When it comes to their daughters, there's a limit to just how much Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard will share with the world.
While the superstars have become known for detailing their heartfelt—and hilarious—family moments online, they've also learned where to draw the line. As fans may recall, Bell, 40, and Shepard, 45—who are parents to Lincoln, 7, and Delta, 5—helped spearhead the "No Kids Policy," which helps to protect celebrity children from paparazzi. Additionally, on the rare occasion they do post a picture of their girls on social media, the couple shields their daughters' faces from the camera.
"My feeling is that I chose a career in the public eye. I chose to be quoted, I chose to have my picture taken," Bell explains in an exclusive preview of her new Romper cover story. "I don't know them yet. I don't know if they will want that. So I really don't have the right to choose for them."
While they do have some restrictions when it comes to their daughters, Bell and Shepard aren't shy about sharing deeply personal family moments with the world, in hopes of helping those who are going through similar situations. During her chat with Romper, Bell recalls how she first formed a bond with fans through her time on Veronica Mars.
"Getting fan mail that says, 'I was in a really dark time considering some really bad things, and I watched the way Veronica Mars handled problems and it gave me some strength'—that's more meaningful to me than almost anything," she shares with the outlet. "I put that right up there with having kids. When I'm on my deathbed, that's one of the things I'll be thinking about."
She adds, "There's no way to describe how important that will be to me for the rest of my life."
During the cover story interview, Bell also addresses her decision to step down from her role on Apple TV+'s Central Park. Bell, who voiced the biracial character Molly Tillerman on the animated series, was later replaced by actress Emmy Raver-Lampman.
"I grew up in Detroit. I didn't consider myself an ounce of a racist. And when I read How to Be an Antiracist, White Fragility—required reading of a citizen of Earth in 2020—I realized, ‘Well, I've been a part of these systems.' I was unaware of this whole pot of s--t that's been stirring," she tells Romper. "I have a lot to learn. And I have a lot of action steps to take, to fulfill what I think my beliefs are."
"The people who say I could play that role aren't wrong," she later adds. "But I wanted to step down for two reasons. One, if there was one girl who could have a job who wouldn't otherwise have a job, because there are not a lot of Black or mixed-race characters on cartoons—if one girl could have that job, I would want her to have it. Two, if any little girl who is mixed-race or Black looks up who plays that role, I want them to see someone who looks like them."