In December 2012, Kristen Bell suddenly appeared on Dax Shepard’s father’s deathbed, and her touching act still touches him to this day.
During a recent live taping of the All There Is With Anderson Cooper podcast at the New Orleans Book Festival, Dax broke down in tears as he recalled how Bell was there for him when his father, Dave Shepherd, was dying from small cell cancer.
Ms Dax, 51, explained that at the time she was “really upset” that so many people had come to visit Dave in hospital because she had to comfort him instead of dealing with the situation herself.
“I was starting to resent not being able to be with my dad and it was starting to get pretty overwhelming,” he recalled.
So the host of the Armchair Expert podcast decided to take a breather, get in his car and call Bell, 45, to “vent” about the situation.
“And she said, ‘Okay, I’m here. Turn to your left.'” Bell, who was seven months pregnant with the couple’s first child at the time, said she flew from California to Detroit for the Ducks.
Dax said through tears. “She knew I was suffering and without telling me she got on the plane and knew where this hospital was next to the car.”
After Mr. Bell arrived, the couple went inside the hospital to meet Dave. Although Dave couldn’t speak, he was still able to feel the ‘Good Place’ star’s pregnant belly.
“How cute is she with this belly,” Dax said, pointing to the audience as a photo of the emotional moment appeared on a screen.
“She’s a gangster, guys,” he added of Bell.
In March 2013, three months after Dave’s death, Bell gave birth to the couple’s first child, daughter Lincoln.
Then, in December 2014, their daughter Delta was born.
On Father’s Day 2022, Dax shared the same photo of his late father rubbing his wife’s stomach in the hospital.
“Happy Father’s Day to my fellow dads. Of all the identities I’ve tried and tried on, this is my favorite,” Dax wrote.
Regarding his father, Dax added, “I miss and respect both his cute baby and his father, who was a car sales assassin. I could and should have talked to him more.”
