Dax Shepard Celebrates 12 Years Of Sobriety With Message To His Family

Dax Shepard expresses gratitude to his family on the 12th anniversary of his sobriety

Dax Shephard is part of one of Hollywood’s most adorable couples, and the internet is always swooning over his relationship with wife Kristen Bell and their two kids. But no one is more in love with his family than the former “Parenthood” star himself, and to mark the 12th anniversary of getting sober, he made sure to let them know.

Shephard’s struggles with addiction are hardly news. He and Bell are uncommonly forthcoming about both their relationship and their own struggles with, well, with the exact same issues that many of us battle on a daily basis.

Dax is on record about his substance abuse, telling Playboy in 2012 all about his drug, or drugs, of choice. “I just loved to get f—ed-up — drinking, cocaine, opiates, marijuana, diet pills, pain pills, everything,” he said. “Mostly my love was Jack Daniel’s and cocaine,” he added. “I lived for going down the rabbit hole of meeting weird people. Of course, come Monday I would be tallying up all the different situations, and each one was progressively more dangerous. I got lucky in that I didn’t go to jail.”

He didn’t go to jail, but he didn’t escape unscathed either.

“My nose is completely sideways from a drunken altercation,” he said. “I’m missing a knuckle because of a drunken altercation. Somehow I was usually able to get sober for work.”

That busted nose and missing knuckle (wtf?) notwithstanding, he came through it all okay in the end. And now he was a happy life with an adoring wife and two beautiful daughters. Shephard knows not everyone is so lucky, and as he reminded someone who responded to his tweet, part of the reason he posted his message is to encourage others.

Both Shepard and his wife know how lucky he is, and he’s not taking it for granted. Alongside the word “gratitude,” he included the word “promises.” He’s aware that his struggle isn’t over. Addiction doesn’t just go away, it’s a fight 24/7/365, and he knows it.

He also knows that his dedication to and love for his “wife & babies” are a big part of the reason he’s able to win it.