Dax shepard: how my past has shaped my outlook on parenting

He struggled with alcoholism and drug addiction before becoming sober in 2004. She was a “good girl” who attended Catholic school followed by college. But despite their polar-opposite

upbringings in Michigan, DAX SHEPARD and KRISTEN BELL now find themselves married and completely in love. “We come from such a different starting point, and I do think it’s probably the

neatest thing about life,” the _Parenthood_ star, 40, says during an appearance on _Off Camera with Sam Jones_, airing Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Audience Network. “We live in the same house,

we have the same two kids, we make the same amount of money, we have the same job … Look how different a path you can take and end up in the exact same spot in life. It’s insane.” David

Livingston/Getty The life lesson isn’t lost on Shepard, who plans to keep his and Bell’s parallel journeys in mind when parenting their children, daughters DELTA, 4 months, and LINCOLN, 2.

“I need to remind myself of that, and I have friends who are worried that [their child is] straying off over here … You don’t know what they’re going to turn out to be,” he insists. “They

may end up in the same house as Kristen. You just don’t know! It’s wild what a different road you can both take to the same exit.” Both Shepard and Bell, 34, have been open about their

marriage and their decision to continually attend couples therapy. But according to the actor, attending the sessions together isn’t anything new: It all began shortly after the former

costars started dating. “We went to couples therapy right out of the gates,” he explains. “We both got offered this movie, _When in Rome_, [and] the studio said, ‘We don’t want to hire two

people that are dating.’ The producer, who’s a friend of mine, [said that to me] and I said, ‘You have my word, I’ve never lied to you, I will not break up with her no matter what happens on

this movie.’ ” He admits, “Had I not promised that producer we weren’t going to break up, I think I would have broken up with her for sure.” Once the film wrapped, the couple found

themselves in the real world and realized they would need to work together if they wanted their relationship to last — a step that Shepard thinks every serious partnership should take. “[The

producer] said, ‘Don’t you understand, Dax? That _is_ real life, saying you’re not going to break up with someone and sticking to that — that’s real life,’ ” he recalls. “It’s the first

time I’ve ever done couples therapy at the beginning of the relationship instead of trying to fix one that’s been destroyed, and I got to say, we all have it backward — you should start

there!” _— Anya Leon_