Dax Shepard Jokes About Hitting Kristen Bell in Newly Resurfaced Video Amid Domestic Violence Backlash

Dax Shepard made an off-color joke about domestic violence long before his wife Kristen Bell’s controversial faux pas.

In a video interview with SheKnows for their 2012 movie Hit and Run that recently resurfaced, the couple — who were still dating at the time — talk about the first time Bell, now 45, rode in Shepard’s beloved car after it had been restored.

“He was so excited. We drove to brunch and the first thing I said, five minutes into the ride, I said, ‘This sounds like it’s gonna break,’” the Nobody Wants This actress said.

“And I was very offended,” the Parenthood alum, now 50, jokes. “And then I hit her several times.”

The Veronica Mars alum then quips, “And then I got beat up, and guess what — I never opened my mouth again.”

As Star previously reported, followers slammed Bell for her “tone deaf” Instagram post on Saturday, October 18, in which she wished a “happy 12th anniversary to the man who once said to me: ‘I would never kill you. A lot of men have killed their wives at a certain point. Even though I’m heavily incentivized to kill you, I never would.’ ”

As commenters pointed out, the post was especially “disturbing” because it was shared during Domestic Violence Awareness Month.