Kristen Bell Defends Letting Her Kids Drink Non-Alcoholic Beer: They Have A ‘Specific Connection’ To It
After receiving criticism for letting her kids drink non-alcoholic beer, Kristen Bell explains in a new interview why she allows it.
Kristen Bell, 43, is setting the record straight. The Frozen actress sat down with her husband, Dax Shepard, 48, for the August 14 episode of his Armchair Expert podcast to defend allowing their kids, Lincoln, 10, and Delta, 8, to drink a non-alcoholic beer.
“When they have tried to order NAs [non-alcoholic beers] at a restaurant or something, it’s because of a very specific connection to you,” Kristen said to Dax. “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.”
The couple acknowledged the backlash they have received ever since Kristen revealed on The Kelly Clarkson Show in July 2023 that she lets her kids drink non-alcoholic beers. “People are very upset about that,” Dax said. The Veronica Mars alum replied, “They’re allowed to be upset about that because they’re not their kids. It’s not your kid, you can think whatever you want.”
The Parenthood star also noted, “This is where we’re different and you’re at peace and I’m not. Orange juice has a .5% ABV alcohol by volume. Heineken has a 0.0 … If you’re serving your kids orange juice, you’re serving them way more alcohol.” Kristen responded, “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.”
Dax admitted that seeing people attack Kristen’s parenting methods makes him “want to have a confrontation or a debate. I’m always going to feel protective.” However, Kristen isn’t fazed by the criticism. “If anyone has a problem that I let my kids drink NA beer sometimes, that’s fine with me. I’m not going to change based on what anybody else says because this is our family and not your business,” she said.
On The Kelly Clarkson Show, Kristen explained her daughters’ connection to non-alcoholic beer. “He’s a recovering addict, but he likes non-alcoholic beer, so he’d pop one open, he’d have her [our oldest daughter] on his chest, and we’d walk and look at the sunset,” Kristen told Kelly Clarkson. “As a baby, she was pawing at it, and sometimes she’d suck the rim of it. So I think it feels to her like something special, something daddy, something family.”
Kristen and Dax have been open with their daughters about Dax’s sober journey. Following a relapse after 16 years of sobriety, Dax and Kristen were candid with their kids about it. “We explained, ‘Well, Daddy was on these pills for his surgery and then Daddy was a bad boy and he started getting his own pills,'” he said in a 2021 episode of Chelsea Clinton‘s In Fact podcast. “Yeah, we tell them the whole thing.”
Dax noted that his kids are aware that their “dad goes to an AA meeting every Tuesday and Thursday.” He also brought up a discussion he had with Lincoln years ago. “She said, ‘Where are you going?’ I said, ‘I’m going to AA,'” Dax recalled. “She said, ‘Why do you have to go?’ I said, ‘Because I’m an alcoholic and if I don’t go there, then I’ll drink and then I’ll be a terrible dad.'” He added, “And she said, ‘Can I go?’ And I said, ‘Well, no, you got to be an alcoholic.’ And she goes, ‘I’m gonna be an alcoholic.’ And I said, ‘You might become one. The odds are not in your favor, but you’re not there yet.'”