Kristen Bell: 'We fight about everything'
The Happy Place star gets real about marriage, conflict and monogamy
In the past actress Kristen Bell has been candid about her battles with anxiety and depression, and now she has opened up about attending counselling sessions with husband Dax Shepard.
In an interview with the UK’s You magazine, the Happy Place star says she and Shepard attended counselling so they could learn how to fight fair during arguments.
“We fight about everything,” she admitted. “I would slam the door to the room we were in, slam the door of the house, slam the car door and drive around the corner.”
Bell says their therapist helped them find a way to defuse their arguments by saying “The next fight you have, you can slam the front door, but don’t get in your car; then the fight after that, you can mentally slam the door.”
Five months later, the actress says all door slamming, real and imaginary, has stopped. “‘We still fight, but don’t take disagreements to heart,” she said. “I know he’s on my team. If you have a long marriage that thrives without therapy, please call me because you are a unicorn!”
The couple, who have been together for 11 years, have two daughters; Lincoln, five and Delta, three.
In her interview, the Teen Titans Go! star also says admits that she thinks monogamy is tough.
“I think what alleviates the pressure-cooker of monogamy is understanding that your partner’s attraction to someone else is nothing to do with you,” she explained.
“I talk about who I’m attracted to in front of Dax, and he’ll say: “I could never pick your type out in a line-up.”
Bell says that Shepard was in an open relationship in his 20s and that it scared her when they first started dating.
“We don’t have [an open relationship] and I don’t know if we ever will,” she added.
That said, she’s jokingly admitted to giving him a free pass should he ever be propositioned by fellow actress and singer Jennifer Lopez.
“I’ve told Dax that if, one day, Jennifer Lopez comes up to him and says, ‘I need a weekend away with you in Sonoma,’ you have to go now, because I am clear that Jennifer Lopez’s beauty is not a reflection on me not being good enough.
“I love this man and I would not want him to be on his deathbed thinking, ‘I could have had sex with Jennifer Lopez.’”
Nicola Conville has worked as a journalist and editor for more than 20 years across a wide range of print and online publications. Her areas of expertise are parenting, health and travel. She has two children; Lucy, age eight, and Nathan, age five.
