Kristen Bell is so proud of her husband, Dax Shepard, that she wants all 15.8 million of her Instagram followers to know about it. The 45-year-old actress marked a huge milestone in Dax's sobriety journey on Thursday, proudly revealing that he has been 21 years sober. Sharing a carousel of family photos of the 50-year-old actor hugging their daughters, Delta, 10, and Lincoln, 12, as well as a sweet photo of him and Kristen kissing, she paid tribute to Dax with a touching message that made him "cry."
"This is what 21 years of sobriety looks like. Lots of hugging. Hugging everyone and everything. Hugging life. Thank you for getting sober, @daxshepard. I am eternally grateful to have you. We all are," she captioned the post, which prompted Dax to reply: "Well this is a low blow. Even for you. Makin' a guy cry when he can't turn to booze?!?!"
Dax has been open about his addiction to alcohol and cocaine after first getting sober in 2004, but after 16 years of sobriety in September 2020, he revealed on his podcast Armchair Expert that he had relapsed on painkillers following a motorcycle accident, and at the time of the recording, he was seven days sober.
"For the last eight weeks… I'm on them all day. I'm allowed to be on them at some dosage because I have a prescription, and then I'm also augmenting that," he said of the medication he was given by the doctors. "Then all the prescriptions ran out, and I'm now just taking 30ml oxys that I've bought.
"Again, in my addict-y brain, I'm like, I'm not taking them after four so I can sleep, I'm taking stool softener, so I'm not constipated, I'm doing all the dishes and I'm being a dad and I'm interviewing people and the interviews seem to be going pretty well, and it's feeling very manageable."
Dax said he tried to lower the dosage by himself and had to lie about having an arthritis flare-up to hide his withdrawal symptoms. In the end, he made the tough decision to hand over his pills to his wife and ask for help.
The actor said he was proud of his sobriety from alcohol and cocaine, but admitted he had "not been sober in the way I would like to be sober, where you don't have secrets and you're not afraid to tell people about the grey area you're going through."
Kristen has spoken in the past about her husband's addictions, admitting that every year that goes by, she's even prouder of his dedication to staying sober. She told People: "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 added: "I know how much effort has to be put into staying sober. There are different elements you have to deal with when you're staying sober. It's a ton of mental control and evolution."