Actor and podcast host Dax Shepard has recently revealed that he was involved in a near-fatal car crash when he was in school. Speaking on his “Armchair Expert” podcast, Shepard explained that the near-death experience happened while he and a friend were driving home and that he experienced a sense of “total peace” during the event, where he was completely calm about the situation.
Dax Shepard Details How He Almost Died in a Car Crash
Discussing the almost disastrous event with co-host Kaley Cuoco, Shepard revealed that the crash happened while he was returning home with an unnamed high school friend late at night. According to the actor, he lay on the back seats to try and catch some sleep as he had to work the next day, leaving his friend to drive.
He began the story, saying, “I don’t know what the definition is, but I have had the moment—which is among the most unique feelings I’ve ever had in my life—where I went, ‘Oh, I’m about to die.’ I’m like seconds away from dying.”
“He had the cruise control on 85,” Shepard said. “And I’m back there, I’m listening and then the road was really rhythmic. I was just at that moment I was like, ‘Oh, that rhythm is nice. I’m going to fall asleep.’ And then I just heard gravel hitting the side of the car.”
He continued, “I immediately looked up and he was, um, completely slumped over and we had gone off the road. We’re going 85 and the car started to go sideways.”
With the side of the road being covered in pine trees, Shepard knew it was vital he got the car back on the road to avoid hitting them. “I started to go over the wheel and grab the wheel,” he said.
“And there was a moment where I just knew it was too far gone. Like we had gone completely sideways. I laid back down and then we began, we just launched in the air and we started rolling right down the highway.”
Dax Shepard Reveals the Sense of Peace He Experienced During the Event
Despite being involved in such a traumatic crash, which involved the car rolling over some 10 times, Shepard went on to discuss the way that he felt completely peaceful and calm after the initial shock.
Summing up the experience, he said that after coming to the realization that he was likely to die he was “kind of weirdly at total peace with it.”
“I definitely had this moment where I was like, ‘Oh wow, I’m going to die in a second,’” he said. “And the feeling was shockingly comforting, like that I remember. I went from like complete fear, ‘[expletive] the car is out of control, Oh my god, we’re going to roll. [expletive] we’re rolling, I’m going to die.’ Like all that calculus—and then I just got very calm.”
