Old clip of Dax Shepard joking about hitting Kristen Bell sparks outrage after anniversary post

Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard are catching serious heat after a resurfaced 2012 interview showed Shepard joking about “hitting” his wife years before Bell’s now-infamous anniversary post referencing men who kill their wives.

It’s hard to keep up with these two; they seem to think dark, morbid jokes about murder and abuse are somehow funny. Spoiler: they’re not. Read the room, people.

Thanks to the internet, nothing ever truly dies. A clip from that old interview is now making the rounds on X and TikTok, sparking outrage from fans and advocates who accuse the couple of making light of domestic violence, especially during National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

In the clip, Bell recalled teasing Shepard about his prized 1967 Lincoln Continental, joking that it sounded like it was “going to break”.

Shepard smirked and said, “And I was very offended. And then I hit her several times.” Bell laughed along, adding, “And then I got beat up. And guess what, I never opened my mouth again.”

The reporter tried to move on, saying, “My goodness, you guys have quite the interesting relationship.” Shepard doubled down, adding, “Well, with the d**d bodies and all that.”

Earlier in the same interview, the couple joked about Bell “murdering someone” and Shepard “helping her dispose of the body.” Bell quipped, “I murdered a couple of people.

But he only disposed of one body. I had other boyfriends, at the time, that were disposing of the other bodies.”

It’s the kind of humour that’s supposed to be darkly ironic, but years later, it reads as tone-deaf at best and deeply problematic at worst.

Yeah, because nothing screams "healthy marriage" like joking about murder and other people’s boyfriends… lovebirds, maybe stick to board games instead.

This whole resurfacing drama comes hot on the heels of Bell catching heat for her 12th wedding anniversary post with Shepard.

The photo shows Shepard hugging one of their daughters, or maybe Bell? Hard to tell, since no faces are visible, and Bell is tiny, probably about the same height as her kid. But let’s be real, that’s not even the point.

She wrote: “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 incentivised to kill you, I never would.’”

The internet did not find it charming. Critics argued it trivialised domestic violence at a time when the conversation around it is more serious than ever.

Bell has limited her Instagram comments following criticism from her anniversary post.

Despite the outrage, Bell has pushed back, saying she “doesn’t want to be told how to live her life” and that there are “bigger problems in the world.” To which we all say… honey, domestic violence is a huge problem, and jokes about it aren’t a way to downplay it.

At this point, Bell and Shepard seem to be doubling down on their “dark humour” persona  but fans and critics alike are questioning whether some lines should never be crossed, even in jest.