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Dax Shepard addressed claims that he’s “controlling” and “abusive” toward his wife, Kristen Bell, during the Monday episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast.
The 51-year-old actor said he had tried to ignore the latest wave of criticism, but that changed once it started affecting Kristen.
“Another round of me being a terrible person was in the media, and like, I avoided that,” Dax said on the episode, as Us Weekly reports.
He went on to say the chatter “hit Kristen’s doorstep really hard.”
Dax called the rumors about their marriage “deeply insulting” and explained why the backlash has been so painful for his wife.
He also pushed back on the picture some critics have painted of him at home. “I don’t ever yell,” he said.
The speculation took off about two weeks before Dax’s response, after Kristen appeared on “Armchair Expert” and opened up about how her husband flirts with her.
According to the 46-year-old actress, Dax’s go-to move on a date is complimenting their waiter or waitress while she’s sitting right there.
Kristen framed the habit as a sweet quirk. In her telling, Dax praising someone else in front of her was really his way of flirting with her.
Plenty of listeners didn’t see it that way. The clip went viral, and Dax quickly found himself in hot water online.
Some critics took particular issue with reports that the compliments were often directed at waitresses and focused on their appearance, a detail that didn’t sit well with a lot of people who heard the story.
From there, the conversation snowballed. Commenters began picking apart the couple’s dynamic, and some went as far as labeling Dax controlling and abusive in his marriage.
None of those claims has been backed up by anything beyond online speculation, and Dax flatly rejected them on his podcast.
Dax, who’s best known for his role on Parenthood, admitted that the criticism has been hard to tune out, even as he insisted he was prepared to let the noise about himself go.
What he wasn’t prepared for, he explained, was seeing Kristen take the brunt of it.
The couple have long been open about their relationship, and Armchair Expert has frequently served as a window into their marriage. Kristen’s appearance on the show was supposed to be another lighthearted peek behind the curtain.
Instead, it turned into the latest round of scrutiny for the pair, with the flirting anecdote being replayed and dissected far beyond the podcast’s usual audience.
Dax Shepard Responds to Claims He’s ‘Controlling’ and ‘Abusive’ to Kristen Bell was originally published on The Hollywood Gossip.