Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s Relationship Timeline

Emily BurackSun, March 1, 2026 at 10:52 PM UTC

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As Kristen Bell gets ready to host the SAG Awards for the second year in a row, her husband Dax Shepard will be cheering her on. After starting to date in 2007, Shepard and Bell tied the knot in 2013, and have two children together: daughters Lincoln, 12, and Delta, 10.

“One thing that I love so much about being married to him is that he is never allergic to me shining more and more,” she said this past week. “He never gets insecure about it.” Here, take a look back at Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s complete relationship timeline.

2007: Bell and Shepard meet at a mutual friend’s birthday party.

The two first crossed paths at the birthday party of Shauna Robertson, producer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall. “The only thing I remember is that he talked so much,” Bell later said.

Two weeks later, they met again at a Detroit Red Wings hockey game—and the next day, Shepard got Bell’s number from Robertson. His first message was reportedly “I violated your privacy and got your number from Shauna. How do you feel about that?”

One of the earliest snaps of Bell and Shepard, taken in the West Village in 2008. Marcel Thomas - Getty Images

But, things weren’t all smooth sailing at first. “We were dating for about three months, and I already knew that I was in love with him and he was hesitant because he knew he was still dating other people,” Bell said. “He sat me down and said, ‘I can’t have this right now. I think you’re wonderful, but I am still dating other people.’ And then I, like, liquefied and fell to the ground, but I felt incredibly respected that he had the balls to tell me we weren’t in the same place.”

Four days later, however, they got back together. “He called me and he was like, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. I was dating someone else but they’re just not as interesting as you, and I don’t know what I’m doing,’ and he came back,” she said. “But I still always remind him of when he broke up with me.”

Bell and Shepard in 2009 Kevin Winter - Getty Images2009: Shepard proposes to Bell, with the encouragement of Jason Bateman.

In 2009, they co-starred in their first movie together, When in Rome, and after shooting wrapped, he proposed. “Jason [Bateman] was first to go, ‘Stop fucking around and marry Kristen,’” Shepard said a few years later.

2010: Bell debuts her engagement ring at the Grammys.

Bell arrives at the 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards. Jeff Vespa - Getty Images

They kept their engagement private for a few weeks before announcing their engagement at the Grammys, and Bell showed off her three-carat emerald cut diamond ring.

March 2013: They welcome their first child.

Shepard and Bell in January 2013. Alexandra Wyman - Getty Images

On March 28, 2013, Bell gave birth to their first child, Lincoln Bell Shepard. “Lincoln Bell Shepard is here. She has mom’s beauty and dad's obsession with breasts. Hooray!!!” Shepard wrote in a since-deleted tweet. Bell posted, “My new roommate poops her pants and doesn't pay rent … basically Dax pre-sobriety:) welcome baby Lincoln xo.”

October 2013: Bell and Shepard get married.

The couple had long said they were waiting until gay marriage was legalized in California before they wanted to get married. “We would feel weird taking advantage of a right that’s not available to certain citizens of the state we live in,” she said in 2012. Shepard added, “When they legalize marriage for everyone … we will get married.”

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On June 26, 2013, gay marriage was legalized, and Bell re-proposed to her fiancé. A few months later, they had a low-key wedding at the Beverly Hills courthouse. “I came out in sweatpants, and my husband was in a tuxedo, which was so cute, and he was like, ‘I’ll go pick your outfit out,’” Bell shared. “And he picked out a little black jumpsuit.”

In another interview, she said, “We wanted the lowest-key day possible… Then we got sandwiches and called it a day. We called that our wedding brunch.”

2014: They welcome their second child.

On December 19, 2014, they became parents a second time, welcoming daughter Delta Bell Shepard.

“We travel a lot. It's not fair to bring this little human everywhere we go and deal with only adults. We owe it to her to give her a playmate that travels with us,” Shepard later said of their decision to have a second child. “We love her enough to do something we don't really want to do, which is, have a second 'cause we were so absolutely happy with just the one.”

2016: Bell opens up about Shepard’s sobriety journey.

Shepard celebrated 12 years sober in 2016, and Bell spoke about supporting him. “My husband is in recovery and is almost 13 years sober,” she told Ellen. “Seeing the world through his eyes has really opened mine to knowing that it is a disease and nobody is choosing to drink more than others. They are doing it because of a variety of reasons and they deserve the attention of a mental health professional, and not the county jail or however else we’re choosing to pretend we’re fixing the problem.”

2019: They discuss going to couple’s therapy.

The couple in 2019. Cindy Ord - Getty Images

“We definitely had to work really hard at being a couple because we’re both incredibly, painfully stubborn, and we’re pretty much opposites,” Shepard said. Bell added, “All these movies from the '80s taught us that it's love at first sight, and it is supposed to be easy and [that] all you have to do is find that person. It took me a while to realize, 'Oh, that was such a lie,' because things that you work really, really, really hard for always yield the best results.”

2024: Bell calls Shepard her “polar opposite” and says they “argue about absolutely everything.”

“I married my polar opposite,” she told E!. “We are the antithesis of each other. We argue about absolutely everything, but there is a foundational trust that we’ve built that keeps us together and is quite stimulated by one another’s opinions.” Bell continued, “being with someone who you are unlike or you don’t have a ton of similarities with, it forces you to grow.”

2026: After a viral essay critiques their marriage, Bell defends them.

In February 2026, The Cut publishes an essay “I Love My Husband (Who Hates Me)” which uses Bell and Shepard as an example, referring to an Instagram post she made this past October for their wedding anniversary, dedicating it “the man who once said to me: I would never kill you … Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would.”

Soon after, Bell spoke to People about their partnership, telling the magazine, she and Shepard support each other “every which way.”

“One thing that I love so much about being married to him is that he is never allergic to me shining more and more,” she said. “He never gets insecure about it.” Being married for over 12 years, she added, is “a long time. We put a lot of work into it and I'm very happy. We're very supportive of each other and our marriage and our family.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”