Kristen Bell was interviewed by The Today Show this week. She laid out her media strategy, which is obvious to anyone who pays attention to her and her husband, Dax Shepard, but is still interesting in that she’s being very upfront about it. She discussed her anxiety and depression, which she’s been open about for around two years now. (I thought it was longer than that until I looked it up.) Bell is like Demi Lovato in that she has very specific talking points which are highly personal and which she brings up in interviews frequently. Bell, also like Lovato, shares quite a bit on Instagram but she’s careful not to post her daughter’s faces. She started the “no kids” paparazzi policy with Shepard and they work to keep her daughter’s identities hidden, even as they tell embarrassing stories about them. It turns out Bell has an explanation for that – sort of. Here’s some of what she said on The Today Show and you can see the video below.

On how admitting her anxiety helped her feel free
It made me feel truly much more authentic, much more honest, much more responsible.
I live for tools to help people, cause I get like, a high off of it. I’ve said before, it’s selfish. I sleep really well at night. It’s a joke if you think everybody’s not feeling this. It’s a joke if you think everyone’s not hiding some secret shame about being anxiety-riddled or depressed at some point.

We’re all there, ok? Everybody’s crazy. It’s not a competition.

She was asked if she filters herself when posting online
I’m purposely very open because I like community and I like the response I get when I’m very open and vulnerable, whether I’m talking about my marriage or how gross my kids are or anxiety and depression. I like hearing responses that it helped somebody. And that will always drive me to continue to overshare.

On her media strategy with her husband, Dax Shepard
We are very open, my husband and I. That is choreographed.

We are fiercely territorial of our family. We’re very conscious of where we take them. I don’t take them to premieres. Yes that seems fun, but that also puts them in a position of getting their picture taken, having too much attention.

So, as open as we are, we’ve agreed to a certain amount of openness. And the rest is ours. And it will stay ours.

[From video of The Today Show]

I don’t fully get the distinction between telling gross stories about a child and not showing their face. Those are her daughters’ stories, they’re not hers or her husband’s. Tweens and teenagers are very protective of their narrative. I don’t think preschoolers and kindergartners have the capacity to give consent for that, especially in this situation with famous parents. Of course that is Bell and Shepard’s prerogative and they are doing a good thing by shielding their daughters’ identities. Just consider the opposite situation – where Jennifer Garner and Ben Affleck let their kids be routinely photographed (they’re hounded by paparazzi but I consider it a “flies to honey” situation) but are careful what they share about them and it’s generally benign. (Samuel’s “fart” art being an exception, although that was mild.) I’m not saying either one is better just that there are different sides to this. I guess it boils down to her family, her choice. Plus she should get credit for being open about her mental health struggles. There’s still a lot of stigma around that.

Also, I don’t agree with her that everyone has anxiety and depression. More people do than you might think, but not everyone.

Here’s the video and in case you can’t listen to it there are captions.

Kristen Bell talks about anxiety, depression and keeping it real pic.twitter.com/zDsQVhAYwF

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) May 17, 2018

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

photos are credit: Getty and screenshots from The Today Show