Dax Shepard on going public with his lapse in sobriety: ‘I did not want to at all’

‘I had all kinds of bizarre fears, like I have sponsors on my show, is that something that could cost me money financially?’

Dax Shepard has opened up about his decision to go public with his recent lapse in sobriety.

Speaking to host Ellen Degeneres on The Ellen Degeneres Show, the Parenthood actor admitted that he initially didn't want to go public with it. 

“Yeah, I did not want to at all,” he told Degeneres. “I had all kinds of bizarre fears, like I have sponsors on my show, is that something that could cost me money financially?”

“I get so much esteem out of being some whose vocally sober and I have people who write me on month one or on week two and I love that, that's my favorite thing about being in public,” he continued. “So I was just terrified I would lose that, I really cherish that.”

His decision was influenced by a good friend, he continued, who reminded him that “if your real goal is to help people, it's not very helpful that you're 16 years sober and married to Kristen Bell... so the fact that you just fell, that's the actual value.”

Once he could see it in that light, Shepard said, going public "got a lot easier."

In September, Shepard revealed that he had broken his 16-year sobriety after taking prescription pain pills that were given to him following a motorcycle accident.

“I can’t imagine having to admit that to other people and feeling as safe as I did that you guys wouldn’t hate me," he said of his wife, Kristen Bell, and co-host Monica Padman, in a December episode of his Armchair Expert podcast. 

“I hated me at that point and so, to be able to tell you guys and feel unconditionally loved and that I would be accepted was really special,” Shepard said. “It saved my life.”