Kristen Bell Reveals How Therapy Has Taught Her to 'Communicate' With Husband Dax Shepard (Exclusive)
Kristen Bell is gearing up to make history.
It was announced on Monday that the 37-year-old actress will be the first-ever host of the Screen Actors Guild Awards, airing live on Jan. 21 on TNT and TBS. ET spoke with Bell the day it was announced as she filmed her upcoming Funny or Die skit, and she admitted to being "nervous" about the huge gig.
"I just got a phone call and I say yes to everything," she tells ET's Nischelle Turner. "I have a real problem saying no, so I was like, 'Sure,' and I hung up and I said, 'What did I just commit to?' The stakes are high, I guess, being the first person ever, because you have other people to look to if you do a different awards show. I don't know. I'm nervous. ... That's a lot of pressure."
However, she does have a secret weapon in the form of her hilarious husband, Dax Shepard.
"In bed, I'm always like, 'Honey, is this funny? Can you punch this up for me?'" she shares about their informal collaboration. "So I do, yes, I have a secret writing partner."
Bell and Shepard, who have been married since 2013 and have two daughters together -- Delta and Lincoln -- are one of the most beloved couples in Hollywood, and have both made it no secret that their strong relationship takes work. Fittingly, Bell's Funny or Die skit revolves around her and actress Yvette Nicole Brown in a therapy office.
"Look, I love therapy," Bell says bluntly. "I think self-help, self-care and sort of a fierce moral inventory is necessary to how I want to live, and who I want to be as a human being. I like to promote it because I think it's very helpful. So yeah, this is a love letter to my therapist."
One of the big issues that therapy has helped Bell with is learning how to communicate with Shepard.
"Well, look, people don't know how to communicate. They just don't," Bell explains. "Try to talk to a toddler. OK, no, it's not going to happen. I have two of them, they're terrible at it. You have to learn how to communicate with one another and, like, communication is your whole life. And so if you do any sort of work on yourself and evolve, you have a bigger tool box. We're born with, like, teeny tiny tool boxes, but then you're like, 'Oh, I have all of these tools to deal with different kinds of people.' And then it's just helpful and it makes your life easier."
"I am in love with my therapist, so I thought it would be really funny to make fun of people who are in love with their therapist," she adds about the idea for her Funny or Die skit.
Bell also spoke to ET about her new musical television special, Encore!, airing Dec. 10 on ABC. In the show, Bell reunites the cast of a high school musical production of Into the Woods 20 years later, and asks them to reprise their roles, with the help of Broadway professionals.
"Musical theater was the time for me that I found myself," Bell explains about her personal connection to the show. "It felt like glory on stage, and in a time where you're so insecure in high school. And it really is the time where the jock and the math nerd and the outcast all come together."
When asked if her own family life resembles one big stage play, Bell was hilariously candid as ever about how she's currently dealing with celebrating the holidays.
"I'm playing the chimney sweep in my home because I'm always covered in avocado and urine and, like, everyone is talking to me," she jokes. "At all times, my husband and both my kids have questions, and they all converge and I'm so scattered and I'm, like, trying to do the dishes and clean up after the kids."
Bell later admits she's also been having trouble when it comes to keeping her home festive.
"I would like to air a grievance in case my toddlers are watching... I've tried to decorate this Christmas because we always decorate like crazy," she says. "Here's what I didn't realize. Fellow moms, your kids, if they can reach the decorations, will f**k you over because what they've done is they've taken all the reindeer and the Santa Claus, and they've taken them all off the shelves, and they've put marker all over everything... They've pulled the garland down -- there's paint chipping because you've used those tabs to hang the garland up -- they've pulled on all of it, everything is everywhere, there are bulbs all over my house. I had to get rid of all the glass ornaments, it's a nightmare. So, I'm realizing all the decorations have to be at least waist-high."
For more on Encore!, watch the video below:
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