Kristen Bell Celebrates 12th Anniversary by Sharing Dax Shepard's 'Kill' Vow

Kristen Bell is celebrating her 12th wedding anniversary by sharing one of her husband Dax Shepard’s more, uh, unusual promises.

“Happy 12th wedding 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.’ ❤️,” Bell, 45, posted via Instagram on Friday, October 17, along with a photo of the pair embracing on the edge of a bed.

The pair, who were first linked in 2007 after connecting at a dinner party for Shauna Robertson, the producer of Forgetting Sarah Marshall, got engaged in 2010. They confirmed Bell’s pregnancy with their first child, daughter Lincoln, in November 2012 and welcomed her in March of the following year.

Bell and Shepard, who insisted they would not say “I do”until marriage was legalized for all citizens in California, got married in a private ceremony at the Beverly Hills courthouse on October 17, 2013. Their second child, daughter Delta, was born December 19, 2014. (Same sex marriage was legalized nationwide in 2015.)

The pair, who are known for their candid social media posts about their relationship, mental health, substance abuse and more, have previously discussed the regrets they have regarding their romance.

“Kristen is a little regretful. She was very active,” Shepard said during a September 29 episode of his “Armchair Expert” podcast.“She was very sexually active, and she wishes she was even more sexually active.”

“I just wish I butterflied around a little bit more,” Bell added at the time.

While reflecting on the pair’s marriage in another September 2025 conversation with Alicia Silverstone, Shepard said he’d only look at his union with Bell as positive — even if the duo decided in the future to call it quits.

“I say this all the time, like, if Kristen and I ever split up, I would only describe this as still an enormously successful relationship,” Shepard told Silverstone, 49, and cohost Monica Padman. “Like, we loved each other to death. We had these two beautiful children. We had this great time together.”

The pair have also been honest about challenges they’ve faced over the years. In a 2019 interview with People, Shepard noted that his marriage has been “work.”

“We definitely had to work really hard at being a couple because we’re both incredibly, painfully stubborn, and we’re pretty much opposites,” Shepard told the outlet at the time. “I was like, ‘That’s the best personality I’ve ever seen on a woman. I need to be around it. I want to be around it when I’m 80, but how?’”

Bell shared similar thoughts while speaking to E! in 2024.

“I married my polar opposite,” the Veronica Mars actress explained. “We are the antithesis of each other. We argue about absolutely everything, but there is a foundational trust that we’ve built that keeps us together and is quite stimulated by one another’s opinions.”

She added that “being with someone who you are unlike or you don’t have a ton of similarities with, it forces you to grow.”