You know that cute, kinda ugly, but in a seasoned, interesting kinda way actor Dax Shepard? Well, it turns out there might be a reason he seems so weathered to the world and all its hideous elements. While Shepard doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who does what is expected of him, he really dropped a bomb with his appearance on Sirius XM’s The Jason Ellis Show when he told everyone about his molestation as a child. When left in the care of an 18-year-old neighbor, 7-year-old Shepard experienced what he describes as ‘minimal’ but no less traumatic assault. He shares his struggles:
It took me 12 years to tell anyone. And then all that time, I was like, a) ‘It’s my fault,’ as generic as that is, I’m like, ‘It’s my fault, and I’m gay, I must have manifested this because I’m secretly gay.’ I had all these insane thoughts for 11 years or 12 years.
Shepard, who is a recovering addict and now sober, shared his story with host, Jason Ellis, who also unfortunately happens to be a victim of abuse. So if there was ever a safe space to have this kind of conversation, this would have been it. But the conversation took an eerily captivating turn when Shepard shared a recent statistic brought to him by his mother, a court-appointed advocate for children in foster care. In retrospect, he understands why he turned out to be who he is today:
She called me not too long ago and she said, ‘You know, I was just at a seminar this weekend and I learned that if you’ve been molested, you only have a 20% chance of not being an addict,’” Shepard recounted. “And I was like, ‘Hm, interesting,’ because in my mind I just like to … have a great time. But when you hear a statistic like that, I’m like, ‘Oh no, I was going to be an addict, period.’
The actor and husband to Kristen Bell has been sober for 12 years now. A really really really shitty thing happened to this actor, but it’s a part of him now. Who knows if he would be half the actor, half the man, half the husband, half the father he is today had he not gone through what he had. Bravo to Dax Shepard for sharing the story no one ever really wants to hear.