She's one of the bubbliest, perkiest people in showbusiness, but Kristen Bell has actually
struggled with depression and anxiety for years.
Why?
Keep watching to find out.
Kristen Bell was raised in suburban Detroit and attended Shrine Catholic High School,
where she immersed herself in drama and music.
Upon graduation from high school, the aspiring actress moved to New York to attend New York
University's prestigious Tisch School of the Arts, whose famous alumni include Adam Sandler,
Elizabeth Olsen, and Miles Teller.
However, she never actually graduated from NYU.
Instead, she went to work on Broadway, playing Becky Thatcher in "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer,"
which closed after just one month.
The following year, she landed her second role on the Great White Way in "The Crucible"
with Liam Neeson and Laura Linney.
Although she was getting some acting gigs in films like "Pootie Tang," she admitted
it wasn't that easy for her in the beginning of her career.
She told CBS News,
"I wasn't homely or awkward enough to play the awkward girl, but I wasn't pretty enough
to play the love interest."
Kristen Bell's career-defining moment came when she was cast as the lead in "Veronica
Mars."
Bell, who was 24 when the show began in 2004, beat out the 99 other women who auditioned
for the titular role.
The show's creator, Rob Thomas, explained during PaleyFest 2014 that he knew he had
chosen right when they filmed the first episode.
"I'm watching her from the monitor, and tears start streaming down her face, and I'm just
like, 'Holy s***!
We have a star!'"
The beloved series was canceled after only three seasons in 2007.
However, Bell would go on to play Veronica again and again.
In 2014, the series came back as a movie, which was funded by a Kickstarter campaign
that raised $5.7 million from loyal fans' donations.
The show also returned with a fourth season in 2019, airing on Hulu.
Naturally, Bell has a fondness for the role, telling ET,
"I am not prouder of anything than having been a part of this role that my daughters
will see one day."
In 2008, Kristen Bell played the title role in the hit rom-com "Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
Marshall is an actress who was known for her part in a crime show, which gets canceled
towards the end of the movie.
Art imitated life for Bell, who dished at a 2013 San Diego Comic-Con panel that she
learned "Veronica Mars" was canceled the day before she shot the scene in this film in
which Sarah learns her show got canceled.
"I have a job.
I'm a working actress."
"Not anymore.
You're an unemployed actress."
Another uncanny coincidence for the actress was when she heard that Sarah Marshall would
be made fun of for having appeared in a movie about killer cell phones — which was very
close to Bell's sci-fi horror film "Pulse."
"Forgetting Sarah Marshall" co-star Jason Segel told MTV,
"She had an interesting reaction when she saw that in the script.
Kristen was convinced that we were intentionally trying to make fun of her."
Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard met at a mutual friend's birthday dinner in 2007.
Bell told "Sunday Today" that she wasn't exactly starstruck.
"I didn't know who he was.
I'm like, 'Maybe is that one of the guys from 'Jackass' or something?'"
Bell said there were no sparks at all, but a chance encounter two weeks later at a hockey
game changed all that.
They soon began dating, but she told PopSugar that he ultimately dumped her.
"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.
He sat me down and said, 'I can't have this right now.'"
Luckily, he realized his mistake and called her four days later to ask for a second chance.
Two years later, after filming "When In Rome" together, Shepard popped the question.
But the wedding wasn't for another four years, because they vowed not to get married until
gay marriage was legalized.
In October, 2013, they finally tied the knot in a Beverly Hills courthouse; Bell told Jimmy
Kimmel that the wedding cost them a total of $142, including the gas to drive there.
When Bell was a child, she decided she didn't like her name, so she insisted on being Smurfette.
Instead, her family convinced her to at least go with Annie after the lead character in
her favorite musical.
She told Jimmy Kimmel,
"I was called 'Annie' by my whole family 'til I was 16.
My grandparents still call me 'Annie,' my sisters."
That may help explain why her kids have such unusual names.
Although they do speak of their children in interviews, the couple protects their offspring,
keeping them away from the public eye.
In fact, when Bell posts family photos on Instagram, her daughters' faces are always
kept hidden.
But we know that the couple welcomed their first daughter, Lincoln Bell Shepard, in March
2013; Good Housekeeping reported that her name came from President Abraham Lincoln,
and the car brand that bears his name.
Their second daughter, Delta Bell Shepard, came in 2020.
When it came time to naming their second little one, the pair relied on a text Shepard received
from a friend, which joked about their penchant for picking unusual names.
Bell told Good Housekeeping,
"Dax's friend texted, 'Are you going to pick another bad*** name, like 'Delta Force'?'
Dax went, 'Ooh!
Delta!'"
To keep her skin looking great on screen, Kristen Bell doesn't just use any old products.
She relies on the CBD skincare line that she herself created!
Happy Dance includes hand cream, body butter, bath bombs, eye cream, and face moisturizer.
The actress was first introduced to CBD cream when she went for a haircut and the hairstylist
used it on her shoulders.
Bell told Forbes,
"It's hard to explain what it did to me.
But I just felt this overall improvement."
As for the recipe behind her beauty line, Bell explained to Allure,
"The goal was returning hydrating essentials back into your face that you might have misplaced
under the piles of laundry or your eighth cup of coffee, because there are so many dehydrating
elements to modern-day life."
The company also has a charitable aspect to it, and 1% of all proceeds are donated to
the nonprofit A New Way of Life, which provides support, such as housing, to women who were
formerly incarcerated.
Kristen Bell has been very candid about her history with depression and anxiety.
In fact, in 2016, she penned an essay in Time, in which she opened up about her struggles
that began when she was in college.
In the heartfelt piece, she explained that, although there was no logical reason for the
way she felt, she knew to seek help, and credited her mother for educating her about those feelings.
She went on to say that for the first 15 years of her career, she did not speak about the
subject, but she decided to share her experiences to help others who might be facing a similar
situation.
"I felt worthless, like I had nothing to offer, like I was a failure.
Now, after seeking help, I can see that those thoughts, of course, couldn't have been more
wrong."
One of the ways the actress stays mentally healthy is by making sure she sticks to a
regular exercise routine.
And although she maintains a toned physique, she's shared that her goal when working out
is not to look a certain way but to feel good.
She wrote on Instagram,
"I work out for my mental health.
When I don't, I'm sad, irritable, anxious and lethargic."
Another activity Kristen Bell engages in to combat depression is spending time with her
beloved fur babies, many of which are adopted.
The animal lover, who is particularly fond of dogs, calls them "nature's antidepressants."
She told USA Today,
"When I'm responsible for caring for an animal, it gives me a lot of self-esteem."
In 2020, she posted on her Instagram Stories about the death of Barbara, a senior dog that
the Bell-Shepard family also adopted, and how she hoped her positive experience would
raise awareness about the joys of bringing an older dog home.
Today, Bell shares her family's home with two pups.
One is a rescue named Frank.
The other, Whiskey, was adopted in 2021 after he was hit by a truck and lost one of his
legs.
When she's not taking care of her children or her pets, Kristen Bell is working to help
those who are less fortunate.
The actress and philanthropist volunteers her time to serve others and is involved with
multiple nonprofit organizations.
She told Forbes,
"My goal in life is to spread more joy and reduce suffering any way I can."
One of the causes close to her heart is Alliance of Moms, which supports pregnant teen women
and teen moms who are in foster care.
Alongside other stars like Vanessa Bryant, Bell also dedicates her time to Baby2Baby,
which gives children living in poverty necessities like diapers and clothing.
Additionally, she co-founded the company This Saves Lives, which creates granola bar snacks.
The proceeds from sales provide food to children in need.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, she also gave to another worthwhile charity, No Kid Hungry,
which has a mission to end childhood hunger.
The actress generously donated $150,007.96 to their efforts, and explained on Instagram
that the reason for the uneven number was the fact that her daughters wanted to pitch
in and contributed that extra cash from their piggy bank savings!
Although many consider Kristen Bell an actress, she's also a talented singer who trained in
the craft as a child.
She told Yahoo! Movies,
"I grew up studying opera and sang in solo and ensemble competitions instead of playing
a sport."
Once she got her start as a TV and film star, though, she didn't really get to showcase
her singing voice.
That all changed when she was cast as a lead in "Frozen" and sang her character Anna's
songs, such as "Do You Want to Build a Snowman," for the movie, which became film’s highest-grossing
animated flick at the time of its release.
Since she was not known for her musical talents, her fellow cast members on set were surprised
to learn of her vocal chops.
In fact, her co-star on the Disney film Idina Menzel, who played Elsa, told Yahoo!,
"I didn't know how great a singer she was.
I quickly found out and need to constantly tell her because she doesn't tell anybody
else!"
Although Kristen Bell has a lot going on, the working mom always carves time out of
her busy schedule to read.
And she shares that love for the written word with her family, always sitting down with
her daughters to enjoy a book together.
She also reads with her husband at night, oftentimes the same book, so they can discuss
it afterwards.
Since she is such an avid reader, it was only natural that she decided to pen a book herself.
In 2020, she co-wrote the children's picture book "The World Needs More Purple People"
with her friend Benjamin Hart.
It hit number one on the The New York Times bestseller list.
Bell told Stephen Colbert,
"It's the idea that you can think for yourself, you can stand up for other people, you can
find things in common even when you disagree."
To add to her multiple side hustles, Kristen Bell also serves as a brand ambassador, including
an unusual deal with La-Z-Boy.
It all started in 2017 when her husband Dax Shepard decided to place the couple's new
La-Z-Boy recliner in the center of their living room.
Since it was blocking her view of the television, Bell shared her discontent on Instagram, with
a photo of her husband sitting in the chair with the hashtag #2017lazyboydebate.
And she posted another incriminating picture of him in the same spot, with the caption
reading "The man has lost his mind."
The playful spousal argument took on a life of its own when both Shepard and Bell appeared
separately on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" to tell their sides of the story.
All this media buzz must have caught the attention of the furniture brand, because they called
the couple, resulting in Bell being hired as its brand ambassador.
Bell told Architectural Digest,
"When they called us I thought they got the wrong Bell Shepard.
But they said we'd like to approach you because we think that you're not familiar with the
entire brand."
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