Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard's Complete Relationship Timeline

It's been a long, winding road for "America's Sweetheart" Kristen Bell and her beau, Dax Shepard. It may feel like they've been together forever — and that's because, by Hollywood standards, they have. With two kids, multiple business ventures, and several films together on their résumés, the two have weathered everything from addiction and rumors of infidelity to huge movie roles and some not-so-well-received projects.

Through it all, however, Bell and Shepard have been open about their relationship with appearances on podcasts, earnest interviews, and sweet messages to each other on social media.

Here's what you need to know about one of Hollywood's golden couples.

2007

During an appearance on the Today show in 2019 Bell said that she felt "no sparks whatsoever" when she met Shepard in 2007 at a dinner party.

"The one thing I remember is that he talked so much," she said. The two had just gotten out of long-term relationships. Bell dated producer Kevin Mann from 2002 until 2007. Shepard was with fellow actor Briegh Morrison from 2003 until 2006 and briefly dated both Kate Hudson and Tara Lipinski after the breakup.

Two weeks after that dinner party, they attended a Detroit Red Wings hockey game together. "When I met her and her friends, I was suspicious of their unbridled happiness," Shepard told Good Housekeeping in a 2015 interview. "I thought, 'Something stinks here; they're in a cult.' But slowly I began to see her positive way of looking at the world. She gives people the benefit of the doubt."

After three months, the two broke up, though they reconciled just a few days later. "He sat me down and said, 'I can't have this right now. I think you're wonderful, but I am still dating other people,'" she told PopSugar in 2017. "And then I, like, liquefied and fell to the ground, but I felt incredibly respected that he had the balls to tell me we weren't in the same place."

2009

Shepard and Bell starred in When in Rome together. After filming the movie in Italy, they got engaged. Shepard would go on to say that his Couples Retreat co-star Jason Bateman urged him to pop the question. "Jason was first to go, 'Stop fucking around and marry Kristen," Shepard told Brides, going on to say that Bateman was "dead right."

"I never loved dating. I think it's very uncomfortable to put yourself out there and be vulnerable," Bell told People. "I'm much more comfortable in a relationship and I'm very happy."

September 2012

Shepard told Playboy that addiction was a source of contention for him and Bell. "All the things I'd done were terrifying to her, and she had a hard time believing I would ever be able to stay married and monogamous and a father and all those things," he said. "For the first year and a half we were together, that was what we battled over almost weekly."

August 2012

The couple reunited for the film Hit and Run, which Shepard directed, wrote, and produced.

January 2013

Bell and Shepard attend the Golden Globes together.

March 2013

Bell and Shepard welcomed their first daughter, Lincoln Bell Shepard, Us Weekly reported.

June 2013

Bell re-proposed to Shepard. According to People, Shepard and Bell stated that they wouldn't officially get married until same-sex marriage was legalized in California. When California's Prop 8 was overturned, Bell posted a short, sweet message to Shepard on Twitter: "@daxshepard1 will you marry me? Xo #marriageequality #loveislove."

October 2013

The two officially got married. Shepard explained that they didn't have a big ceremony during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. "We went to the Beverly Hills Courthouse," Shepard shared. "And all in, with fuel to get there, $142 out the door."

Later, during a stop on The Ellen Degeneres Show, Shepard said that he got a tattoo on his ring finger of a bell instead of wearing a wedding band. "I don't like wearing jewelry, but I felt obliged to warn all the men that I'm taken," Shepard said.

"We wanted the lowest-key day possible," Bell told Jay Leno. "Then we got sandwiches and called it a day. We called that our wedding brunch."

October 2014

During an appearance on Conan, Shepard explained how Bell helped him prepare for a nude scene in This Is Where I Leave You. "The beautiful Kristen Bell, that people can already not understand how she's with me, got the pleasure of [shaving me]," he said.

December 2014

Bell and Shepard welcome their second child, Delta Bell Shepard.

November 2015

Bell thanked therapy for helping her maintain a happy marriage with Shepard. She also acknowledged the "growing pains" at the beginning of their relationship.

"Our relationship wasn't perfect," she told Entertainment Tonight. "We had a couple years of fighting and of growing pains and hating each other, then loving each other and going to couples therapy and we worked it out ... We earned each other."

September 2016

Shepard marked 12 years of sobriety with a message on Twitter. "12 years ago today I came out of my last toxic, life-threatening stupor. I now have a wife & babies & some self-esteem," he wrote.

2017

The two hit the red carpet at the Golden Globes.

Shepard cast Bell in his movie, Chips. At first, he didn't want Bell to play the role of his character's ex-wife, but she proved that she had the range. "It was one of my riskier moves, but she crushed it," Shepard told USA Today. "She is just so unlikable here, which is crazy because she really is so likable."

January 2018

Returning the favor, Shepard appears on Bell's NBC series, The Good Place. He played a demon.

February 2018

Bell makes an appearance on the very first episode of Shepard's podcast, Armchair Expert. "You're taught that there is good and evil and I just don't believe that anymore," Bell said as they discussed their upbringings. "When there is happiness, I don't run from it."

September 2018

Bell discussed Shepard's sobriety during an appearance on Marc Maron's WTF podcast. "I like my vape pen quite a bit. I smoke around my husband and it doesn't seem to bother him," Bell said of her own attitude about drugs. "Weed rules. Weed is my drug of choice, for sure."

She went on to say that Shepard doesn't care that she drinks and smokes. "He likes drugs and alcohol," Bell added. "He's just aware that he lost his privilege with them because he can't handle it. His brain does not have the chemistry to handle it."

September 2018

Bell congratulated Shepard on 14 years of sobriety with a message on Instagram. "To the man [who] mocked me when in our wedding photos because [sic] I cried too many tears of joy, who wore a baby Bjorn for 2 straight years to show his girls how to be as adventurous as possible, who held our dear little shakey man pup for 8 hrs straight on the day we had to put him down, I know how much you loved using. I know how much it got in your way. And I know, because I saw, how hard you worked to live without it," she wrote.

December 2018

Kayti Edwards, Julie Andrews's step-granddaughter, claimed that she and Shepard had a relationship in 2009. Shepard denied the claims, Refinery29 reported. "Hey Daily Mail, that photo is 13 years old, not 9," he wrote about the photo that showed the two kissing. 'Also, Kayti has sold stories to tabloids about Matthew Perry, Jack Osbourne, Kid Rock, and now me. I look forward to her next one. Fingers crossed it's about my #1, Brad Pitt :)"

January 2019

Shepard spoke about the exact moment that he knew he would be with Bell for good in an interview on Off Camera with Sam Jones.

"I never, ever was like, 'Oh, I hope I can keep Kristen,'" he said, according to People. "I was going, 'Do I want to be with a Christian, who has eight people living in her house for free? Who has to get out of a car when there's a dog that doesn't have a leash and ruin her whole day to rescue this dog? [...] That's great and she's good, but that's not what I wanna do, I'm not that good, I don't want to spend my day finding the owner of a dog. I wasn't fearful I would lose her. I wasn't certain I wanted to be with someone like that. And then what happened, which could've only happened the way it did is that she never, ever said to me, 'You could be a little better of a person.' She never, ever suggested that I should do that."

February 2019

The couple launched Hello Bello, a range of plant-based baby products. "As a mom of two, I know how beautifully messy parenthood can be, and that's why we created Hello Bello — a line of premium, super-effective baby care products to take care of your kids from head to butt to toe," Bell told People. "Our products are fresh and fun. More importantly, we use plant-based ingredients and organic botanicals that are better for our kids and better for our world."

January 2020

Bell opens up about conflict resolution with an appearance on Life Is Short With Justin Long. "We had this pretty incredible fight recently. Incredible. I mean, like, top-of-the-lungs screaming. It was about the things around the house that I felt I needed help with," she said. "We have a relationship where you are supposed to be able to say, 'I need your help with this.' For those of you listening, I'm telling this from my perspective. He's not here, he can't defend himself."

April 2020

During a joint interview with Katie Couric, Bell said that they are "at each other's throats, real bad" during COVID-19 quarantine. Shepard left the interview early, saying, "America's sweetheart has some character defects."

May 2020

Bell told People that the first two weeks of quarantine were "fucking brutal." She added that seeing Shepard homeschooling their children made her fall even harder for him. "He's made me feel like I'm not doing it by myself," she said. "Which has made me fall much deeper in love with him."

2021

In 2021, Shepard began co-hosting the motoring series Top Gear America. Meanwhile, Bell returned to her role as narrator in HBO Max's Gossip Girl reboot series. She also co-starred in the comedy film Queenpins.

2022

Bell starred in the Netflix miniseries The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window, a parody of suspense and thrillers.

2023

The couple escaped to paradise for a beautiful "work trip."