Dax Shepard Clarifies Swingers Rumor About Him and Wife Kristen Bell
On Monday’s episode of The Drew Barrymore Show, Parenthood star Dax Shepherd got candid regarding headline-grabbing rumors that he and wife Kristen Bell are swingers.
“There was the most exciting tabloid story that we were Hollywood swingers and we hosted swing parties, this was in the tabloids,” Shepherd told Barrymore. The actor even revealed that some of their famous friends, including Jimmy Kimmel, have reached out to see if the stories are true.
“My favorite part of that happening was we got a lot of texts from other friends of ours saying, 'How could you not have invited me to the swinger party?'” the CHiPS star said.
Shepherd then recalled a humorous text he received from Kimmel, who was miffed he and his wife hadn’t gotten a call. “I just thought that was great to receive a text from Kimmel saying, ‘My feelings are quite hurt that Molly and I weren't invited to this swingers party."'
Surprisingly, the rumors seem to have started with Shepherd himself. During a 2016 stop on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show, the actor suggested that he and the host swap wives for an evening. A few months later, when Bell was on the show, O’Brien took the opportunity to ask her if she saw her husband’s indecent proposal.
“This sounds like my husband,” Bell responded. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but you’re not the first person he’s tried to get us to swing with,” she told O’Brien. “He just loves people. He loves the human frame and he constantly suggests at different dinner parties that we ‘hang out’ and ‘really get to know each other,'” Bell went on to clarify. “We’re not actually swinging with anyone.”
The couple jointly confirmed this on a 2023 episode of Shepherd’s Armchair Expert podcast. “It’s because you frequently make key party jokes,” Bell told her husband. “We’ll have a dinner party or something, and as we’re sitting down, you’ll say, ‘Everybody leave your keys.’”
Shepherd agreed he had, and admitted he’d made the same joke to “many of the guests” who’ve appeared on his podcast. “Some of them, I realize afterward, ‘Oh, we do not have the same sense of humor,’” he said. “I was like, ‘Hey, if you guys are ever in L.A. and you wanna swing.’”
Despite all that talk, though, Shepherd insisted to Barrymore that he and Bell are exclusive with one another. “There's a lot of hot couples out there,” he said, “but no, we have not crossed that divide with anyone.”