Kristen Bell, 46, and Husband Dax Shepard, 51, Reveal How He Proposed After Previously Convincing Her Against Marriage

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Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard could have been a married couple with no wedding in sight. The actors sat down for a discussion in Shepard’s podcast, “Armchair Expert,” where they discussed how they first got engaged. Bell, 46, recounted that Shepard, 51, had no intention of ever getting married.

Shepard confirmed that he had no belief in the institution of marriage before Bell. The actor’s logic behind it was so sound that he’d even convinced Bell not to expect a proposal. The “Frozen” star detailed how her now-husband explained why marriage wasn’t important and how she reacted when he did propose out of the blue.

The pair are now parents to two children, having been married for more than a decade.

Kristen Bell Had Initially ‘Surrendered’ On Never Getting Married

Dax Shepard was joined on his podcast by his wife Kristen Bell and her “Nobody Wants This” co-stars, Adam Brody, Justine Lupe, and Timothy Simons. The topic shifted to Bell and Shepard’s marriage after initially discussing the engagement of Bell and Brody’s characters in the show. Shepard confirmed he and Bell were engaged on Christmas Eve in 2009.

The pair first started dating in 2007, but two years later, Bell knew that this was as far as they would go in their relationship. Shepard had convinced her not to tie the knot despite the actress liking the “tradition” of marriage.

“I had surrendered. Because you told me you didn’t believe in marriage,” Bell recounted how Shepard had felt at the time. “A piece of paper filed at a courthouse somewhere in California is not going to dictate how I treat you. It’s just not.”

Bell said that although she would have liked marriage when they first got together, she was okay with never going through with it.

“I was like, ‘Okay, well, he treats me like his wife. Like, I guess, who cares?’ ” Bell explained her perspective.

Dax Shepard Proposed To Kristen Bell In Bed

Despite changing Kristen Bell’s mind about marriage, Dax Shepard eventually found his own perspective to be “an anarchist point of view.” The 51-year-old privately decided to propose to Bell, but had the ring “forever.” He finally went through with it on Christmas Eve after spending the night with family.

The “Parenthood” star was initially going to propose a month later at Stanley’s Restaurant in Sherman Oaks, California, where he had first said he loved her. However, the Christmas Eve moment seemed just as perfect, prompting Shepard to switch his plans. Bell said that she “sensed it immediately” that he was about to propose and was “already crying” by the time Shepard asked her.

“And so I just knew. And so, like, my spine started tingling, and, like, I just started, like, breathing heavy, and he came out,” Bell recalled the moment. “That was very overwhelming of something I didn’t think was coming.”

Bell and Shephard remained engaged for nearly four years. The pair even welcomed their first daughter before marriage. The two finally tied the knot in October 2013. They are now parents to daughters Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11.