Dax Shepard has pushed back against claims that he is abusive toward his wife, Kristen Bell, after her playful explanation of how he flirts with her sparked widespread online speculation.

During a recent episode of Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Bell, 46, said her 51-year-old husband shows affection by complimenting other people in front of her.

The unusual approach soon went viral, prompting some viewers to suggest that Bell was in “serious denial” about what was happening.

On Monday, Shepard addressed the backlash. The actor had also faced criticism earlier this year after saying he was “obsessed” with Sabrina Carpenter, 27.

“Another round of me being a terrible person was in the media, and I avoided that, but then it hit Kristen’s doorstep really hard,” he said on his podcast. “And then I got to find out everything that people are saying about me.”

He described the claims that he is “controlling, abusive, and now flirting with people in public” as a “weird narrative.”

Dax Shepard, 51, has rejected claims that he is abusive toward his wife, Kristen Bell, 46, after her comments about his unusual way of flirting went viral

Bell recently said on Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast that he flirts with her by complimenting other people in front of her; the couple are pictured in 2025

Shepard said the accusations were particularly hurtful because he was raised around abusive men and has “literally dedicated [his] whole life to being the opposite of all that.”

“I don’t ever yell at my children, I don’t swear at them,” he said of the couple’s daughters, Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11.

“I don’t yell at my wife. 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, who married Bell in 2013, added that the allegations were also deeply offensive to his wife.

“She’s sitting in a house with her two daughters and modeling some abusive relationship? It’s very offensive to her.”

He then said Bell’s original comments had been misunderstood.

While appearing on the podcast on October 29, Bell explained that Shepard has a habit of making her feel special by being kind to strangers.

“If we go to a dinner or something, 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 he’ll say to the waiter [or] waitress, he’ll go, ‘Wow, you have incredible eyelashes, gorgeous eyes, great job.’”

Shepard’s co-host, Monica Padman, joked that he was actually flirting with the restaurant employee. Bell replied, “That’s flirting with me because he just made someone else feel good.”

Shepard called the claims that he is “controlling, abusive, and now flirting with people in public” a “weird narrative”

He said the accusations were especially painful because he grew up around abusive men and had “literally dedicated [his] whole life to being the opposite of all that”

Bell explained that Shepard might compliment a server by saying, “Wow, you have incredible eyelashes, gorgeous eyes, great job”

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When Monica Padman suggested Shepard was flirting with the employee, Bell said it was his way of flirting with her because he had made someone else feel good

Shepard’s unconventional romantic gesture spread online, with some fans claiming Bell was in “serious denial”

Bell added that Shepard would have no further interaction with the woman he complimented, but said she appreciated knowing that her partner was willing to smile at people and offer them encouragement.

On Monday, Shepard clarified that Bell was referring to the way he tips generously and compliments people—not specifically “hot, young waitresses.”

“I’m finding the dude that I don’t think’s had a compliment in a while and tell him I love his shoes,” he explained. “It’s always something that I want to make their day, and so those compliments is flirting with Kristen.”

He also admitted that the steady stream of negative stories has begun to wear him down.

“Usually I can brush [rumors] off, but when we’re now on year two of now there’s a new one, then it just starts making me think, ‘Oh, is this just my f*****g role?’ Like every four months there’s a new thing about me being a terrible man.”

This is not the first time comments from the longtime couple have drawn public scrutiny.

In October, Bell spoke openly about the emotional demands of marriage and parenting, telling Bustle magazine that she frequently breaks down in tears.

“It’s hard. Do not think because I am on your television that it is easy for me. It’s brutal. I cry weekly,” she said.

Shepard later discussed the subject on his podcast, saying their two children are entering puberty, a transition that has changed the family dynamic.

“We have two children and they are going through puberty and that stressor is, it throws the whole dynamic into a new zone that you have to figure out, ‘Okay, how do we now navigate this?’”

Bell said in an October interview with Bustle that balancing marriage and parenting can leave her in tears; she is pictured in January

Bell also faced backlash last year after making an “insensitive” joke about Shepard not murdering her in an anniversary post

“We don’t scream at each other or swear at each other,” Shepard said, while acknowledging that he is physically imposing and needs to remain aware of how he speaks. “I’m very large in my house and I have to really be mindful. I just talk loud.”

Still, he admitted that the couple sometimes postpone difficult conversations.

“We’ll go to bed for sure for like—we’ll kick something down the road for a week. We’ll go to bed for a week where it’s like, ‘Mmm, we’re gonna have to talk about this eventually.’”

The pair also faced intense criticism over an anniversary message Bell shared last October.

“Happy 12th wedding anniversary to the man who once said to me: ‘I would never kill you. A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would,’” Bell wrote alongside a heart emoji.

The post triggered an angry response from commenters, who described the joke as offensive and insensitive, particularly because it was shared during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

The Ohio mother at the center of a disturbing “house of horrors” case—where authorities say her 16 children were confined in squalid conditions—is pregnant again.

Elizabeth Siders, 34, appeared in Vinton County court Monday for a competency hearing. She was arrested in June and charged with 19 counts of child endangerment, two counts of sexual battery and two counts of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.

Siders denied being pregnant when she was booked into the county jail. However, her attorney, Thomas Stolly, confirmed Monday that she is expecting another child, WOUB reported.

Stolly did not disclose the pregnancy’s due date or provide additional details.

The judge ruled Monday that Siders is competent to stand trial. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The decision came after an initial evaluation found that Siders suffers from depression and anxiety but has no documented history of mental illness, according to her attorney.

Stolly has filed a motion requesting another evaluation to determine whether Siders could be found not guilty by reason of insanity. He argued that she may have been experiencing a condition that would meet the legal standard for insanity when the alleged offenses occurred, People reported.

In the filing, Stolly said he had spent extended periods with Siders on “numerous occasions,” giving him an opportunity to observe her “demeanor, conduct, and comprehension.”

He wrote that she “may be suffering from significant mental health issues” and said her competency could hinder her ability to understand the proceedings and assist with her defense.

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Siders’ husband, Gary Siders Jr., faces the same charges and is also undergoing a competency evaluation. A hearing for him has not yet been scheduled.

About an hour before Siders’ ruling, the same judge determined that her mother-in-law, Christina Siders, was not competent to stand trial, WOUB reported.

Christina Siders’ psychological evaluation indicated that she could potentially regain competency. She will be sent to an inpatient facility for treatment.

The evaluation also identified possible signs of dementia. Her attorney is asking the court to fund an additional assessment by a specialist.

The latest rulings came weeks after the case against Christina Siders’ husband, Gary Siders Sr., was dismissed when he was found incompetent to stand trial.

Because the dismissal was issued without prejudice, prosecutors could bring the charges again in the future.

Gary Siders Sr. will remain under the court’s jurisdiction until a civil commitment proceeding is filed in county probate court.

All four adults were arrested in June. Each initially faced 16 felony counts of child endangerment after investigators said the 16 “almost feral” children—believed to be the couple’s offspring—had been confined in a 12-by-12-foot room inside a home that reeked of cat urine.

The children, ranging in age from 1 to 18, were reportedly kept mostly in the cramped room for at least four years. Authorities described the conditions as “deplorable” and “third-world.”

A resurfaced video shows convicted rapist Russell Brand laughing with his father about a trip to Hong Kong during which Ron Brand arranged for a prostitute to have sex with his teenage son.

The footage, featuring the comedian and his father—now aged 51 and 82—shows them joking about Brand’s encounters with sex workers when he was a teenager.

Brand has previously described the first encounter, saying his father hired three prostitutes that night: two for himself and one for Brand, who was 17. He said they had sex with the women in the same room.

The video has resurfaced after Brand was convicted and sentenced for rape and sexual assault.

Brand was sentenced to 10 years and six months in prison: nine years for one count of rape, plus an additional 18 months for the sexual assaults involving three women.

Speaking to his father in the footage, Brand says: ‘Remember that first night? The Mandarin Palace Hotel in Hong Kong? All them women sort of wearing swimsuits.’

He continues: ‘I remember thinking, f***ing hell, all of them women in swimsuits, I can’t wait to get back to our school and tell my mates.’

His father laughs before replying: ‘I wish I had my flippers.’

A resurfaced video shows convicted rapist Russell Brand laughing with his father about a Hong Kong trip during which Ron Brand arranged for a prostitute to have sex with his son

Brand with his wife at Southwark Crown Court last Thursday, hours before he was convicted

Brand then recalls, amid louder laughter from his father: ‘Then one of them came over, and started talking to me, and I thought wow, I can’t wait to tell my mates.’

He goes on to describe the woman kissing him and touching his penis.

‘I actually ended up telling my mates, it was about three prostitutes in the back of a taxi, with the clicker clack of my high heels on a marble hotel lobby floor going up to that beautiful room,’ he adds.

Turning back to his father, he says: ‘And then you had that other one, and then I had that lovely young Filipino one didn’t I.’

Brand’s father replies: ‘You fell in love every time.’

Brand says he woke the next morning to find half-empty champagne glasses while his father read the newspaper.

‘And you going, “Did you wear a condom with that bird last night?”

‘I went, “No, no, no, never” and you went, “You should have”‘

Brand previously said he and the woman, who was only a few years older than him, had ‘timid, awkward sex’ that left him feeling he ‘loved’ her.

Despite those apparently fond recollections, the encounter was far from romantic. Brand said he could hear his father, who was in the adjoining bed with two women, shouting: ‘Bleeding hell! I’m going to be sick!’

Ron Brand spoke to reporters after his son was jailed for 10 years and six months for raping one woman and sexually assaulting three others

The court heard that Brand displayed a ‘casual arrogant disregard to any woman’s right to say no’

When writing about the incident years later, Brand appeared unable to offer a conventional moral assessment of what had happened.

He wrote: ‘During the rest of that holiday I f****d loads more prostitutes and never wore a condom… my sexuality had morphed forever from bewildered innocence into something more complex and rapacious.’

Brand also said his father congratulated him for having sex with the prostitute, telling him: ‘I went away wiv a boy but I’m coming back wiv a man.’

In his first autobiography, My Booky Wook, Brand wrote that Ron had allowed him to look through his collection of pornographic magazines while he was still at primary school and watch pornographic videos.

Brand is expected to serve two-thirds of his 10-and-a-half-year sentence in prison.

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We go behind the curtain as Russell Brand is found guilty

Hi, I’m Alex Matthews, Editor of The Crime Desk.

Russell Brand has been convicted of rape and three sexual assaults. Our reporters Caroline Cheetham and Liz Hull followed every day of the trial at Southwark Crown Court. Now they are examining the case in greater depth, speaking with detectives involved in bringing Brand to justice, lawyers who specialise in sexual offence cases and psychologists studying the impact on victims.

Subscribe to The Crime Desk to listen to the podcast HERE

Following Monday’s sentencing, Ron Brand attempted to portray his son as the real ‘victim’ despite the convictions relating to attacks on four women.

Asked by a reporter whether he had a message for his son’s victims, he replied: ‘The victims, what victims? What Russell?’

When the reporter clarified that she meant ‘his victims’, he said: ‘The girls you mean, who chased and harassed him.’

Ron said he ‘didn’t care’ that his son had been convicted and criticised ‘the system’.

Mr Justice Bennathan, meanwhile, condemned what he called Brand’s ‘staggering arrogance’.

Addressing Brand, the judge said: ‘About 20 years ago, Russell Brand, you were becoming famous, you were clever, and in many people’s eyes you were funny and charismatic.

‘You had also become a sexual predator.’

The judge said Brand’s celebrity status protected him until 2023, when journalists from The Sunday Times, The Times and Channel 4 Dispatches exposed a series of sexual misconduct allegations. Their reporting was followed by women coming forward to police.

He said Brand showed a ‘casual arrogant disregard to any woman’s right to say no to you’ and that his fame led him to believe ‘you could act when you liked and how you liked’.

The judge added that evidence presented during the trial showed Brand’s entourage had ‘indulged your dreadful behaviour’ during his years as a celebrity.

Brand received a nine-year sentence for the rape, with a further 18 months added for the sexual assaults.

One victim described Brand as ‘a sexual predator who has no remorse for how his behaviour has impacted my life’.

The woman who was raped told the court she had been a major Brand fan before attending his show at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2009. She said the comedian selected her from the audience and invited her backstage.

She later agreed to go to Brand’s £2.3 million townhouse in Hampstead Village, north London, to have sex.

However, she said the consensual encounter became rape after Brand removed his condom and had anal sex with her without her consent.

The court heard that Brand ignored her requests to stop and pinned her down until she struggled to breathe, before instructing her to clean up afterwards.

Brand was also convicted of sexually assaulting a female Channel 4 employee during a recording session in 2009, shortly after he began dating Ms Perry.

The woman was working alone with Brand and members of his entourage when, she said, he threatened to disrupt the recording and forced her to massage him. He then knelt down and thrust his head into her groin.

The jury additionally found Brand guilty of sexually assaulting an MTV employee at a Soho bar during a birthday celebration in 2004.

The woman said Brand, wearing a ‘weird maniacal grin’, grabbed her breasts within seconds of meeting her.

He was also convicted of sexually assaulting a Capital Radio employee after encountering her in a corridor in 2005.

She told the court Brand kissed her ‘sloppily’, groped her and laughed when she eventually managed to push him away.

How did Russell Brand become a predator? What comes next? Get exclusive insight from The Crime Desk as we talk to police, psychologists, lawyers and more. Sign-up by clicking here.

An Ohio State University fraternity has been placed on temporary suspension after disturbing video showed two young men engulfed in flames while a surrounding crowd appeared to laugh and watch.

The footage circulating on social media shows a large group dressed in the school’s red-and-white colors. In the video, a man wearing a gray sweatsuit sits on the ground as his pants burn.

The panicked man then runs and collides with another man dressed in a similar outfit, setting the second man’s clothing on fire. The two struggle before falling to the ground and removing their clothes as the flames spread across their bodies.

Several people eventually move in to help extinguish the fire. At least one person is seen carrying a fire extinguisher.

Ohio State has since placed the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity on interim suspension in response to the alarming footage. The university has not said how the fraternity was connected to what it called an “extremely concerning incident,” nor confirmed whether those involved were fraternity members.

“The university is aware of this extremely concerning incident, and the individuals in question are receiving medical care,” university spokesperson Benjamin Johnson said in a statement.

“Ohio State is committed to a safe and healthy environment and expects students and student organizations to uphold that commitment and the university’s values.”

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Columbus Police Sgt. Joe Albert said the incident appeared to have taken place at an event Saturday. However, police received no calls for service beyond a report about the video circulating online.

The condition of the two men remains unclear. It is also unknown whether they were students or whether the incident was connected to a hazing ritual.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon CEO Steve Mitchell said the organization would take appropriate action against anyone found responsible following the investigation.

“We take this matter seriously and are actively investigating the circumstances surrounding the incident while working closely with university officials and local law enforcement,” he said in a statement.

Fraternities have faced heightened scrutiny nationwide after a Cornell University student alleged that seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity drugged and gang-raped her in 2024.

With Post Wires