Kristen Bell Finally Reveals Dax Shepard's Go-To Mother's Day Gift
Kristen Bell has the same Mother’s Day wish every year: to relax. The Frozen star says the keep-it-chill tradition began six years ago when Dax Shepard asked what she really wanted.
Kristen Bell has finally cracked the Mother ’s Day code: do less. On Instagram Sunday, May 10, she laid out how her ideal version of the holiday actually looks in her house — and why it ’s become a full-on day off instead of the usual breakfast-in-bed performance art.
How her Mother’s Day went from polite chaos to an actual break
Bell says the shift started six years ago when Dax Shepard asked what she genuinely wanted for Mother’s Day — not the thing you’re supposed to say to sound like a good sport. He’d noticed the double standard: Father’s Day often has that effortless, guilt-free, 'See you later, I’m golfing' vibe, while Mother’s Day turns into sweet but exhausting production values. Cute? Yes. Restful? Not really.
So he told her to picture the perfect day. Her answer: a low-key spa day at home with her mom friends, zero logistics, zero setup, zero cleanup. He ran with it — and has repeated it every year since.
- The dads take the kids for the day
- A massage therapist comes to the house
- Bell and friends (including her 'Nobody Wants This' costar Justine Lupe) rotate through pedicures and massages
- There are pastries and fruit, and he even caters the whole thing
- Bell, by choice, remains horizontal
She posted a video montage of the home-spa hang on Instagram, and summed up the vibe as the world 'momming' her back for once. Honestly, hard to argue with the model.
Where they are now
Bell, 45, and Shepard, 51, got married in 2013 and share two daughters: Lincoln, 13, and Delta, 11.
About that anniversary post that blew up
This sunny Mother’s Day update landed seven months after Bell’s 12th-anniversary tribute sparked a backlash. She quoted a deadpan line from Shepard in the caption — and the internet did not love it, especially considering the timing.
'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.'
The National Network to End Domestic Violence pushed back publicly, saying there’s nothing funny about jokes that minimize the fear and harm survivors deal with daily. They also pointed out it was posted during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, which made it land even worse.
Dax’s response (belated, by his account)
Shepard addressed the dust-up in April on his 'Armchair Expert' podcast. He said he had no idea any of it was happening for about a week and a half. Someone tried to comfort him, he was confused, and then he learned from Bell — who already knew via her publicist — what people were reacting to.
So, current status: Mother’s Day at their place is a catered at-home spa hang, the dads run kid-duty, and Bell gets the day off she actually asked for. Which sounds like the correct answer to the Mother’s Day riddle.