Kristen Bell vows to stand by Dax Shepard: ‘He’s addicted to growth, to evolving’

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There are certain celebrities who are admired by people who only dabble in entertainment news, but don’t do deep dives like us. I’m thinking of celebrities like Brad Pitt, Duchess Kate, Johnny Depp and Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell. If you only read articles about Dax and Kristen occasionally and don’t consume celebrity news every day, they’re kind of admirable. They talk about protecting their kids’ privacies and are vulnerable about their mental health and relationship problems. After following them for a few years you realize that they’re mainly about promotion and headlines. I’m thinking about that because of this nice, family-friendly story about Kristen standing by Dax after he admitted to a relapse following a motorcycle accident. Kristen and Dax will help a lot of families struggling with addiction, especially now. Of course they both need content and they seem to be saying just the right things, a skill they’ve honed from years of doing this.

Kristen spoke to her buddy, Ellen DeGeneres, who will be back hosting her talkshow next week because of course she will. People has an advance clip from that interview. Kristen said that she’s standing by Dax and that he’s “addicted to growth.”

In a PEOPLE exclusive sneak peek at Wednesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show, Bell, 40, speaks out about his relapse and how she and her husband are together moving forward.

“He is actually doing really great… Everybody is up against their own demons,” Bell tells DeGeneres, 62, via a Zoom interview in the clip, provided by EllenTube. “Sometimes it’s anxiety and depression. Sometimes it’s substance abuse.”

Despite her husband’s slip, Bell is proud that he was honest about it.

“The thing I love most about Dax is … that he was able to tell me and tell us and say, ‘We need a different plan.’ We have a plan: if he has to take medication for any reason, I have to administer it. But he was like, ‘We need a stronger plan…’

“‘I was faltering,’ ” Bell recalls Shepard, 45, telling her. ” ‘I have to do some sort of emotional work to figure out why I wanted to use again.’ ”

Among the many things that Bell admires about Shepard is that he is “addicted to growth.”

“He’s addicted to evolving,” Bell continues. “He was like, ‘I don’t want to risk this family and I did, so let’s put new things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again,’ ” Bell remembers her husband saying.

In addition to figuring out a new “plan,” Bell reveals that she and Shepard are “going back to therapy” and that she will continue to stand by his side. “I will continue to stand by him because he’s very, very worth it,” she adds.

[From People]

I remember how mean Dax was to Kristen in May when she was talking to Katie Couric, and how he said “America’s sweetheart has some character defects.” He was likely abusing painkillers at the time. She probably knows this now, and they do seem committed to their family and life together. At some point, given the deeply personal things they’ve shared about their family and marriage, you would think they would change their media strategy. Maybe they could step back a little and not tell us all their business. It’s their whole business model though.

Here’s that clip:

Oh look Kristen has a line of CBD skincare. I’m surprised these two don’t have a self help book.

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32 Responses to “Kristen Bell vows to stand by Dax Shepard: ‘He’s addicted to growth, to evolving’”

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  1. Izzy says:

    I mean, great that he opened up about his relapse so he could get help, but wasn’t he basically forced to do so because he was accidentally outed to a group text by the couple’s nanny-turned-business partner? Still, I’m glad he’s getting the help he needs,

    • Esmom says:

      Yes, it’s easy to be cynical about them. They sure managed to change the narrative quite smoothly. But yes it is good that he is getting himself back on track. Although I will never not find him really annoying.

  2. Kathgal says:

    CB, I bet you are right. I wouldn’t doubt a book written by both of them would be in the cards.. ‘how we got through it and how we make our marriage work”.

  3. EMc says:

    I just finished the last episode of The Good Place last night so I’m a Kristen apologist right now. I think its awesome she’ll stick by his side. And I don’t mind their business model at all.

    • Snowslow says:

      See, I LOVED The Good Place but it annoyed me after al while that Bell’s white, blonde character was the one getting all the answers and solving all the problems… Leslie Knope from Parks & Recreation, also a Michael Schur series, was understandably the “good one” because she was an uber committed wide-eyed obsessive polititian but in this case the blonde white woman is again the one who gets it right all the time?! And to top it all, she’s played by Bell?!
      Well that put me off one of my favourite series.

      • EMc says:

        You have a point, although I’ve never watched Parks and Rec so I trust your comparison. But I would argue that Chidi played a pretty big role in solving problems and fixing things in the last seasons. But KB’s character solving the final problem at the end did seem rushed and cheap. Trying to be vague for anyone like me who watched it late!

      • CV says:

        Wow … hitting Mike Schur for writing two strong female leads on critically adored (and not-all-white cast) shows is something I did *not* see coming. This is a very narrow lens to look at both of these wonderful shows through, and I feel bad for you.

        if you’ve read anything from Mike, listened to his interviews, or done any work whatsoever you would know that he is about a big a feminist and advocate as exists in Hollywood today. And did you actually watch all of Parks and Rec? Leslie is the butt of the joke and loses *all the time* but perseveres. And Eleanor in Good Place was a *terrible* person who evolves, like all the other non-white terrible people in that show.

      • Snowslow says:

        OMG I love Chidi! It is true that he had some major solves but overall she is the character one is supposed to identify with, the mind, the problem solver isn’t she?

      • Snowslow says:

        @CV I love Michael Schur and my love for him wants him to do better.
        Bell’s character is the only one that grows (eventually with Chidi). I wanted him to do good by Jameela Jamil’s character and don’t get me started on the rest of the diverse cast. He also totally underused Retta in Parks, who is awesome in The Good Girls, like drama actress incredible.
        However, considering your tone, I don’t know why I even bother replying to your comment.

      • CV says:

        @Snowslow Every single character grew on the Good Place! I’m not sure what you are referring to but I don’t want to put spoilers in here for folks who haven’t watched all seasons, so agree to disagree.

        Re: Retta she was a background actor who got promoted and her character more than fully realized into a hugely successful bada$$, but no she was not the star of the show. Aziz Ansari as Tom Haverford was a huge non-stereotypical Southeast Asian character. Jerry, the old white guy in the cast, was the *biggest* target of ridicule and jokes.

        All I’m trying to say is Schur is a full-throated liberal and advocate for women and BIPOC from all that I’ve ever read from or about him, and I believe he’s done a lot to further mainstream non-white voices. I’m a huge fan of his work and just didn’t want to let this lie out there w offering a different point of view. Sorry if I sounded condescending I’m working on it!

      • Snowslow says:

        Ok fair enough @cv I can follow you on Parks but not on The Good Place. Still love it though but if I were a WOC I don’t know if I would be this accepting (with Schur, not you),

  4. Chaine says:

    I’m sorry, the way they constantly put emojis or cartoon faces over their kids’ faces in photos, it’s WEIRD. Especially when she then goes and spills all sorts of embarrassing things about them in interviews. If goal is maintaining their kids’ privacy, how about let’s do that by just not posting stories or pictures of them at all? Or make your Instagram account private.

  5. Minal says:

    Well, I’m a private person so I don’t be get the need to put any part of your personal life out there, BUT how is this any different from Chrissy Teigen putting a photo of herself crying after a miscarriage on social media? In both cases, celebrities are exploiting their personal life for social media content, but equally, they are giving comfort to other people who have similar struggles.

    • KL says:

      Oh my god, are you serious?

      Okay, aside from, like, all of history and literature’s difference in acknowledging miscarriage versus men’s addiction struggles and how the latter has been endlessly valorized and glamorized while the former relegated to silence and shame…

      The most OBVIOUS difference is: people knew Teigen was pregnant. There was no choice to keep silent about the baby that never arrived. Her only choice was in deciding when she shared the news, and how.

      It was entirely Shepard’s choice to share his addiction history. He made it a part of his brand, and then it was of his own volition that his relapse became such a major “twist” in the story. He and his wife are the ones sharing sobriety anniversary cakes on Insta, or how their young kids have picked up his habit of drinking non-alcoholic beer, and then going into very explicit details about exactly how he was “outed” as relapsing to his wife, the role his assistant played, etc.

      I don’t want to automatically condemn these choices, but they were CHOICES. No one forced their hand. Everything they have exposed could have just as easily been hidden from pubic scrutiny — unlike, say, a baby bump. And all of it has been turned into opportunities for more public exposure: interviews, podcasts, etc. I have no idea how you can compare that with a famous pregnant woman being suddenly not pregnant in her second trimester, and making a statement about it before doing dark on social media.

  6. Levans says:

    “He’s addicted to evolving”…..uh and also painkillers, let’s not pretend his relapse wasn’t about misusing prescriptions. I like Kristen, mostly because I like The Good Place, but this is a stage managed glossed over narrative that erases the fact that he did not go to her first acknowledging a problem (didn’t he tell his podcast host first), and that she is not the one to dole out the pills (again I read it was the podcast cohost). I’m glad he’s getting help and putting new supports in place but people who try to spin EVERYTHING into a perfect (perfectly imperfect) image annoy me.

    If she wants to stand by him, fine but don’t act like he relapsed just because he wanted to continously evolve his life.

    • Kate says:

      yeah very glossed over. we’re all good here nothing to see here. i’m not saying the ellen show is the place where a celebrity is going to get teary-eyed and real, but maybe we don’t need to talk about a drug relapse on the ellen show and make it sound like he got in a fender bender.

  7. Lucy2 says:

    I sincerely hope he is doing well with his recovery, glad they are going to therapy, and hope Kristen is doing therapy on her own as well.
    I also hope after all this they take a little step back from the amount of personal life that they share with the world. I understand why he wanted to be held publicly accountable with this, but all the other stuff needs to ease up.

  8. Sunday says:

    Wait, but wasn’t the original story that the nanny/friend/hostage was the one administering his pills? And now Kristen is saying she does it, with zero mention of said third party? Hmmm…..

    • Sigmund says:

      Yes, there’s a very weird dynamic with their nanny/Dax’s podcast co-host/business partner, which Dax’s returning addiction issues brought to light. Some people theorized that they’re a thruple, but that’s a VERY unhealthy power dynamic if so, as Dax and Kristin are literally the other woman’s bosses. It feels like they realized the dynamic was getting more attention than they wanted, because they’re not mentioning her at all here.

  9. Milkweed says:

    I was wondering when Kristen was going to grace us with her therapy-speak about how everything is great, nothing to see here. We’re not as dumb as she’s treating us.

  10. Tammy says:

    As the spouse of a recovering addict it’s certainly not An easy relationship. I wish them both all the best. He’s lucky to have someone that supports those struggles.

  11. GoogleIt says:

    I could hug you for this response. I was so disappointed in this show. It was sold to the public as a radically diverse show exploring philosophical ideas. What it was in reality was a Western Civ show exploring Christianity. You have actors who are of Asian and African roots and those experiences and philosophies were glossed over at best. Bell’s character came from the Southwest but at no point do we exp!ore Native American ideas. I could go on and on but it seemed to me to be little more than justifying the actions of a selfish white person.

  12. GoogleIt says:

    One thing I wonder about is that Shepard was filming a car show while he was abusing drugs. I would think it would be tough to get insurance for an actor in that position.

    • Marietta58 says:

      When he was filming the car show, I would assume he was hiding the using that he was doing. Insurance comes before the show even starts. Unless they subjected him to a drug test, addicts are usually pretty good about hiding the abuse. And with Dax coming up (at the time of the show) to 14 years sobriety, I’m sure the producers/production company didn’t even bother with questioning him regarding his sobriety. Because they assumed he had his s**t together. Insurance usually only comes into play with folks who have a recurring relapse issue I would imagine.

  13. GoogleIt says:

    Her comments to Ellen are what we call revisionist history. These people are complete phonies.

  14. GoogleIt says:

    I just watched the clip with Ellen. It is pretty rich seeing these 2 people talk about honesty.

  15. Bree says:

    Of course Mrs I Don’t See Color has a tipi in her living room.