Actor Dax Shepard recorded a video of his wife Kristen Bell while she was heavily intoxicated at the doctor’s office this week and invited fans along for the ride. Bell made a video call to Shepard while at the dermatologist’s office, under the influence of an anesthetic that she really seemed to enjoy. Shepard used the screen-record function to immortalize the moment, and – with Bell’s permission – posted it on Instagram.
Shepard’s post shows the FaceTime call interface from Shepard’s perspective – with Bell’s face taking up most of the screen and his shrunken down in the corner – but with an added perspective on Shepard after the fact. He explained that he started recording when he realized how funny Bell was being, but that he didn’t realize the audio was missing. Instead, he explained the situation and paraphrased what she had said to him. The Good Place star told her husband that the “laughing gas” had made her “happy” and she wanted to “feel this way all the time.”
While Bell’s voice didn’t come through, her facial expressions were enough to see why Shepard was laughing. His wife seemed to be halfway between laughing and crying from moment to moment. In the caption, Shepard wrote: “Also, protectors of KB, of which I’m one, she granted full consent” so that fans would know Bell had signed off on this post.
Bell herself re-posted it on her Instagram page as well, writing that she’d “expect nothing less” of her husband. She also landed the top comment on Shepard’s post, writing: “If I didn’t get to tell u how much I love u in that moment I thought I might explode!”
The posts perfectly embodied how Bell and Shepard’s dynamic and sense of humor, not to mention mutual trust. Intoxication could be a touchy subject between the two since Shepard has been a recovering addict for nearly two decades. He is even currently promoting a non-alcoholic beer called Ted Segers Brew, with two ads on Instagram right now. Still, that didn’t stop him from laughing along when Bell enjoyed her medication last week.
Shepard first sought treatment for substance use disorder in 2005 and has been sober by choice since then. In September of 2020, he acknowledged a relapse on his podcast, Armchair Expert. He said that he had been prescribed painkillers after an injury and had abused the medication, even seeking out more of it outside of his prescription. However, he proudly announced that he was back on the wagon with seven days sober at that time. Shepard continues to host good-natured conversations about sobriety on his show, with Bell as a frequent guest.