Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard aren’t your regular celebrity couple. They’re a cool celebrity couple. This is why Kristen has no problem spilling all the deets of their oh-so-relatable marriage in this month’s issue of Self magazine. Kristen dropped super chill tidbits like how they schedule sex, she can drug test Dax whenever she wants, and they tell each other when they find other people attractive. So progressive! So cool! So… oh, what’s the word? So… Krax!™
Kristen says she and Dax reentered couples therapy just before the pandemic hit, and that got them through the beginning (even though two weeks in they told Katie Couric they were “at each other’s throats”). But things hit an extra-bumpy patch last summer when Dax, who was 16 years sober at the time, relapsed on painkillers after a motorcycle accident. He immediately told Kristen:
Shepard subsequently gave Bell “full… control’s not the right word,” she says. “Full privilege, maybe, to call him on anything.” After relapsing, Bell says, Shepard told her: “You can drug-test me whenever you want. I’m going to buy some tests. I’m going to have them in the house. If you ever feel nervous, I want you to have access to this and I’ll do it, no questions asked.” According to Bell, Shepard wanted the safety net of knowing that, at any moment, he could be tested. Bell didn’t balk. Her response: “Maybe, some day. Why not?”
Kristen also talked about their sex life:
The pandemic dealt a blow to many couples’ sex lives, but Bell and Shepard aren’t among them. They still regularly schedule sex: “There are some times when it’s in the calendar. You’re like, ‘I know you’re tired, but it’s been two weeks, so we really got to get to it.”
Kristen adds that they like to remain open about people they’re attracted to:
“He can tell me someone he finds attractive, female or male, ’cause he pauses the Olympics on a lot of runners,” Bell says, “but it doesn’t make me feel like he’s going to leave me for that person because I’m not allowing my self-esteem to be affected. I know there are people on Planet Earth that are more attractive than me, and well, we’re not dead. I have to acknowledge we’re monkeys.” When Bell and Shepard were watching Friday Night Lights, for instance: “We were moments away from picking up the phone and asking both Minka Kelly and Taylor Kitsch if they wanted to join our marriage.”
Kristen also discussed her anxiety and depression, how she coped with all the bad news during the pandemic (charity work [BLEGH], exercise [BLEGH], and antidepressants [OK]), and how she and Dax are committed to raising socially conscious privileged white kids in Hollywood. Kristen says her parenting tactic is reading her anti-racist kids book “The World Needs More Purple People” every night. Ha! No, not really. She says her thing is, “Be super fucking honest with them.” No shit, Kristen! You and Dax should probably stick n’ poke tattoo that quote on each other’s asses. And be sure to upload the pics to Instagram and talk about it in your next interview. Klassic Krax™!
Here are some of the pics from Kristen’s Self photoshoot:
View this post on Instagram
Pic: Wenn.com
