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Dax Shepard is preparing to share some of the most personal chapters of his life in an upcoming memoir, including details of the childhood sexual abuse he suffered.
During the Monday's episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Shepard, 51, discussed the emotional process of writing about being violated while speaking with musician Marcus Mumford, who opened up about his own experience in his song Cannibal.
'I have, for years on here, been acknowledging that I have been molested. And that was its own hurdle to just say that. And I got quite comfortable being able to say that,' Shepard said. 'And now I'm writing a memoir. And last year, really, the whole year was about, "Do I have the balls to write down the details of this?"'
He continued, 'The details were always going to be mine. I didn't want anyone to be envisioning me. It's weird that that was still some wall between my shame. Like, I can say that happened, but I don't need you to know anything that actually happened.'
According to Shepard, it took him four months to fully put the experience into words for the book.
'And when I'm writing it, I cannot help but think of people knowing this about me and how still exposed that feels,' he admitted.
Dax Shepard is preparing to share some of the most personal chapters of his life in an upcoming memoir, including details of the childhood sexual abuse he suffered
'I was having really weird kind of spikes of emotions and moodiness. And I would forget that's why I was having that,' he said.
Shepard explained that finishing that portion of his memoir brought a sense of relief.
'I finished it, and something about it existing there feels like a lot of weight is off my shoulders,' he shared.
Shepard first publicly revealed in 2020 that he had been molested as a child.
While speaking on SiriusXM's The Jason Ellis Show, he said he was 7 years old when he was abused by an 18-year-old neighbor.
He described the abuse as 'minimal' but said it had a lasting impact and may have contributed to the addiction struggles he has faced later in life.
'It took me 12 years to tell anyone. And then all that time, I was like, a) "It's my fault," as generic as that is ... "and I'm gay, I must have manifested this because I'm secretly gay,' Shepard said, at the time.
He recalled a turning point after his mother shared a statistic about the link between childhood abuse and addiction.
During the Monday's episode of his Armchair Expert podcast, Shepard, 51, discussed the emotional process of writing about being molested while speaking with Marcus Mumford
Shepard first publicly revealed in 2020 that he had been molested as a child, at age 7, by an 18-year-old neighbor
His wife, Kristen Bell, whom he married in 2013, previously spoke about his decision to share his story publicly as she called him 'honest and brave' (seen last year)
'If you've been molested, you only have a 20 percent chance of not being an addict,' Shepard said. 'And I was like, "Hm, interesting," because in my mind I just like to have a f**king great time. But when you hear a statistic like that, I'm like, "Oh no, I was going to be an addict, period."'
His wife, Kristen Bell, whom he married in 2013, later spoke about his decision to share his story publicly.
'Well, in truth, he has dealt with it many, many years ago,' Bell told Us Weekly. 'It wasn't a moment he revealed. It's a lifestyle he lives, where he's honest and brave. The entirety of the radio show, he was relating to the host who had a similar revelation, and they were communicating.'
She added, 'Anytime someone can admit a vulnerability, and it can be helpful to others, it should be done when said person is ready. That emotion is maybe one of the most profound ones we have.'
English (US) ·