Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard recently celebrated their 12th wedding anniversary together, though the Instagram post she penned for the same has since garnered them significant backlash from their fans. The reason why? Well, it had something to do with Shepard joking about why he would “never k-ll” his wife despite being “heavily incentivized” to do it.
Taking to her social media handle, the Frozen actress shared an image of an intimate hug between her and her husband, adding a quote from Shepard in the caption that read,
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.’❤️
While this was ostensibly supposed to be a heartwarming moment and a dark joke shared between the couple with their fans, the public reaction hasn’t quite been as expected. For one, fans have since been going on about just how tone-deaf and insensitive this comment is, in the first place, all the while pointing out how October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month.
A post shared by kristen bell (@kristenanniebell)
Some of their celebrity friends, on the other hand, chose to play along with their joke, though. Like Mae Whitman wrote, “Only because we’d never let him get away with it ❤️.” Or like how comedian Howie Mandel quipped, “He should write for Hallmark.” Nonetheless, Bell has reportedly limited her Instagram comments after the backlash (via The Wrap).
Dax Shepard and Kristen Bellʼs Marriage and Children, Explored
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard have ruled as one of Hollywood’s hottest couples over the years, and now they have known each other for almost two decades and have been married for 12 years, with two children. Plus, this pair is even pretty renowned for being very public about their unconventional marriage, including their struggles and arguments (via PEOPLE).
The two first met at a dinner party in 2007, celebrating the birthday of producer Shauna Robertson, and soon after, appeared on screen together for the first time in 2009’s When in Rome. Later that same year, it was reported that this couple had quietly engaged, with both Bell and Shepard announcing the same the following year on the Grammys red carpet.
Two years later, in 2012, the pair announced that they were expecting their first child. Their daughter and first child, Lincoln Bell Shepard, was born on March 28, 2013. In June that same year, Bell re-proposed to Shepard, and the love-birds finally tied the knot on October 17, 2013, at a private ceremony in a Beverly Hills courthouse.
A year later, they announced that they were expecting their second child, and soon welcomed their second daughter together, Delta Bell Shepard, on December 19, 2014. Throughout this time and the years that followed, the couple went on to collaborate on numerous projects in Hollywood as well.
Then, in September 2018, Kristen Bell congratulated her husband on his 14 years of sobriety. She wrote on Instagram how she will “forever be in awe of your dedication, and the level of fierce moral inventory you perform on yourself, like an emotional surgery, every single night.” She also mentioned how he never fails to “make amends, or say sorry when it’s needed.”
For those who might not know, Shepard has long fought his battle with addiction during his journey toward sobriety, and has been pretty vocal about it over the years as well. Opening about struggling to maintain sobriety in the past and how it was something he discussed with his wife at length before their engagement, the comedian said on Blake Griffin’s podcast, The Pursuit of Healthiness, in 2021,
What I would do is I would get sober for movies. I cared more about movies — it was the only thing I was more addicted to was being in movies — and so I would get sober for movies and then in between movies it was getting more and more dangerous.
However, the couple has since supported each other enough to help the other get out of their dark times. Not to mention, they have even taken couples therapy, revealing that they disagree about almost everything, but only in a healthy way, through a communication style they developed throughout their relationship.
Fans Are Calling Dax Shepardʼs Joke Tone-Deaf and Insensitive
Kristen Bell’s Instagram post and the caption she added to it must have, of course, been shared as nothing more than an example of the couple’s shared dark sense of humor. However, that comment has since sparked backlash for making light of domestic violence, with many fans slamming it for being tone-deaf and insensitive.
Although there are some fans who saw the quote as a joke consistent with this particular power couple of Hollywood’s humor, the backlash from others stemmed from the fact that this post was made during Domestic Violence Awareness Month. Thus, since then, this other part of the fandom has been putting the couple under scrutiny, openly sharing their disapproving thoughts to the same on social media.
Here’s what some of them had to say on X:
Ppl saying it’s a joke. Like that makes it any less weird. Lmao he so fr rn. The post is wild.
“Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you” — and you ain’t pack and leave when he left for work the next day…like, come the fck on💆🏾♂️ pic.twitter.com/En9GbEns4Q
That post is insane as a joke or not. If it’s a joke it’s in very very bad taste and well if it isn’t yikes.
I am totally for dark humor, but something like this it’s just best to keep to yourselves. Highly inappropriate to post to millions of people especially considering there’s probably a huge chunk of DV survivors that saw this. Imagine triggering someone’s PTSD just because you…
Yes… it always starts off as “just a joke” that way when they really mean ts you not gone know because you’re so desensitized to it.
people saying “it’s just a joke!” when men who have actually murdered their wives will often speak just like this knowing people will just dismiss it.
Her looking like a child in the pic is so… erhm idk
Well, with that being put out there, it’s only understandable why this other part of the fandom is finding this latest move from Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard disappointing. As of now, neither Bell nor Shepard has publicly commented on the backlash, either.
What’s your take on all this? Which part of the fandom do you support – the scrutinizers or the ones taking it all as a joke? Whichever one it may be, make sure to let us know your thoughts and opinions on this in the comment section below.
