Kristen Bell shut down the parenting police after she was criticized for letting her kids drink non-alcoholic beer.
Bell and husband Dax Shepard spoke about backlash they received on the Aug. 14 episode of the actor’s podcast, “The Armchair Expert.” Shepard noted that people were upset after Bell made the revelation on a talk show.
“They’re allowed to be upset about that because they’re not their kids,” Bell said. “It’s not your kid, you can think whatever you want.”
Shepard countered with statistics saying orange juice has a 0.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) while non-alcoholic Heineken has 0.0%.
“What’s so cute about you to me is that you are so logical and fact-driven and evidence-based, but if people want to be angry about something, they’re going to be angry about it,” Bell noted. “Of course they could look up other foods that have different ABVs.
“Of course, they would not choose to listen to the context of the story, which is when they have tried to order NAs like at a restaurant or something it’s because of a very specific connection to you,” Bell added. “Because, first of all, they’re educated on addiction and what substances are and how they affect your body and how scary they are and what they can do to you.”
Shepard noted he gets defensive when people criticize Bell and “insinuate” she’s a bad mom.
‘If anyone has a problem that I let my kids drink NA beer sometimes, that’s fine with me,” Bell emphasized. “Because I’m not going to change based on what anybody else says because this is our family and not your business.”
Shepard and Bell got married in 2013. They share two daughters, Lincoln and Delta.
Bell previously revealed her daughters have tried to order non-alcoholic beverages at restaurants during an appearance on “The Kelly Clarkson Show.”
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The “Frozen” actress explained that Shepard, who is a recovering addict, used to drink non-alcoholic beer while on neighborhood walks when their children were babies.
“So, he’d pop one open, he’d have her on his chest, and we’d walk and like look at the sunset,” she said of one of her daughters. “So, as a baby, she was like pawing at it, and sometimes she would like suck on the rim of it. So, I think it feels to her like something special, something daddy, something family.”
Bell admitted she’s been embarrassed before when her daughter once asked a waiter, “Do you have any non-alcoholic beer?”
“Maybe we don’t, maybe we just keep that for home,” the “Bad Moms” star recalled telling her daughter.
During the Aug. 14 podcast, Bell explained that she mentioned the moment her daughters ordered a non-alcoholic beer on Kelly Clarkson’s show because she thought it was a “cute story.”
