Rumors regarding Dax Shepard and his wife Kristen Bell’s supposed swinging lifestyle have prompted Dax to address the situation directly. An exclusive source shared with In Touch that the couple themselves initially sparked these rumors, stating, “Ironically it was them who started the so-called rumor; nobody else actually talks about!”
In July 2016, Dax jokingly suggested to late-night host Conan O’Brien that they should “swap wives.” When Conan mentioned this during Kristen’s appearance on his show, she responded with laughter. “This sounds like my husband,” Kristen noted. “But I don’t want to hurt your feelings; you’re not the first person he’s tried to get us to swing with.”
Dax and Kristen tackle swinging rumors head-on, setting the record straight about their playful jokes!
Kristen elaborated that while they share a strong bond with her Veronica Mars co-star Ryan Hansen and his wife Amy Russell, they have never crossed that line. “We’ve decided that our couple will marry their couple,” she explained. “Since we got married, we call each other super spouses, and we are the first-ever four-way couple.”
Conan humorously confessed that he briefly considered Dax’s proposition but hesitated due to Dax’s attire at the time. “I would be very interested in this, except for one thing: What Dax was wearing when he proposed this. A grown man cannot wear those OshKosh B’Gosh overalls!” he said while showing a picture of Dax in overalls.
Speculation about the couple’s adventurous lifestyle resurfaced in 2017 and 2018 but eventually faded. However, in August 2023, the couple revisited the topic. During Kristen’s guest appearance on Dax’s Armchair Expert podcast, she addressed the allegations of hosting orgies or swinger parties. “I know exactly where [the rumors] came from. It’s because you frequently make key-party jokes,” she remarked.
Dax admitted that he had shared these jokes not only with close friends but also with guests on his podcast. “Some of [the guests], I realize afterward, ‘Oh, we do not have the same sense of humor,’” he explained. “I was like, ‘Hey, if you guys are ever in L.A. and you wanna swing.’”
Kristen expressed her frustration that many people failed to understand their humor. “A lot of people don’t get jokes,” she said. “It’s such a bummer that everything you say has to be taken so literally that there’s no room for fun in expression or language anymore.”
On September 10, Dax appeared on The Drew Barrymore Show, reiterating that he and Kristen are not swingers while also finding humor in the situation. “There was the most exciting tabloid story that we were Hollywood swingers and we hosted swing parties,” he told Drew.
Dax also shared that some celebrity friends joined in on the joke, including Jimmy Kimmel, who texted him, “My feelings are quite hurt that Molly [McNearney] and I weren’t invited to the swingers party.” Dax concluded, “Well, there’s a lot of hot couples out there, but no, we have not crossed that divide with anyone.”
