Dax Shepard shut down “deeply insulting” rumors that he’s “abusive” to his wife, Kristen Bell, after his unconventional flirting method of complimenting other people went viral.
“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,” the actor said on his “Armchair Expert” podcast during Monday’s “Fact Check” segment.
“And then I got to find out everything that people are saying about me.”
The “Parenthood” alum slammed the “weird narrative” painting him as “controlling, abusive, and now flirting with people in public.”
Shepard, 51, explained that the rumors are especially hurtful to him because he grew up around abusive men and “literally dedicat[ed] [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 continued, referring to his two daughtersLincoln, 13, and Delta, 11, whom he shares with Bell.
“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.”
The actor added that he finds the rumors “deeply insulting” to Bell, 46, as well.
“She’s sitting in a house with her two daughters and modeling some abusive relationship? It’s very offensive to her.”
The comedian went on to clarify comments that Bell made on his podcast last week that, according to him, were misinterpreted.
During her Oct. 26 appearance, the “Nobody Wants This” star told listeners, “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. 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 explained on Monday that what she was trying to say was he flirts with her by “tipping people a lot” and “complimenting people,” but that he’s not complimenting “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. It’s always something that I want to make their day, and so those compliments is flirting with Kristen.”
Shepard said that once Bell’s comments “went through the grinder,” they turned into that he “flirts with people in front of her.”
“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–king role?’ Like every four months there’s a new thing about me being a terrible man.”
The longtime couple have found themselves in hot water over the years for candidly dishing on their marriage and parenting.
Last year, Bell faced intense backlash over her “tone-deaf” wedding anniversary post, in which she joked about Shepard promising he “would never kill [her].”
“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. 
,” she captioned the October 2025 upload.
Social media users quickly called the post “weird” and “disturbing,” particularly because it was shared during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence even chimed in, telling Page Six, “There’s nothing funny about domestic violence ‘jokes’ that trivialize the very real fear, trauma and pain that millions of victims and survivors face each day.”
Shepard addressed the controversy back in April, revealing that he had “no clue” the post had sparked such a strong reaction.
“I didn’t know, and Kristen knew through her publicist but didn’t tell me. So, I actually didn’t know, and this was brought to my attention.”
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