Parenting

Kristen Bell on Why Couples Therapy Rules

by Hollee Actman Becker
Updated: 
Originally Published: 

She’s also not afraid to admit when she needs a little help. The actress spoke out in the May issue of Good Housekeeping about the awesomeness of couples therapy. “You do better in the gym with a trainer; you don’t figure out how to cook without reading a recipe,” Bell said. “Therapy is not something to be embarrassed about.”

The 34-year-old mom of two says that when she first met her husband, Dax Shepard, she thought she had it all together. Then she realized she needed a better set of tools to handle everything life was throwing her way. “If something pisses you off, you’ve got to find the balls to bring it up immediately and say it in a way that the other person can hear,” she told the magazine. “If you’re still uncomfortable… you say, ‘I need to have a therapy session with you.’ There may be something that really hurt your feelings that you’re scared to bring up. Go talk about it with a therapist who can mediate. You’ll walk out of the room feeling like you’re [on the same] team.”

Preach! Here are four other women who have spoken out about the benefits of therapy:

Cathryn Zeta Jones

The actress checked into a treatment facility in 2013 to get all the help she needed for bipolar disorder, and she didn’t care who knew it. “This is a disorder that affects millions of people and I am one of them,” she told People. “If my revelation of having bipolar II has encouraged one person to seek help, then it is worth it. There is no need to suffer silently and there is no shame in seeking help.”

Sheryl Crowe

The Grammy winner has spoken publicly about the battle with clinical depression she’s been fighting since her 20s, even admitting to staying in bed for six months and contemplating suicide. “Antidepressants helped and so did therapy,” she told the Daily Mail.

Ashley Judd

The Divergent star told Glamour magazine back in 2006 that she spent 47 days in a Texas treatment facility in order to help her deal with issues from her past, including depression and co-dependent relationships. “I needed help,” she admitted. “I was in so much pain.”

Jennifer Aniston

The Golden Globe winner and tabloid mainstay is no stranger to drama. So when asked by Glamour back in 2013 what advice she would give her younger self, Aniston had this to say: “Go to therapy. Understand who you are. Educate yourself on the self. You can undo a lot of things. If you’re not happy, you can become happy. Happiness is a choice.”

This article was originally published on