Kristen Bell has offered a candid look at her marriage to Dax Shepard and the emotional reality of raising their daughters through the preteen and teenage years.
The Nobody Wants This star, 46, said the pressures of parenting and married life regularly leave her in tears during a new interview with Bustle magazine.
“It’s hard. Do not think because I am on your television that it is easy for me. It’s brutal. I cry weekly,” Bell said. She shares daughters Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11, with Shepard, 51.
She added that puberty can make parents feel isolated, saying, “Oftentimes when you’re in that cyclone of puberty, you could think, My kid is the only one doing this. And that is just simply not a fact.”
Bell and the Without a Paddle actor married in October 2013, four months after she proposed to him on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Bell also said she turns to Dr. Becky Kennedy and Lisa Damour, PhD, for guidance on how to discuss her personal experiences on social media.
Kristen Bell has spoken openly about her marriage to Dax Shepard and the challenges of raising their daughters through the preteen and teenage years. Bell is pictured on August 14 in Anaheim, California.
The Nobody Wants This star, 46, said the demands of parenting and marriage frequently bring her to tears in a new interview with Bustle magazine. Bell and husband Dax Shepard are pictured on January 11 in Beverly Hills, California.
“I’m a feeler,” Bell told Bustle, becoming emotional as she described herself. “I wish I wasn’t sometimes. But I also know it leads me to a lot of my creative process. And I think creativity is one of the most important things in the world.”
When it comes to sharing details about her daughters’ lives, Bell said she is constantly weighing “Kantianism and utilitarianism.”
“For the good of the people, we should share our dirty stories, we should share our shame, we should share our hardships. But for the good of the one? My main job in life is to protect those two,” she explained.
Bell said she and Shepard once felt comfortable posting “all the cute things” about their children when they were younger. As their daughters have grown, however, “the equation has changed.”
“There’s someone else in the mix, and you have to have enough self-awareness and consideration to consider that person. And that person is my daughter, so she’s No. 1,” Bell said.
Bell’s comments drew limited sympathy from some social media users, several of whom continued to criticize her remarks about the pressures of family life.
“Try doing it living between paychecks,” one person wrote. Another responded sarcastically, “Well she is the first woman to do it.”
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“It’s hard. Do not think because I am on your television that it is easy for me. It’s brutal. I cry weekly,” Bell said while discussing parenting daughters Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11.
Bell said she and Shepard once freely shared “all the cute things” about their daughters, but added that “the equation has changed” as the girls have grown older.
Other X users took a more understanding view. One wrote, “It’s not that difficult, in fact it’s very rewarding to have a family that loves you,” while another praised Shepard, saying, “Dax is a good dude! She’s got it easy!”
Bell previously discussed her parenting philosophy with People, revealing that she and Shepard follow a firm household rule: If they argue, they must reconcile where their children can see them.
“We always make up in front of them if anyone gets snarky or frustrated or fights, which we all do,” Bell said.
Meanwhile, Shepard, who hosts the weekly Armchair Expert podcast, previously told Luxury London that becoming a dad has had a dramatic impact on his mental health.
‘For me, personally, it’s helped me get over things that would have normally made me depressed,’ he said.
‘If I’d been working on a movie for two years and it didn’t perform well, I would be miserable for months.
‘But now I think my kids have no idea I’m in a movie, they don’t care.
‘They need to be fed and taken on a walk and have a bath.’
Shepard and Bell are seen in 2025 in Los Angeles, California
Nobody Wants This, which stars Bell and Adam Brody as an unconventional couple with plenty of struggles, premiered its third season on Thursday
He added: ‘My primary identity now is “dad,” as opposed to “writer” or “director” or whatever. It’s been incredibly liberating.’
In the same interview, Bell shared she had some trepidation about becoming a mom in the beginning.
‘I wasn’t even sure that I wanted kids, which is shocking for me to say out loud now given how much I’m addicted to them,’ she admitted, adding: ‘I love them so much, even when I hate them, I love them.’