Sometimes we like to think that Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell are the perfect couple. They seem completely and totally in love with each other, like somehow the universe sculpted two people who fit together like two perfect puzzle pieces. Sometimes, though, even they admit that things aren't always as happy as they seem. That doesn't mean they don't leave each other, of course, but it does mean that there is more than meets the eye when it comes to their relationship.
In a past interview, Bell revealed that she and her husband attend couple's therapy and have to work hard at their marriage.
"The truth is, it's really hard. I love my husband, I love my marriage, but it is very hard," she said. "And we work at it. We work. We go to couples therapy. We make sure that we're talking with respect to each other, and that when we sit down to have a disagreement, it's a disagreement, not an argument. And it's a lot of work."
It was refreshing to see that Bell was so open about what a marriage looks like, and just recently, Shepard explained that when he first met Bell, he didn't even want to date her. The Parenthood actor gave an interview where he talked about his attitude as a young man, and how Bell helped change his views.
"I have this very weird mix of not thinking I'm good looking, general low-self esteem, chip on my shoulder that I'm dumb because I was dyslexic, all these things, yet unbridled arrogance in relationships," Shepard explained. "I've always been that way, I don't know how to explain it. I've always felt very confident in relationships."
This attitude is what played into him not wanting to date Bell when the two were first introduced.
"So I never, ever, ever was like, 'Oh, I hope I can keep Kristen,' I was going, 'Do I want to be with a Christian, who has eight people living in her house for free? Who has to get out of a car when there's a dog that doesn't have a leash and ruin her whole day to rescue this dog? That's great and she's good, but that's not what I wanna do, I'm not that good, I don't want to spend my day finding the owner of a dog,'" he continued.
Bell's pure goodness is what made Shepard question his desire to be with someone like her.
"So I wasn't fearful I would lose her, I wasn't certain I wanted to be with someone like that. And then what happened is that she never, ever said to me, 'You could be a little better of a person.' She never, ever suggested that I should do that. I just couldn't deny the reality of how her life unfolds. There's something charmed about it."
It's beautiful to see that these two grew together and became part of a loving, healthy relationship, but some people are questioning just how healthy it is.
"Every time I see some article about their relationship it sounds absolutely exhausting, sure relationships take work but it shouldn't be the hard slog to even like the person you share your life with that you're making it out to be," someone pointed out.
"Yeah, there's 'well, marriage takes some work', and then there's 'right from the start I didn't know if I wanted to be with here, and now we work hard and go to therapy for our marriage'. (Not that there's anything wrong with therapy.)" another person mentioned.
"Even if it was true, i'd be so embarrassed if my husband told everyone that when he met me he didn't think I was a keeper," another person admitted. "And that he wasn't ever worried about losing me because he didn't think he wanted to be with 'someone like me' in the beginning. I may be biased because I am a dog lover but that makes you sound like a huge douche to say that you don't want to spend your time trying to rescue a dog that's in danger and try to find its owners. Being a good person and caring about animals isn't a "quirk" that needs time to be accepted."
At the end of the day, we're not in this relationship and we can't tell Shepard and Bell whether or not their relationship is in a good place.
