Earlier this month Dax Shepard posted a photo of his wife, Kristen Bell, in the pool wearing a sun hat and gloves. You might assume the gloves are to protect her hands from the sun too, but he wrote “my wife hates the feeling of pruney finger tips on skin.” So I thought that meant she hated feeling her own pruney skin after some time under water. That is a weird feeling, but those must be some water tight gloves. It turns out that Kristen hates feeling other people’s pruney skin on her own, namely her kids. She doesn’t like to touch people’s pruny skin or have them touch her. OK. She explained her reasoning in an interview with USA Today:
“I don’t know if you’d call it a tick, but when pruney fingers touch other skin, I have a gag reflex,” Bell explains. “And when I’m in the pool with my children, it’s troubling because they reach for me when they’re having trouble swimming, and I have to respond maternally, I have to reach for them. But it’s difficult.
“My best friend Amy said, ‘Try these gloves. That way you can save your children if they’re drowning in a pool and you don’t have to have this crazy gag reflex.’ It works for me. I’m not ashamed.”
Who knows what else will be revealed when Bell and Shepard hit the road this fall on a live tour for his popular “Armchair Expert” podcast.
“It’s so funny because when he told me he was starting a podcast in the garage, I touched his hand and like a condescending wife, I said, ‘Oh, sweetie, that’s so cute. You’re going to have a garage podcast like everyone else,’ ” Bell says, laughing. “I didn’t think anything of it, and he and our friend Monica (Padman) started a podcast in January. In February, I looked at their numbers and I was like, ‘I’m sorry, you have 1 million listeners a week? Who are you? What is happening?’”
That’s something I’ve never heard before, but at least it’s an odd and potentially embarrassing story about her, and not about her kids. For someone who protects her kids’ identities, she sure tells some personal stories about them. As USA Today mentions, Kristen and Dax are doing a tour for his Armchair Experts podcast. (I wrote that like I knew about it before but I didn’t.) USA Today hints that these two are going to overshare because of course they are, that’s their brand. I’m surprised they didn’t do something like this sooner. Kristen had that MomSplaining Youtube show in conjunction with Ellen but there are only a few episodes of that. Several celebrities are doing these kind of DIY interview podcasts. Anna Faris has a podcast, as do Chelsea Peretti and Alec Baldwin. Jada Pinkett Smith’s Red Table Talks on Facebook is just beyond though, I wonder if Kristen and Dax are using Jada and Will as inspiration. It’s like nothing is off limits anymore.
This is Kristen at the premiere of Teen Titans Go! To The Movies in a sequin tuxedo jacket-turned-dress from Osman’s 2017 fall collection. (I did not know that off the top of my head. I’m so grateful Redcarpet-FashionAwards is in business again. Unlike RCFA I think this is rather weird though. It’s not a summer premiere outfit, it’s more of an event or party look.) At Comic-Con to promote The Good Place she’s in a Anine Bing suit with a Naeem Khan blouse. Now this is cool and I really like how she left her shirt bow untied and hanging.
Photos credit: WENN
I’ve been binging on the Good Place and I’m already picturing Eleanor complaining about pruny fingers
I just finished watching it. I actually really liked it and she grew on me after seeing her in it. I think she plays Eleanor perfectly.
How did she bathe her children before her friend came to the rescue with these pool gloves? Maybe she had staff do the baths?
I think it takes a bit for the pruny effect to take place.
Oh! Thanks @Emily. I didn’t get that there had to be two sets of pruney skin from the article or from the quote when K said if “pruney fingers touch other skin, I have a gag reflex..” Somehow that seems even odder to me!
My fingers have never gotten pruney while bathing my kid, and I’m the only one who’s ever bathed him.
But it’s not the parent’s hands getting pruny that’s the problem for her apparently. It’s the child’s pruny fingers touching her that makes her gag. And kids’ tiny fingers can get pruny pretty fast in the bath unless they are in and out very quickly with no tub play.
@Lizabeth – I thinks she’s saying she has a bad reaction when HER pruny fingers have to touch her kids skin. They reach for her in the pool and she has to reach back.
I have the same impulse reaction to pruny skin touching pruny skin. I hate it.
That’s a new one for me. And I am a person of many sensitivities. Maybe I’m desensitized or something since I was a competitive swimmer for many years.
I never minded my fingers going pruny but then I love being in the water. My mom would have to drag me out of the pool during the summer. It’s kind of a weird thing to hate IMO but everyone has their weird things they can’t stand. I ignored this story the first time around so I never found out why she wore the gloves. I don’t really care, I just want the second season of the Good Place to become available on Netflix! As much as she can be annoying I enjoy that show.
It’ll be on Netflix August 28th in the US. New season starts September 27th.
Kristen??
🙂
I don’t get this..if her kids touch her with pruney fingers, does she back away? Do the kids wear gloves too?
I hope this is the dumbest thing I read all day but let’s face it. It’s probably not. ( that’s a dig at this exhausting woman, not the writers)
RCFA is the only reason I know any designer by name. It’s the perfect thing to go to while going through my voicemail.
Sounds like some OT sensory therapy is in order! Honestly, the thought of wearing gloves in the water is giving me some issues too.
I’m more concerned with the tan line she’s going to get from those shoulder caps in her bathing suit!
They’ll match the wrist tan lines she’ll get from wearing gloves.
I love the red suit, and the Good Place. Speaking of podcasts, there’s a wonderful one hosted by the actor who plays Sean (and Holt’s husband on Brooklyn 99) and he interviews an actor on the show and one of the producers or writers. It’s great!
I don’t get the pruny fingers thing, but everybody has weird things that bug them, so if the gloves work for her, ok then.
I’ve seen the cast and writers tweet about that podcast, but I haven’t listened to it yet. Sounds like a great way to fill the void until the next season starts though.
first world problems.
I think it’s sweet Dax referred to her as his bride.
We all have our quirks, our foibles, our bugaboos. I, personally, go from nought to nuclear when I hear someone squeak pages when turning them over (even thinking of it makes my eyes bulge). And she’s so durn likeable that I think we can forgive her the gloves. Be thankful it’s not a gimp mask.
Dax’s Pod Armchair Expert is GREAT! My only complaint is that it’s too long because I have too many pods to listen to, but he really gets into it with people.