Dax Shepard's Biggest Controversies: From His Cheating Scandal to Kristen Bell's Anniversary Post and More

Dax Shepard has often found himself at the center of public blowback.

In a 2018 Daily Mail story, Kayti Edwards, the step-granddaughter of Julie Andrews, claimed she bedded Shepard in 2009 while he was dating Kristen Bell. She provided photos from a photo booth that showed them passionately kissing after they rekindled their romance at a private party in Hollywood.

"We went back and made love, we had s-- twice and he stayed until the next morning," she added, noting they did it at a friend's place. "I didn't know he had a girlfriend at the time, he didn't seem to care."

Things did not work out for them in the end.

"It was just a brief thing, we would hook up here and there, but we had a little friendship when we saw each other," Edwards continued.

In response to the cheating buzz, the Bless This Mess star told the news outlet, "That photo is 13 years old, not 9."

He alleged in the since-deleted Instagram statement that Edwards had "sold stories to tabloids about Matthew Perry, Jack Osbourne, Kid Rock, and now me."

"I look forward to her next one. Fingers crossed it's about my #1, Brad Pitt :)," Shepard quipped.

Following the infidelity buzz, Shepard and Bell have been slapped with rumors about them being swingers — which the Parenthood alum called unfounded.

"The most exciting tabloid story was that we were Hollywood swingers," Shepard recalled during a September 2024 appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show. "We were swingers and we hosted swing parties. This was in the tabloids."

While refuting the claims, he shared how their friends hilariously reacted to the speculations.

"My favorite part of that happening was we got a lot of texts from other friends of ours saying, 'How could you not have invited me to the swinger party?'" he explained. "And they were joking, of course, because they know us, and they know we're not hosting swinger parties. It was great to receive a text from [Jimmy] Kimmel saying, 'My feelings are quite hurt that Molly and I weren't invited to this swingers party.'"

Shepard then reiterated, "There's a lot of hot couples out there, but we haven't crossed that divide with anyone."

Then, in October, he declared he and Bell would be swingers "if the right participants presented themselves."

During a September 2023 episode of the "Armchair Expert" podcast, Jonathan Van Ness broke down after having a heated discussion with Shepard about transphobia and misinformation.

The stylist, who identifies as nonbinary and uses they/them and he/him pronouns, challenged the host's claim that The New York Times is a liberal-leaning publication. After they held a back-and-forth, Shepard said he did not intend to trigger a debate before praising Van Ness for being an activist.

The "Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness" podcast host then began to break down in tears, telling Shepard, "I'm a nonbinary f------ trans person. When I talk to my dad or people who say similar [anti-trans] things, it's hard to be cool through that… I just can't do it anymore."

"I wish that people were as passionate about little kids being able to be included or grow up as they were about fictitious women's fairness in sports. I have to tell you I am very tired," he added. "You can have racist beliefs and not know you're racist, just like you can have transphobic beliefs and not realize you have transphobic beliefs. That doesn't mean you're a bad person."

Shepard and his co-host Monica Padman apologized to Van Ness again before moving on to another topic.

In addition to his unorthodox comments, Shepard has also raised eyebrows for posting NSFW photos of his wife.

In 2021, he honored Bell on Mother's Day by sharing a photo of the mom-of-two doing yoga while wearing nothing but blue knee-high socks.

"Mom'ing has changed since I was a kid...and I'm here for it," he captioned the since-deleted update.

He reuploaded the photo in July to celebrate Bell's Emmy nomination for Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series.

"People might not know everything that happens behind the scenes in order to create an Emmy nominated performance like Kristen's," he joked. "This may or may not have been a part of her training, but it felt right. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!"

In the controversial wedding anniversary post in October, the Nobody Wants This actress wrote a murder joke about Shepard in the caption.

"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.'❤️," Bell wrote.

Neither Shepard nor Bell has addressed the controversy.

Weeks after Shepard and Bell drew criticism, the CHiPs actor sparked an uproar again while talking about a close friend's reaction to their daughters' behavior when they eat out.

"She said it very kindly, but she's basically like, they're kind of shook with how our daughters will talk back to us or to anybody because it's very un-Southern, right?" he said on the "Armchair Expert" podcast. "Down there, everyone's like, hi, Ms. Kristen. Hi, Mr. Dax."

Commenting on his kids' lack of respect, Shepard recalled, "And she's like, yeah, your kids will let it rip. They seem to have no kind of respect is what she was saying. And feeling a little entitled."

He added, "And I said, 'You're dead right.' They do talk back and they are not respectful. I can understand where that seems completely unruly, but I want you to know what I'm prioritizing, which is when they're 19 and their boss is a f------ creep, I want them to talk back. I want them to be disrespectful. I want them to always advocate for themselves, whether I think they're right or wrong."

According to the patriarch, he is willing to deal with his children's behavior, which his friend reportedly called "embarrassing."

"I can handle that because I want this other thing for them as women," he continued.