Kristen Bell says she’s told her daughters that ‘daddy is an addict’

Actor said she’s discussed topics such as drugs and sex with her eight and nine-year-old

Kristen Bell has admitted that her parenting style, where “nothing’s off the table”, might be controversial to some.

In a new interview, the Frozen star said that she and husband Dax Shepard have had conversations with their two young daughters might be “shocking” to other people.

Bell, said that she parents with total honesty and isn’t afraid to discuss “hard” topics with Delta, eight, and Lincoln, nine.

“I know it’s shocking, but I talk to my kids about drugs, and the fact that their daddy is an addict and he’s in recovery, and we talk about sex,” she told Real Simple.

Shepard, 48, is the host of The Armchair Expert podcast and has appeared in films such as Hit and Run, Chips and voiced Reuben in Paw Patrol.

“There are all these ‘hard topics’ that don’t have to be if you give the person on the other end your vulnerability and a little bit of credit,” she said.

“I hate the word ‘taboo’. I think it should be stricken from the dictionary,” she told the publication. "There should be no topic that’s off the table for people to talk about."

The Good Place actor then opened up about the lessons she wants to teach her children.

The actor opened up about her ‘shocking’ parenting style (Getty Images for ELLE)

Bell explained: “If there’s one thing I want to teach my kids, it’s how to make amends – and that it’s for themselves, so they can like who’s in the mirror a little bit more.

“Making amends and apologising is an important thing in our family, because humans leave carnage wherever they go,” she continued. “I really respect when someone does something wrong or hurtful and they apologize. I’m like, ‘Yeah, right on.’ That’s important.”

Last year, the actor noted that she wants her family to work as a team, and tells her daughters that “you’re going to get nothing accomplished” by being mean to each other.

“I want to really instil in them, ‘You are a team,’” she revealed on Today. “We made two of you so that there would be someone for you guys when we pass, so you guys are to be the strongest relationship you have on the planet, even if you disagree.

“You don’t have to agree on everything, but you do have to maintain the sense of unconditional love for each other.”