Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s relationship has drawn plenty of attention over the years, but their story of how they first met has recently sparked fresh online criticism.
The couple’s unusual meet-cute, which involved a piece of chewing gum, resurfaced as Shepard pushed back against claims that he is a controlling and manipulative spouse.
While Bell once described the encounter as the moment she became smitten with her future husband, some social media users have reacted very differently to the story.
“May this kind of love never find me,” wrote one user.
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s first resurfaced as the latter pushed back against claims of being controlling
The couple first met in 2007, and their early connection has recently resurfaced after a November 6 episode of The Spill podcast revisited their meet-cute.
During the episode, host Laura Brodnik told co-host Em Vernem how Bell and Shepard reportedly became attracted to each other at a hockey game.
“Bell was chewing gum. And Dax was like, ‘Can I get a hit of that?’ And she was like, well, ‘I don’t have another piece,’” Brodnik explained.
She then described what happened next.
“‘I’ll take that.’ And he took the gum out of her mouth and started chewing it in his mouth.”
Brodnik said Bell found the interaction “really hot” and soon fell for the actor.
Vernem, however, was far from impressed. She appeared disgusted by the story and joked about what Shepard might have said next.
“And then what did he say, ‘Are you free next week? Do you wanna go to couples counseling?’” she quipped.
Bell had previously shared her version of the story during a 2024 appearance on SiriusXM’s Where Everybody Knows Your Name with Ted Danson.
She recalled coyly taking the gum out of her mouth before Shepard grabbed it.
“I kind of coyly took it out of my mouth,” Bell said. “And he grabbed it from me, and he goes, ‘I’ll take it.’”
She also revealed how she interpreted the gesture.
“Then he put it in his mouth, and I was like, ‘This guy wants to f*** me.’ [After] that I was absolutely smitten,” she recalled.
The podcast discussion quickly went viral as netizens called the couple’s meet-cute “disgusting”
Several people described the story as “disgusting” and “vile,” while one commenter struggled to find a stronger way to explain their reaction.
“That made me think of a new term: aggressively gross,” they wrote.
Others questioned the couple’s relationship more broadly. “Ok so it’s been a car crash from the start,” one person commented.
Another claimed they had become “convinced that’s a hostage situation.”
One user also criticized Shepard’s behavior, describing him as “the walking embodiment of ‘I don’t compliment my wife to keep her humble.’”
Not everyone saw the story in the same way, though.
A few commenters suggested that Bell might genuinely enjoy Shepard’s unconventional sense of humor and behavior.
“See people talking about Dax all the time, but have you guys ever thought that she might like that? Or that they are very similar?” one person asked.
The renewed discussion also brought back criticism of the couple’s public comments about their marriage.
“At this point, just shut up. Everything we have learned from these two, from their alarming parenting decisions to their messed-up relationship dynamic, has been learned against our will. Enough,” one commenter wrote.
Another said, “He makes my skin crawl. I don’t know what she sees in him.”
The meet-cute story comes after Shepard pushed back against claims that he is controlling
During a November 10 episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Shepard said he had initially avoided the latest round of negative coverage, but the discussion eventually affected Bell, too.
“Another round of me being a terrible person was in the media, and I avoided that, but then it hit Kristen’s doorstep really hard,” he said. “And then I got to find out everything that people are saying about me.”
Shepard pushed back against what he described as a “weird narrative” portraying him as “controlling, abusive, and now flirting with people in public.”
He also said the accusations were particularly upsetting because he grew up around abusive men and had spent much of his life trying to be different.
“I don’t ever yell at my children, I don’t swear at them,” he said, referring to the couple’s daughters, Lincoln and Delta.
“I don’t yell at my wife. To have given it my all to be the opposite of what now some group of people is saying I am, it’s hard.”
Shepard also argued that the criticism was unfair to Bell.
“She’s sitting in a house with her two daughters and modeling some ab*sive relationship? It’s very offensive to her,” he said.
His comments followed another discussion about how he flirts with his wife. Bell had previously explained that Shepard sometimes compliments strangers, including restaurant staff, when they are out together.
During an October 29 episode of Armchair Expert, she said he might compliment a waiter’s eyelashes or eyes.
“That’s flirting with me because he just made someone else feel good,” she said.
“This marriage sounds like a nightmare,” wrote one netizen
