Podcaster Dax Shepard has taken issue with the recent discourse about his marriage, including claims that he’s “abusive” and “controlling” of his wife, actress Kristen Bell.
The Parenthood actor responded to the “deeply insulting” allegations during an episode of his Armchair Expert podcast on Nov 9.
“Another round of me being a terrible person was in the media, and I avoided that,” 51-year-old Shepard said. “But then it hit Kristen’s doorstep really hard, and then I got to find out everything that people are saying about me.”
Shepard went on to reject the “weird narrative” describing him as “controlling, abusive, and now flirting with people in public.”
He called it especially hurtful, given the fact that he has worked his “whole life to be the opposite” of the abusive men he was exposed to growing up.
“I don’t ever yell at my children. I don’t yell at my wife,” the actor explained. “To have given it my all to be the opposite of what now some group of people is saying I am, it’s hard.”
Shepard’s remarks come some two weeks after Bell sent the Internet into a tizzy after she revealed the couple’s unique way of flirting.
During a previous episode of Armchair Expert, the Nobody Wants This star shared that Shepard is actually flirting with her when he gives other people compliments.
“There’s a couple things Dax does where he doesn’t have to look up and wink at me, but I know that he’s just being the best boy,” she said. “We’ll be at dinner and, like, he’ll say to the waiter or waitress, he’ll go, ‘Wow, you have incredible eyelashes, gorgeous eyes. Great, great job.’"
Bell added: “But that’s flirting with me because he just made someone else feel good.”
Shepard on Nov 9 tried to clarify her comments, acknowledging that she phrased things in a way that may have confused some.
“If you think I’m complimenting hot young waitresses, you got a problem,” he explained.
“I’m finding the dude that I don’t think has had a compliment in a while and tell him I love his shoes,” Shepard continued. “It’s always somebody that I want to make their day. So those compliments are flirting with Kristen.”
Shepard and Bell have been together since 2007, and they officially tied the knot in October 2013. They share two children together: Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11.
It’s not the first time they’ve raised eyebrows while sharing their relationship with the public. Last year, the Frozen actress faced intense backlash over an Instagram post she shared in celebration of their wedding anniversary.
“Happy 12th wedding anniversary to the man who once said to me: ‘I would never kill you,'” she wrote. “‘A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would.'” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
