Kristen Bell’s Daughters Have Been Drinking O’Doul’s in Solidarity With Their Dad
"You’re welcome to tell me I’m a terrible parent. I don’t care."
At the end of a long day, Kristen Bell and Dax Shepard’s daughters, Lincoln, who is 7, and Delta, 5, like to crack open a cold one—a cold, non-alcoholic one, that is. In a recent interview with Carla Hall on Hall’s podcast Say Yes! with Carla Hall, Bell said she lets Lincoln and Delta raise a toast to their dad, who has been sober for the past 16 years, with a glass of O’Doul’s non-alcoholic beer.
And though she realizes some of her fans and peers will find this problematic, Bell can only really say, oh well. “I’m going to get a lot of flak for this. And let me start by saying I don’t care,” Bell said on Say Yes!
You’re welcome to tell me I’m a terrible parent. I don’t care. I’m a great parent, I think. I’m learning every day.”
She continued, “My husband brought home a six-pack of O’Doul’s last night. And my daughters often ask for O’Doul’s,” she said, when they order at restaurants, explaining that it’s a “sentimental thing” for them. “It makes them feel close to their dad,” Bell said.
“The reason for this is because when we first had our child and my husband would put her in the BABYBJÖRN and we’d walk around the neighborhood, he’d pop a non-alcoholic beer in his hand and the baby would paw at it and put the rim in her mouth,” Bell told Hall.
And so far, Delta and Lincoln’s love for O’Doul’s hasn’t really caused any concern. But, now that the girls are taking Zoom classes, during which they can run into the kitchen and grab snacks, well…
“They have 15-minute breaks where they’re allowed to jump around and grab a snack and wiggle it out,” Bell told Hall.
And I walk in to check on them at 9:30 and both of them are drinking an O’Doul’s on their Zooms.
She continued, saying, “They’re both just sipping their Doulies. And I’m like, ‘What must these other parents and teachers think of me?’”
Shepard and the family celebrated his 16th year of sobriety earlier this month. Their daughters made him “Happy sobriety birthday” signs, which Bell posted on Instagram.
Luckily, Bell is a pro at not caring what others think of her parenting and lifestyle. “I remind myself, ‘You don’t care, Kristen. They can pretend like you’re doing something wrong.’ I would argue that I’m not, because it’s non-alcoholic,” Bell continued. “If anything, it opens up the discussion for why Daddy has to drink non-alcoholic beer, because some people lose their privileges with drinking. Drinking’s not always safe.”