Shepard says Bell “spoils the hell” out of him on his sober birthday.
Each year Dax Shepard knows he can expect a great gift from his wife, not on his actual birthday, but on the day he got sober.
“The nicest presents she’s gotten me are always on my sober birthday. In fact, my real birthday … still haven’t gotten a present,” Shepard told People, adding that Bell “spoils the hell out of me” on his sober birthday.
Bell, who has two daughters, ages 4 and 5, with Shepard, said that she prioritizes his sobriety milestones because that is what allows them to be a family.
“I’m very happy he was born so I celebrate his birthday, but I’m extraordinarily [happy] that he has stayed sober because that’s what allows me to have him in my life as a husband and as a father,” she said.
She also knows how much effort Shepard puts into maintaining his recovery, even after 14 years.
“I know how much effort has to be put into staying sober. I don’t mean that to be like, I come home and see him shaking and looking at a whiskey ad or something, [but] there are different elements you have to deal with when you’re staying sober,” Bell said. “It’s a ton of mental control and evolution.”
Bell and Shepard have been together 12 years, so she wasn’t his partner when he was actively using. Still, the couple has spoken openly about how Shepard’s sobriety has shaped their family life.
Last year, Bell wrote a touching public tribute to Shepard’s sobriety, which she shared on Instagram on his 14th year sober.
“I know how much you loved using. I know how much it got in your way. And I know, because I saw, how hard you worked to live without it,” she wrote.
This week, Shepard joked about how the post went viral, overshadowing his accomplishment of 14 years sober.
“I scrape together 14 years of sobriety, and she writes a little flowery thank you. Now there’s headlines all over the country about Kristen’s accomplishment of writing this letter. I’m like, ‘Just like you to steal my thunder!’” he said. “I’m the one that went to 10,000 AA meetings. At no point was the message of any of the stories like, ‘Good job, Dax.’ It was like, ‘Can you imagine being loved by a woman like Kristen Bell?’”
Joking aside, Shepard said that the message of support “was crazy sweet and I loved it.”