to do with it! I love to cook and I have a garden at home and I’m much more like a 1950s housewife, I think.”

The shows she’s hooked on.
“I like Damages, I like Mad Men. I love 30 Rock. I really like Friday Night Lights and was over the moon when they were finally acknowledged on the Emmys this year because I think they’ve been one of the better shows on television for a while now.”

Her one guilty pleasure.
“I’m always DVR’ing Jersey Shore, but I’ve never been ashamed to admit that. I probably should be ashamed to admit that, but I’m not. I think that it’s one of the greatest disasters to ever come to television and I just love the lessons they learn each week and the trouble they get into.”

[From Parade]

See – she seems nice and normal and I like how she admits that she has trouble with her style. I’m getting mild Reese Witherspoon “type A” vibes from her, but I kind of have that personality too and appreciate it when I see it. (Bell seems a little less cutthroat than Reese, although it’s hard to tell.) I don’t know much about her fiance, Dax Shephard, but I watched him on Parenthood this season and think he’s a great actor. He’s also in a new film called The Freebie that’s getting a lot of positive buzz.

Here’s the trailer for You Again, it looks funny as hell and Kristen Chenoweth is even in it! I’ll be seeing this one.

And here’s a spoof video from Funny or Die in which Bell gets into a faux diva argument with some of her co-stars. Doesn’t Odette Yustman seem like a drama-less plastic surgery free Megan Fox? LMAO at Betty White “You might be a quarter of my age, but I’ll take you down.” That never gets old.

Here are a bunch of event pictures of Kristen from this year. Her style is hit or miss although sometimes she looks spot on. The header photo is from 8/19/10. Credit: WENN.com. Photo of Kristen and Dax together is from 7/08 credit: Ghost/Fame Pictures

Although I have admitted to not really “getting” Kristin Bell or why some people think she’s amazing, I do have to acknowledge that she seems like a young actress who has her act together. She acts professionally, she’s never photographed leaving some club in a drunken stupor, she doesn’t say dumb crap in interview after interview, and she seems to be quite intelligent and nice. So why does this girl think that Dax Shepard is the best she can do? Ugh. So, yeah… Kristen and Dax announced their engagement yesterday. What the hell?

Kristen Bell is engaged to Dax Shepard, her rep confirms to UsMagazine.com exclusively. Shepard, 35, proposed over the holidays, a source tells Us.

Bell, 29, debuted her ring on the red carpet of the Grammys Sunday night.

The couple first stepped out publicly in January 2008. Bell detailed her perfect date night with Shepard in the November issue of Women’s Health.

“There is almost nothing, barring a natural disaster, that I would let eat into my time at home, playing Scrabble with Dax or talking to my girlfriends,” she said.

She joked that they were competitive while filming romantic comedy When in Rome, currently in theaters.

“We were trying to one-up each other,” she said. “That’s what we do at home, too. It’s like, ‘Wait – watch me do this funny bit.’ ‘No, watch me do this funny bit!.”

The secret to their relationship?

“I’ve learned the necessity for healthy communication. How important it is to talk about your deepest, darkest fears and feelings,” she says. “Your partner should hear your most embarrassing insecurities, because once you say them out loud, you’ve created a safe zone.”

And “a snuggle party can fix anything — it’s true,” she added.

[From Us Weekly]

Bell did “show off” the engagement ring at the Grammys (photos here). It doesn’t look that big. Sigh… but that doesn’t matter. What matters is that Kristen think Dax is a keeper. This is the guy who got his start on Punk’d, for the love of God. And now we’re supposed to buy him a legitimate actor? And worthy of a television star trying to make it in film? Seriously? Besides that, every time I’ve seen him interviewed, he comes across like a total douche. I need to have a talk with Kristen.

Here’s Kristen at the Grammys. Dax wasn’t there, and you can’t see her ring. The dress sucks too. This girl needs a new stylist, in addition to everything else working against her.

Kate Hudson and that actor you only heard of when she was dating him, Dax Shepard, aren’t together any more. I remember hearing that they broke up a couple of weeks ago, but yesterday’s NY Daily News says they split just last week and that the earlier report was premature. They were said to be holed up in a hotel together in Boston when the stories got out that they were split, and it took them a while to catch up with the news.

Kate Hudson and her boyfriend Dax Shepard officially called it quits last week, a friend of the couple tells us.

“They weren’t working out, and she got bored,” says the friend. “She’s telling people it’s a clean break.”

The death of their relationship was prematurely reported by one outlet two weeks ago, when in fact the two were staying together at a hotel in Boston.

But Hudson walked the red carpet without Shepard last week at a celebrity-studded event at the Directors Guild of America in Los Angeles. The two had been dating since shortly after she broke up with Owen Wilson early in the summer.

[From NY Daily News]

It sounds like it was just a fling for Kate and she figured out she’s better off single for now. She has been seen out having fun with friend recently, but always handles herself well and doesn’t seem to go overboard. Hudson is probably enjoying life and doesn’t feel ready to be tied down again. She was married at just 20 and didn’t have a lot of time to experience being young.

Now she has a three year old and is behaving like a responsible single mother. She may date and go out and have fun, but she’s not flaunting it or courting publicity, and should serve as a good example for other, unnamed celebrities.

Kate Hudson and Dax Shepard are seen out with her son, Ryder, in photos from August. She looks tired and/or pissed. Thanks to Splash News for these pictures.

Kate Hudson is enjoying a hot new relationship with fellow actor Dax Shephard, and was recently photographed in a full-on embrace with him while she was wearing a bikini. Of course that means that the tabloids are speculating that she’s neglecting her three year-old son, Ryder.

Supposedly Kate’s ex husband, Chris Robinson, is happy that he can now seen his son whenever he wants. I call bullshit on this article:

[Katie Hudson's] ex-husband, Black Crowes frontman Chris Robinson, is said to be delighted about her new romance because it means he can see more of their three-year-old son Ryder.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: “Dax is basically living at her house right now. The rest of her family is a little annoyed.

“Chris is thrilled because now he can have Ryder whenever he wants. Kate gets a little more distracted when new men come into her life.”

Kate’s representative, Brad Cafarelli, has denied the actress is neglecting Ryder because of her new romance, saying: “None of what you’re speculating here is accurate.”

[Female First via Gossip Rocks]

Someone saw that picture of Kate and Dax kissing and/or the paparazzi know that Dax is over Kate’s house all the time. It’s probably not true that she’s ignoring her son as a result, and even if she is giving her ex more time with him, what’s wrong with that?

If she was keeping Ryder around while she was involved in her new relationship, someone would point out that it’s bad to have the kid get to know another boyfriend that might not last, as in her last relationship with Owen Wilson. As Kate’s rep points out, this is all speculation and it’s not known if this is even partially true.

Kate Hudson’s stepdad, Kurt Russell, is said to be the one who set her up with Dax. He met him a few months ago and immediately took a liking to him. Kurt introduced Dax to Kate at a barbecue in June. Dax is also friends with married mom Liv Tyler, with whom he stars in the upcoming film Smother.

Thanks to INFDaily for these images. Used by permission.