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Hey, Upper East Siders, Gossip Girl here—it turns out that Hollywood’s golden couple may not have always been so smitten with each other. While Kristen Bell, best known for her roles in Gossip Girl, Frozen, and Nobody Wants This, first met actor and podcast host Dax Shepard at a friend’s birthday party in 2007, the two didn’t catch feelings right away.
However, after reconnecting at a Detroit Red Wings hockey game weeks later, Shepard, who rose to fame on MTV’s Punk’d, got his future wife’s number and sent her a bold and flirty first text. The rest was history.
Between then and now, the couple has starred together on screen, hosted an intimate wedding ceremony, and welcomed two children, all while celebrating one another’s successes and supporting each other’s careers.
Ahead, we break down their complete relationship timeline.
October 17, 2025: Kristen and Dax celebrate their anniversary.
To mark their 12th wedding anniversary, Bell shares a sweet photo of her hugging Shepard on Instagram, along with a cheeky caption that reads: “Happy 12th wedding anniversary to the man who once said to me: ‘I would never kill you. A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would.’❤️”
September 21, 2025: Kristen honors Dax’s 21 years of sobriety.
“This is what 21 years of sobriety looks like,” Bell writes in an Instagram post celebrating Shepard and his achievement. “Lots of hugging. Hugging everyone and everything. Hugging life.”
July 15, 2025: Dax celebrates Kristen’s Emmy nomination.
When Bell receives her Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series nomination for Nobody Wants This, Shepard lets everyone know the secret to her success: naked yoga.
He ends up sharing a photo of his wife in downward dog and wearing nothing but socks, where he sends his love with a sweet message. The post gets comments from the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Nina Dobrev.
January 2, 2025: Dax turns 50!
For Shepard’s big day, Bell re-shares the first image she ever posted of the two of them on Instagram. Pairing it with a wedding photo and lots of other kissing shots, she wishes a “happy birthday to the most affectionate 220 lbs man that ever existed.” His response? “How dare you make me cry on my big day of turning super old.”
September 13, 2023: They reveal what keeps their relationship so strong.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Bell shares some insight into what has helped keep her relationship with Shepard strong.
“Common goals, seek them out,” she advises. “People are like, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t be able to work with my husband or wife or partner.’ For me, I want another common goal with him. I respect him so much creatively. I have so much trust in him. Of course, I want him to be my director or my scene partner.”
Paul Bruinooge – Getty Images
November 7, 2022: Kristen reminisces on her wedding day.
Talking to Today, Bell gushes about her 2013 wedding, remembering it as the “easiest day” of her life. She also reveals that if not for Shepard, she would have worn sweatpants to the Beverly Hills courthouse for their intimate ceremony.
“I came out in sweatpants, and my husband was in a tuxedo, which was so cute, and he was like, ‘I’ll go pick your outfit out.’ And he picked out a little black jumpsuit.”
August 16, 2022: The couple embark on a family vacation.
Shepard and Bell take their children for a road trip, including a vacation in Swan Valley, Idaho, where they a rehosted by Jimmy Fallon and Molly McNearney.
In photos shared to both of their Instagram accounts, the couple appear to have spent the trip riding horses, climbing waterfalls, swimming, and soaking in sunsets.
In Shepard’s post, he shows off their RV, which took them to Mount Rushmore, a pontoon jungle cruise, and a local Dairy Queen.
July 6, 2022: They debut new matching hair styles.
Shepard reveals that a couple who dyes their hair together, stays together, when he shares an Instagram selfie of him and Bell rocking matching purple tips.
If that wasn’t enough, he captions the post with, “Ich bin sehr glucklich! Ich fühle mich sexuell zu meinem Partner hingezogen,” which translates to, “I am very happy! I’m sexually attracted to my partner.”
January 20, 2021: Kristen opens up about their therapy journey during the pandemic.
In an interview with People, Bell reveals that every few years, she and Shepard need a “little therapy brush-up,” and the pandemic was certainly one of those times. “We’re
like, ‘We’re being very antagonistic towards each other,’ and we don’t want that,” she confesses. “We go back to therapy and figure out what I’m not doing that’s best for you and what you’re not doing that’s best for me, and how we can serve this team goal better. It’s been incredibly helpful.”
Previously, she told the same publication that despite a rocky start, the pandemic actually made her fall more in love with her husband: “The first two weeks were fucking brutal. They were rough. We were driving each other nuts and we were fighting so much,” she admitted. “But we worked it out like adults. The good thing is even when we’re fighting, we can still laugh at each other and at ourselves.”
October 13, 2020: Kristen supports Dax through his relapse.
In a September episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Shepard opens up about his relapse from sobriety, in which he began abusing prescription medication after an ATV injury.
The following month, Bell joins Ellen DeGeneres for a conversation, in which she speaks on helping Shepard regain sobriety, praising his dedication, honesty, and hard work. “The thing I love most about Dax is… that he was able to tell me and tell us and say, ‘We need a different plan.’”
“He was, like, ‘I don’t want to risk this family and I did, so let’s put new things in place to make sure it doesn’t happen again.’”
February 2019: The couple launches their new baby line, Hello Bello.
After a year of development, Bell and Shepard announce their new line of affordable baby products, sparked by her own experience as parents.
Later, the brand opens a factory in Texas, becoming the first independent American company to see the entire production process through, from design to manufacturing to delivery.
March 24, 2017: Kristen plays Dax’s ex-wife in CHiPS.
In another creative collaboration, Shepard casts his wife as his on-screen ex-wife in his film CHiPS, which also features Bell’s future Nobody Wants This co-star, Adam Brody.
In a conversation with Seth Meyers, she shares her preparation process for the role: “I was breastfeeding at the time. I wanted my character to have an aggressive boob job, like it’s the only thing you can think about when you see someone. So I didn’t pump for a full day. And I said to the kids, ‘Daddy’s making a movie, go to the fridge, the food truck is closed.’”
Steve Granitz – Getty Images
February 17, 2016: Kristen posts her first Instagram photo.
“I don’t know how to use Instagram but I do like this picture,” Bell writes after downloading the app. For her first-ever post, she shares a kissing selfie with Shepard—which she later reposts for his 50th birthday in 2025.
December 19, 2014: The couple welcomes their second daughter, Delta Bell Shepard.
“She doesn’t look like either Kristen or me, but we’re gonna keep her anyway,” Shepard jokes in a later-deleted Twitter announcement, letting the public know of their exciting news. The couple had previously revealed that they were expecting another child back in June.
A few years later, Bell shares some pregnancy photos from the big day, wishing her daughter a happy birthday. In the sweet caption, she writes, “After 36 hours of labor I met a girl I love more than all the molecules in all the world.”
October 17, 2013: The couple gets married!
Saying their vows at the Beverly Hills courthouse, Bell and Shepard keep their wedding simple and intimate. “We get more than enough attention in our everyday lives,” Bell explains to People. “I also wear more than enough party dresses.” Later, it’s revealed that the event cost a total of $147.
June 26, 2013: Kristen re-proposes to Dax… on Twitter.
Previously, the couple had stated that they were waiting to wed until gay marriage was legalized in California, and three years into their engagement, the Supreme Court overturns the state’s Prop 8.
In celebration, Bell re-proposes to Shepard, tweeting “@daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove,” to which he enthusiastically responds, “Fuck Yes!!!!!!!!!!!”
March 28, 2013: The couple welcomes their first child.
“Lincoln Bell Shepard is here,” Shepard writes in a now-deleted tweet, months after announcing they were expecting their first child. “She has mom’s beauty and dad’s obsession with breasts. Hooray!!!”
In her own cheeky post, Bell jokes, “My new roommate poops her pants and doesn’t pay rent … basically Dax pre-sobriety:) welcome baby Lincoln xo.”
Steve Granitz – Getty Images
August 22, 2012: The actors share the screen again.
Shepard and Bell star opposite one another again in the 2012 comedy Hit & Run, also written by Shepard.
David Livingston – Getty Images
February 1, 2010: Kristen and Dax announce their engagement at the Grammys.
While they reportedly get engaged during the holidays, the couple make things public at the 2010 Grammys, walking the red carpet together with Bell’s new engagement ring on display.
Steve Granitz – Getty Images
January 29, 2010: Kristen and Dax share the screen for the first time.
The couple make their on-screen debut as a duo in the 2010 romantic comedy When in Rome, which stars Bell as an unlucky-in-love New Yorker who takes a trip to Italy. Fortunately for her, one of her character’s love interests is played by her real-life beau, so the two get to turn filming into an Italian holiday of their own.
Lester Cohen – Getty Images
2007: Kristen and Dax break up for four days.
Three months into dating, Shepard calls things off—for under a week. Fresh out of a nine-year relationship, the actor believes he’s not ready to jump into anything serious just yet.
In an interview with Popsugar, Bell later explains that he called her four days later to take it back. “He called me and he was like, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. I was dating someone else but they’re just not as interesting as you, and I don’t know what I’m doing,’” she recalled.
2007: They attend a Detroit Red Wings game together.
Weeks after their initial chance-encounter, Shepard and Bell reconnect at a Detroit Red Wings hockey game, where they bond over their shared home state of Michigan. The following day, he asks their mutual friend for her number, and sends a bold, but effective, text: “I violated your privacy and got your number from Shauna. How do you feel about that?”
2007: Kristen and Dax meet!
At an intimate birthday dinner for Shauna Robertson—the producer behind Bell’s breakout role in Forgetting Sarah Marshall—the future lovebirds meet.
Apparently, it was not love at first sight though, as Shepard later admitted he found his future wife’s “unbridled happiness” suspicious; while Bell solely remembered how talkative he was. If they only knew then what the future held!
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